WARNING: Major spoilers for Smile 2 below.
Key takeaways
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Joel tries to break the curse pattern, but it ends in a deadly shootout.
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Joel discovers a loophole in the Smile curse by passing it on to a witness.
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The curse now falls on a small-time drug dealer, who unknowingly passes it on to Skye Riley.
Smile 2 It has been released in theaters around the world and is already terrifying audiences. The opening scene in particular has been a point of interest, as it pulls off the franchise’s cruelest stunt yet. Smile 2 sees Kyle Gallner return briefly as Joel, the police officer from the first film. It’s a somewhat predictable move, but writer-director Parker Finn takes it in an unpredictable and terrifying direction.
This terrifying new sequel stars Naomi Scott as pop star Skye Riley. Skye is trying to return to her music career after a terrible tragedy caused by her drug and alcohol addiction. However, her world is turned upside down when the evil entity Smile joins in and begins to torment and stalk her, just as it did with Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) in the first film.
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Joel tries to break the curse pattern in the opening scene of Smile 2
Smile 2 It has already been a great success. The film debuted with an impressive $23 million at the US box office, surpassing the independent horror favorite. Terrorist 3 out of the number one spot. Smile 2 It also managed to surpass its predecessor’s Rotten Tomatoes score, which is very impressive for a horror sequel. This is almost unheard of in the industry.
While the horror sequel follows Skye, the film begins with Kyle Gallner’s Joel. The opening scene reveals Joel’s fate, which was left somewhat ambiguous at the end of the first film. Joel tries to save Rose at the end of Smilebut she ends up passing the curse on to him. The second film begins with Joel trying to figure out how to save his own life. So far, everyone who has been inflicted with the curse has ended up committing suicide in front of another person, thus passing on the demonic entity to them.
Having seen Rose set on fire at the end of the first film, Joel now has to try to find a way to get rid of the curse. However, he has one thing going for him: Joel knows the pattern of the curse and its behavior. He understands the rules and knows that he has little time before he suffers the same fate as Rose. So, he tries to find a loophole and ends up successfully.
Joel discovers the loophole in the smile curse
Joel obviously remembers that he can murder a person in front of another witness. The curse of the Smile would be transmitted to the witness and Joel would be free. Convicted murderer Robert Talley told him this would work in Smile. Then, Joel plans to murder a drug dealer’s brother in front of him. However, everything does not end up going as planned.
Joel thinks that by killing a drug dealer and passing the curse on to his brother, he would be freeing an innocent person from said curse. Joel believes he would be innocent in this case, even if he is murdering someone. However, the police officer is in a pretty difficult situation here, so murdering a criminal seems to be his best option.
Joel manages to kill the drug dealer and the curse passes to the other witness as planned. However, the policeman does not enjoy his freedom for long, as he ends up in a shootout with the other dealer. Joel accidentally kills him, thus eliminating the witness, and it is hinted that the curse returns to Joel.
This is where things get complicated, because it is not really explained whether Joel is freed from the curse or not. He ends up being run over by a truck after fleeing the scene of the crime. What is very clear, however, is that Joel dies in the collision, and with his rather violent demise comes another big problem.
Joel’s knowledge of the curse
Joel, along with Rose, knew what had to be done to pass the curse on to another person without dying. Given that Rose set herself on fire at the end of the first film and now that Joel was fatally run over, that knowledge rests solely with Robert Talley. This means that the loophole that could save the life of at least one person cannot be shared or taught to others who suffer from the curse. This is a fantastic subversion of Parker Finn, who could have easily focused the film on continuing this part of the story, but instead leaves the audience and characters feeling hopeless. Instead, the film cleverly presents a new way to get rid of the curse, but it’s much riskier.
Having killed the two drug dealers, Joel encounters a petty dealer named Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage). It turns out that Lewis witnessed the murders and now he is the one suffering from the curse. Joel is relieved when he discovers that the curse has been successfully passed on without him having to take his own life. However, that doesn’t last long, as he ends up getting run over shortly after. As for Lewis, he has no idea what really happened or the horrors that await him. Furthermore, he will never know that killing another person in front of a witness can free him from the curse without having to take his own life. Instead, the curse takes hold of the small-time drug dealer and he passes it on to Skye Riley (Naomi Scott).
- Release date
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October 18, 2024
- Director
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Parker Finn
- Cast
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Kyle Gallner, Naomi Scott, Lukas Gage, Rosemarie DeWitt, Dylan Gelula, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo, Miles Gutiérrez-Riley