Shining isn't my favorite horror movie that's for sure but I appreciate all the effort put in making something gripping, haunting, psychedelic production, that wasn't about the cheap jumpscares and bland slasher movie solutions, not to mention its emphasis on ambiguity will keep it on the top tier horror movie list.
This same ambiguity is represented here in the sequel, but also has the guts to explain some aspect of it that still keeps the whole concept in the mist making us ramble in unsureness with a bit of a direction.
The tone, atmosphere resonates with the original, the visuals are haunting and well executed overall, yet there are some aspects of the cinematography that kinda had that B movie vibe to it compared to the Kubrick's wide, rennaissance-like perfection where every image seemed like a painting, an art.
Acting is great, nothing to complain about, probably the girl protagonist was a bit wooden and reacted to really shocking happenings minimally.
The 2/3 is a really powerful buildup to a not so satisfying climax. The last 20 minutes of the movie is more of a nostalgia/fan service where the well built up 2/3 of the film was kinda cheapened, betrayed. It seemed like the closer the creators got to the old, familiar places of the original movie the less sure they were about what they really want to do there, which is unfortunate as this should have been the moment of awesomeness, the answer to this story, but it got dragged down by the direction being out of focus.
Overall it feels mostly a worthy sequel that builds on its predecessor and has many good ways to extend the story further, however some of the places where it really should have been powerful it wasn't unfortunately. Nonetheless it's a good installment that definitely needed to be seen by The Shining fans.
This same ambiguity is represented here in the sequel, but also has the guts to explain some aspect of it that still keeps the whole concept in the mist making us ramble in unsureness with a bit of a direction.
The tone, atmosphere resonates with the original, the visuals are haunting and well executed overall, yet there are some aspects of the cinematography that kinda had that B movie vibe to it compared to the Kubrick's wide, rennaissance-like perfection where every image seemed like a painting, an art.
Acting is great, nothing to complain about, probably the girl protagonist was a bit wooden and reacted to really shocking happenings minimally.
The 2/3 is a really powerful buildup to a not so satisfying climax. The last 20 minutes of the movie is more of a nostalgia/fan service where the well built up 2/3 of the film was kinda cheapened, betrayed. It seemed like the closer the creators got to the old, familiar places of the original movie the less sure they were about what they really want to do there, which is unfortunate as this should have been the moment of awesomeness, the answer to this story, but it got dragged down by the direction being out of focus.
Overall it feels mostly a worthy sequel that builds on its predecessor and has many good ways to extend the story further, however some of the places where it really should have been powerful it wasn't unfortunately. Nonetheless it's a good installment that definitely needed to be seen by The Shining fans.