Movie Review – Ready or Not 2

I’m a huge fan of the first film so when I heard they were making a sequel, I was excited for it. I wondered how they could take the story and up the stakes since the family died at the end of the first film. Correction. They exploded at the end of the first film. Where could Grace possibly go after what she went through?

Turns out her traumatic experience wasn’t over. There is a Council, several rich families, who all worship Satan that Grace’s now deceased in-laws belonged to. Grace may have won her game by lasting until morning, but now she has to outlive the Council as well while they hunt her down. And her estranged sister Faith, played by Katherine Newton, arrives just in time to be dragged into the mess Grace finds herself in.

One of these families, the Danforth’s, had their patriarch at the High Seat of the Council. His twin adult children (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy) smother him so they can enter the game at the same time for a shot of keeping the High Seat in the family. Other families arrive for this new game, but not after Grace and Faith are taken from the hospital Grace is recovering in and brought to the Danforth home. Mansion. The place is a mansion. With a golf course and a hotel. Grace and Faith go on the run while handcuffed and try to survive being killed by this group of Satan worshiping apathetic a-holes.

Overseeing this is The Lawyer (Elijah Wood) who knows every bylaw. Every single in and out of what these families must adhere to. While these rules seem to have no effect on him, they do effect everyone playing the game. Grace and Faith must find a way to survive each other and these crazy people at the same time.

What I love about this film is that Grace uses they bylaws to her own advantage. She turns them on their head and finds a way out of an impossible situation. Her mind never stops working. It is so very refreshing to see a female character who is never a damsel. And hearing Samara Weaving scream in frustration is all of us. Every woman who has been forced into impossible situations. Every 99% person who has been looked down upon and cast aside by the 1%. She’s all of us who have uttered “fucking rich people” at the unfairness of it all.

The dynamic between Weaving and Newton is so very good. I could watch these two in a movie all day long. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy as the twin siblings adds an extra layer of familial drama that is at the heart of this film. While the first film is about Grace’s survival after realizing her husband wasn’t who he said he was, this second one is about two very different sets of siblings. The girls have to find a way back to each other’s good graces while the twins don’t want the share the High Seat. Watching these two storylines play out along side each other made for a very watchable film. Elijah Wood’s character has great presence. A man who has seen it all and is happy to see where this film ends up.

This was a sequel worthy of the original. It’s funny, irreverent, and nihilistic. Much like the Dungeon Crawler Carl book I finished reading today if I’m being completely honest. I wasn’t expecting the ending in this one and that is the highest form of compliment.

4 out of 5 stars.