The good news is that the movie does not suck. Not completely at the very least.
When I saw that a trailer was released a few months ago I was quite sceptical and surprised that a direct sequel to the first installment would be released, as in my opinion there was not much to tell from this side of the story, as seen from the ending of The Nun. Well, unfortunately my fears proved to be well-founded, as the plot is quite bland, predictable, and frankly quite unengaing. In general I don't mind linear storytelling, the issue here though ist that everything seen in this picture has been done thousands of times before, especially in The Conjuring franchise, with the usual jumpscares and high notes to keep the tension going.
Don't get me wrong, some scenes were indeed quite memorable and well-executed, like the magazine kiosk one for instance, but in general this movie lacked one fundamental trait that truely characterized the first installment: atmosphere.
The Nun (1) oozed atmosphere like very few horrors I have seen recently (The Lighthouse or Underwater come to mind), as the isolated Medieval/Transylvanian setting was a key component of the mystery that was to be unravelled - all highlighted with an adequate soundtrack and sound design, which all contributed to make the experience quite immersive. Here instead both the soundtrack and the setting (1950s France) feel quite bland and anonymous, leaving very little weight to the viewer after the movie has ended - at least as far as I am concerned.
The most negative aspect though of this is sequel are the characters, or to be more specific the way they were written. None of them are "unlikable", and the casting was done quite correctly, nevertheless they are so plain and stereotypical and predictable, that they had my eyes rolling in few instances: Sister Irene is exactly the same character as the previous chapter, the supporting characters have the same motivations/personalities/attitudes of the other Conjuring movies, while Valak is... Well, Valak. Just to make things clear, I actually enjoyed the first installment, and one of the strongpoints, besides from what I have mentioned above, was the constant, malignant presence and influence of the titular character throughout the movie. Here though "Our Nun" has so little screen time that it negatively reflects on the magnitude of the threat it poses, despite the fact that the demon manages to exert its influence in more brutal and less subtle ways compared to The Conjuring 2 and The Nun.
And after a while I came to realize that most of these issues were already present in The Conjuring 3, which was directed by Michael Chaves as well...
So, is it all garbage? Not at all, even though I personally was not as hooked as the previous chapter, which, I repeat, I actually enjoyed, The Nun 2 is nonetheless a decent, watchable horror flick for halloween season. I still believe that The Conjuring franchise has a lot (?) of potential when it comes to horror, I just wish that they strived for less predictable stories and more consitent, higher quality entries in the future. Only time will tell.
When I saw that a trailer was released a few months ago I was quite sceptical and surprised that a direct sequel to the first installment would be released, as in my opinion there was not much to tell from this side of the story, as seen from the ending of The Nun. Well, unfortunately my fears proved to be well-founded, as the plot is quite bland, predictable, and frankly quite unengaing. In general I don't mind linear storytelling, the issue here though ist that everything seen in this picture has been done thousands of times before, especially in The Conjuring franchise, with the usual jumpscares and high notes to keep the tension going.
Don't get me wrong, some scenes were indeed quite memorable and well-executed, like the magazine kiosk one for instance, but in general this movie lacked one fundamental trait that truely characterized the first installment: atmosphere.
The Nun (1) oozed atmosphere like very few horrors I have seen recently (The Lighthouse or Underwater come to mind), as the isolated Medieval/Transylvanian setting was a key component of the mystery that was to be unravelled - all highlighted with an adequate soundtrack and sound design, which all contributed to make the experience quite immersive. Here instead both the soundtrack and the setting (1950s France) feel quite bland and anonymous, leaving very little weight to the viewer after the movie has ended - at least as far as I am concerned.
The most negative aspect though of this is sequel are the characters, or to be more specific the way they were written. None of them are "unlikable", and the casting was done quite correctly, nevertheless they are so plain and stereotypical and predictable, that they had my eyes rolling in few instances: Sister Irene is exactly the same character as the previous chapter, the supporting characters have the same motivations/personalities/attitudes of the other Conjuring movies, while Valak is... Well, Valak. Just to make things clear, I actually enjoyed the first installment, and one of the strongpoints, besides from what I have mentioned above, was the constant, malignant presence and influence of the titular character throughout the movie. Here though "Our Nun" has so little screen time that it negatively reflects on the magnitude of the threat it poses, despite the fact that the demon manages to exert its influence in more brutal and less subtle ways compared to The Conjuring 2 and The Nun.
And after a while I came to realize that most of these issues were already present in The Conjuring 3, which was directed by Michael Chaves as well...
So, is it all garbage? Not at all, even though I personally was not as hooked as the previous chapter, which, I repeat, I actually enjoyed, The Nun 2 is nonetheless a decent, watchable horror flick for halloween season. I still believe that The Conjuring franchise has a lot (?) of potential when it comes to horror, I just wish that they strived for less predictable stories and more consitent, higher quality entries in the future. Only time will tell.
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