Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Review

The directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have returned to the world of Ready or Not for a bigger sequel.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up where Ready or Not left off: Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) has survived playing a lethal game of hide and seek and nearly being sacrificed by her in-laws. By surviving the game and the death of the Le Domas family, Grace accidentally starts a new ritual for the followers of Mr. Le Bail where she must survive another hunt by sunrise. This time, Grace’s younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton), gets roped into madness.

The first Ready or Not film was a successful film: it earned $57.6 million from a $6 million budget and positive reviews. From this viewpoint, a sequel seemed logical, but the first film did seem like a one-and-done story. There didn’t seem to be room for the story to continue. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come can seem similar to a video game sequel because it was more of the same with a few additions. The hunt had the added complication of Grace being handcuffed to her sister, and the hunters were competing against each other because the person who kills Grace gets the prize.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come extended its net to have a family film. There were numerous families involved in the action. Obviously, Grace and Faith were estranged sisters who were forced to work together. Weaving and Newton were great playing bickering siblings who loved each other deep down but couldn’t admit it. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy also played siblings, who also had tensions amongst themselves since Ursula Danforth was the rational one, whilst Titus was a psychopath who was resentful because he lived under the shadow of his father and sister. There were other dysfunctional family dynamics which were used for comedic effect.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come had to build on the world and mythology set up in the first film. It was a little like the John Wick series, where the first film was simple, and the sequel showed more customs, rituals, and traditions. In the case of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, it showed more Satanists who secretly controlled the world. The elites were so powerful that one of them could stop a war just with a phone call. This expanded the “eat the rich” sentiment by showing how powerful these people can be, whilst their children were oblivious idiots.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come went for a bigger-is-better approach. The budget more than doubled from $6 million to $14 million, the arena grew from a mansion to a casino and golf course resort, and it had more famous cast members. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett reunited with a couple of their Abigail actors, and the marketing emphasised the casting of Sally Michelle Gellar and Elijah Wood. Gellar has been working hard promoting the film.

From an action and comedy standpoint, the Ready or Not sequel offered up more of the same. For fans of the first film, this will probably be enough. There were more larger-than-life characters in the film who weren’t as competent as they thought. My favourite character was Francesca El Caido (Maia Jae), who had a big hate boner for Grace, and Francesca’s hatred made her an entertaining character. Weaving and Jae did have a hilarious fight. I thought Jae was Melissa Barrera since the Radio Silence team did work with the Mexican actress on two Scream movies and Abigail, and hopefully Jae would see it as a compliment that she’s being compared to Barrera. Jae did give her character an over-the-top Telenovela quality.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come was a film that didn’t need to exist due to how the first film ended, but it was an entertaining enough splatter fest that shows Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett. It was great to see Weaving in probably her most iconic role.