The Nun II review.
The Nun II improves on its predecessor in every way. That still only makes it a middle of the road installment of The Conjuring Universe…but it’s still something.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Synopsis: 1956 – France. A priest is murdered. An evil is spreading. The sequel to the worldwide smash hit follows Sister Irene as she once again comes face-to-face with Valak, the demon nun. Taissa Farmiga (“The Nun,” “The Gilded Age”) returns as Sister Irene, joined by Jonas Bloquet (“Tirailleurs,” “The Nun”), Storm Reid (“The Last of Us,” “The Suicide Squad”), Anna Popplewell (“Fairytale,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” trilogy) and Bonnie Aarons (reprising her role from “The Nun”), surrounded by an ensemble cast of international talent.
The Nun II
Directed by Michael Chaves
Screenplay by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing and Akela Cooper
Starring Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell, Bonnie Aarons, Suzanne Bertish and Katelyn Rose Downey
The Nun II Review
The Nun was a hit at the box office. It was also a critical dud. It’s slow…obnoxiously loud…largely aimless and, worst of all, involves solving a mystery that the audience already knows the answer to. The good news is that direct sequel The Nun II improves on many of these issues. It doesn’t fix all of them…but it does deliver a more focused, fun, and interesting story. At least for two acts. So…we’re getting there!
The events of The Nun have become a mythical thing in the world of the sequel. A ghost story shared among people who only know part of the story. The Vatican, on the other hand, knows the whole story. The demon Valak (now possessing Frenchie/Maurice following the events of Part 1) has resurfaced. Sister Irene is once against asked to investigate.
Yes…Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is again investigating something that the audience already knows the answer to. That’s the bad news. The good news is that The Nun II does a far better job in disguising it. Or, at least, setting it in the background. The series can’t seem to help having its characters lag behind its viewers. The Nun II doubles down on this by introducing a mighty MacGuffin to explain Valak’s actions…providing Irene and company a new way to combat her final form.
The worst thing about The Nun II is its reliance on minor subplots that become incredibly important out of nowhere. So much of it is happenstance and coincidence. It can stretch beyond belief. Even in a movie about an evil demon nun who is unwittingly possessing someone. The movie also doesn’t trust you to put together that it pays off every seemingly odd detail it presents out of nowhere. When everything (for some reason) comes together in the climax…The Nun II throws in flashbacks that border on a character saying, “remember this?”. … Honestly a character might also say that at one point.
These missteps are more readily forgiven this time around. Unlike The Nun, the journey to the messy finale is a good one. Maurice was inhabited by the demon at the end of the last movie. He doesn’t know it…but he’s carrying it closer to completing its mission. Maurice leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. Something that, given the 1956 setting, should probably be known to more people. It may as well be set in 1756. We know it’s Maurice…but Sister Irene won’t figure that out for a while.
The reason it works this time is that Maurice’s story is the best one the two movies has presented. He’s working at a school…dabbling in romance with a teacher there…standing up for her daughter in her troubles with the mean girls. A good man carrying a dark, deadly secret. You can’t help but feel bad for him. He was cursed after saving Sister Irene. Now he barely has control over his own life. When he completely loses control…well…
The other great thing that The Nun II has going for it is a fresh bag of tricks in the scare department. Gone are the loud music stings to make up for a lack of atmosphere. Instead, The Nun II finds all manner of ways to build tension. Repeated use of light and shadow masks the danger until it wants to be revealed. There are some masterclass level shots here. Your eyes adjusting to darkness…barely making out a shape before a flashlight swings over to reveal it. Or not reveal it. It works every time.
There is another problem that warrants discussion. Debra (Storm Reid) joins Irene in her investigation. She begins as a seemingly complex and interesting character. A young nun full of doubts. Then the movie proceeds to do nothing with her. An easy story was available with Irene slipping into the mentor role…the younger nun facing the doubts that Irene herself did on the last adventure. No such luck. Oh…the reason that Sister Irene is taking the lead this time around is another miss. Father Burke (our lead in The Nun) dies off screen. Valak doesn’t even get him…reportedly he dies from cholera. Cholera…able to take out more lead characters than Valak at that point in the saga.
If you liked The Nun…I don’t know why…but The Nun II is better. At everything. If you are a fan of The Conjuring Universe…it’s a middle of the pack affair. If you don’t like these movies…you haven’t read this far.
Scare Value
Although The Nun II inevitably gives into the series worst impulses in the end…what leads us there is a marked improvement over The Nun. A more engaging story and better scares keep the (sometimes still too slow) narrative moving. The stakes still don’t feel high enough. Everything also comes down to a giant MacGuffin. Unlike The Nun, however, there is fun to be had this time around.
2.5/5
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