Plot: Ghostface is back, and now he is after Sidney and her new group of friends on a college campus. Can she, Gale, Dewey, and Randy figure out the killer is in time? Or will they lose their lives like their friends in the first film?
Review:
I re-watched this film, and it has grown on me QUITE a bit! I actually have grown to really like this film. Everyone knows that I never hid the fact I used to hate this film. Sidney is still a great heroine and Gale is an AWESOME character and Dewey, while starting to get old, is still a fun character. The suspense is there and this film has one of the best chase scenes ever (Gale’s!). There is one sequence that involves two characters trying to crawl out of a car…now THAT is how you do suspense!
Like the first film I couldn't guess who the killer was and the directing is fantastic and even though it's a sequel, it still felt a bit fresh. The script poked a lot of fun at sequels and the African American's place in the horror genre. The acting is great and the score is once again brilliant. And it wouldn't be a Scream movie without the obligatory opening death sequence. It's grand, theatrical, big, and it works, although it doesn't live up to the first film's opening…but I don’t think anything could. What really works for this opening and what makes it brutal and macabre is how it takes place in a crowd. If you’re not safe in a crowd of people…when are you safe? I have heard many complaints about Jada Pinkett Smith’s acting…and honestly, it didn’t bother me. She did okay. Her big display worked for me. The whole film seems to have a theme of theatre to it and it worked. Sidney is now an aspiring actress. The finale takes place on a theatre stage and everything is done much bigger like any sequel. Everything had a grandiose effect to it. The deaths were more elaborate and bloody (that pole through the eye…nice!).
But sadly, this is NOT the classic the first film is. The returning four characters are all great and I like where they bring Sidney. She is a survivor, but now she doesn't know who to trust. Gale is still that bitchy reporter trying to go for the gold, but we see much more of that good side of her in this film. I found her to be a more well-rounded character in this film. But...the new characters are all…how do I put this? Lame.
Hallie pales in comparison to Tatum and was boring. Tatum was feisty, likable, and damn strong. She put up a fight. Hallie didn’t feel feisty; every feisty line she spoke felt like a girl pretending to be…She was just there for me. Derek, the new boyfriend, is VERY bland and boring (plus that song sequence - WTF?! That was out of place), and Mickey is the best of the new friends but even he felt like a Randy imitation. At least he was fun. Then they completely wasted a great Sarah Michelle Gellar; I feel she could have been a great character with an awesome scene. Don't get me started on her stalk/death scene! It's fuckin' retarded. She is supposed to be a film buff…and her stalk sequence is supposed to be über suspenseful but every time she could go for safety she doesn’t. I’m sorry Kevin Williamson, but this scene was full of bad writing.
Then we have the ending...I like the setting. It brings the grandiose and theatrical effect full circle. The suspense was there and Sidney is still very badass. But the…reveal of the killers were lackluster. Well…that’s disappointing. I don’t want to give them away, but honestly one of them came out of nowhere (he/she was a VERY minor character) and his/her motive was just shit (and that certain actor/actress didn’t know how to act for this entire film), while their partner’s motive was interesting but he/she had a bad case of acting crazy after being sane for pretty much the entire film. But even with the mediocre choice of killers, the ending was still okay; even though it could have been much better.
One other pet peeve I had is how Tatum is never mentioned. She was Sidney's best friend and Dewey's little sister...you would think her death would have come up at LEAST once throughout the film.
But in the end I like this sequel. I used to despise it, but it has grown on me over the years. Now I would say it is a pretty worthy sequel.
VERDICT: 7/10
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