‘Smile 2’s Opening Scene, Explained

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As a seasoned movie critic with a penchant for horror flicks, I must say that the tale of Joel’s unfortunate demise in “Smile 2” was quite intriguing. It’s not every day you come across a movie that manages to weave together suspense, plot twists, and a dash of dark humor as deftly as this one does.

In the autumn of 2022, Parker Finn’s directorial launch, titled Smile, took both critics and audiences by storm. This chilling production revolved around a psychiatrist named Rose (Sosie Bacon), who experienced an unusual and brutal act by one of her patients within her office. After the harrowing event, she became convinced that a peculiar force was menacing her. The film grossed a staggering $217.4 million globally on a budget of just $17 million, making it obvious for Paramount to approve a sequel.

In the climactic scenes of the movie “Smile,” it was disclosed that the malevolent spirit was the entity in question. As she was being overtaken by the entity, Rose exhibited the chilling grin shared by all its victims before they ended their lives. This unsettling smile is a means for the entity to transfer its curse onto someone else. In this case, it seemed that Joel, Rose’s ex-boyfriend (played by Kyle Gallner), was the last individual the entity possessed before “Smile 2.” Consequently, one may wonder what transpired with Joel between “Smile” and “Smile 2.

Joel Opens Up ‘Smile 2’ The Same Week ‘Smile’ Ends

As a cinephile reminiscing on my last viewings, I must say that the opening scene of “Smile 2” takes me back exactly a week after the events of the first movie conclude. The movie starts with me, Joel, exiting my car and venturing into a shabby house, having previously picked up a stranger on the roadside. Upon entering, I’m greeted by the unsettling sight of a drug den, a stark contrast to what I had anticipated. My nerves were already jangling, but when an unexpected young man appeared, my anxiety skyrocketed.

When Joel arrives home accompanied by the man he’d retrieved from his driveway, it’s the man Joel was searching for who’s lounging on the sofa. As soon as this man spots Joel’s firearm, he grabs his own, triggering a heated gunfight. Regrettably, both combatants suffer fatal wounds – an outcome Joel had aimed to avoid. Upon noticing a young man, named Lewis (Lukas Gage), Joel expresses remorse and rushes out of the house. As he flees across the road, he’s unexpectedly struck by a pickup truck. The collision sends him skidding along the street until the vehicle collides with a tree, leaving behind a gory scene on the snow-dusted pavement.

Rose and Joel’s Plan to Pass Along the Curse

As Smile neared its conclusion, Rose sought Joel’s aid in directly challenging the spectral presence. It was via Rose that Joel came to understand the method by which this entity is transferred between individuals. Unfortunately, Rose’s strategy to confront and banish the entity proved fruitless, and Joel bore witness to Rose’s brutal demise, thereby inheriting the entity himself. The specter of Rose’s passing granted Joel a week’s respite before the tormenting visions would ultimately push him towards self-destruction. However, despite inheriting this entity, Joel possesses an advantage that previous victims did not – the insights he gleaned from Rose.

After learning that the curse is transferred from one person to another via a living host who subsequently takes their own life, Joel promptly began searching for a new host. Moreover, each victim only has seven days before they perish, and Joel discovered this fact through Rose. Interestingly, it was also revealed by Rose that the next host must be alive for the curse to persist. This implies that if the subsequent host dies without the curse inside them, the curse itself will expire. Given his background as a police officer, Joel managed to track down criminals in a drug den to pass the curse onto one of the dealers.

How Joel’s Plan Goes Horribly Awry

In Joel’s strategy, the key point was to execute one of the criminals with the other one looking on. He believed that the supernatural power would shift from the slain criminal to the one who observed the violent act. Unfortunately, both criminals ended up dead, and a frightened Lewis unwittingly witnessed the entire incident. It wasn’t until Joel understood what had transpired that he deeply apologized to Lewis, explaining that this unfortunate turn of events was not intended for him.

In simpler terms, Joel’s idea was cleverly designed to exploit the loophole Rose found in the initial film. For an entity to use a host, the host must be alive. So, if a host intentionally kills themselves in front of someone, the entity will transfer to that person. Similarly, if a host murders someone in front of a witness, the entity moves to the witness. If the events at the shootout hadn’t happened, Joel’s plan would have worked flawlessly. However, had Joel not panicked and rushed into the street, he could have escaped the entity because Lewis witnessed him kill the two drug dealers.

Why Doesn’t Joel Make it Past the Opening Scene?

In addition to the unfortunate circumstances that Joel took two lives and met a gruesome demise under a vehicle, had he survived, Lewis would have benefited significantly in his quest to get rid of the demonic entity. With Joel still alive, Lewis could have possibly traced him down and gathered all information about the entity, resulting in a more concise narrative. However, due to Joel’s death, Lewis was left alone in his struggle against the entity, experiencing a gradual descent into madness without any help or understanding of what was happening to him.

As a movie enthusiast, I can’t help but feel the chill of inevitability that surrounds the enigmatic Smile demon. Even though Joel managed to shake off the curse inflicted by this malevolent entity, it ultimately claimed his life. This tragic ending serves as a grim reminder that if the Smile demon has crossed your path, death is an unavoidable fate. If Joel had somehow survived, he would have been left scarred by the haunting visions and burdened with the awareness of its existence. The films convey a chilling message: once you’ve faced this entity, life will never return to normal, and death is an inevitable part of that reality.

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2024-12-25 01:31