Ready or Not 2: Here I come
Viewed: July 25, 2026
It seems I have some intrinsic connection to Horror-Comedy.. Horromedy?
Ready or Not 2 picks up following our heroine, Grace (played by Samara Weaving), immediately after the events of the first movie. In a subversion of expectations, the plot for this film is that Grace must survive being hunted through the night, surviving until dawn. Wait, that can’t be right. Nope, I checked my notes and the premise is the same as the first movie. Ok.
This time, we find out that there’s a high council and they will be the ones hunting her down. Ok. And if they don’t kill her by dawn, Mr Le Bail won’t be happy. Again. Ok.
The movie adds in Graces estranged sister, Faith (who I had to google because upon seeing her I was sure she was being played by Sabrina Carpenter), who shows up at the hospital as Grace’s emergency contact. But in a classic tv trope - can they co-exist?
As everyone dies in the first movie, outside of Grace the cast is entirely new. A notable addition to the cast is Elijah Wood who I was excited to see, as effectively the “rules lawyer” for the council.
Overall, like the first one, the movie is actually quite funny and very gory. It really doesn’t do much new, nor does it need to. It’s enjoyable enough watching Grace blunder her way through killing her hunters. But while the first was an original premise, this one feels every bit as much a sequel. And to be entirely honest, They Will Kill You felt like an even better sequel to Ready or Not and the two films aren’t even connected.
It’s worth a watch, but don’t go into it expecting something brand new. It’s the same basic formula. Overall I look forward to the expanded Ready or Not universe with additions like Ready or Not 3: Here We Come. And Ready or Not 4: Here You Come.
Score: One goat head up.
What kind of score is even that?
SPOILER REVIEW
Well, we’re back. Very literally. I guess the entire “We’ll just pick up the story right where it left off” is a bit of a different twist. At least it’s not “Three years later and Grace finds a new man and oh, man, HE’S A CULTIST TOO?”.
It felt like the movie took a bit of exposition to set up. Waiting 15 minutes for pretty much anything to happen felt way too long when we’re really just doing a re-do of the first movie.
Overall the movie was fine, which is evident by my above score. But some of my issues with the film include:
“Show, don’t tell”. I’m tired of the fact that everything has to be told. It’s basically a “Here you go, hunny. Let me remind you of everything that happened.” The most glaring example, to me, was when Grace was telling Faith in the hospital room exactly what happened in the first film. Now maybe it’s because I only watched the first film a few months ago (it came out in 2019?? How did I never even hear about it until this year) - but I feel that if you weren’t told about, say, the bodys exploding; when Keemy (I have no idea who the character was in this film. I’ll just use his character from Lost instead) goes to kill Grace too early and his bloodline is purged by Mr Le Bail, it feels like this would have been a more impactful “Oh, yeah, I forgot people literally fucking pop”. Couple that with Faith possibly not knowing that yet and it makes her “What the fuck” mean a lot more. That or if you have to have Grace fill her in on all the details, have Faith brush her off entirely for being a lying sack of shit so when it happens Faith immediately realizes it’s all legit.
I enjoyed Elijah Wood as the rules lawyer, telling people what they could and couldn’t do. Zipping ahead to the end, I really liked his “I ain’t getting into this shit” look to Grace and Faith while everyone else is diving to their death. He was in a sense the stereotypical “evil lawyer”. He is almost quite literally the living lawyer for Satan.
Most of the other characters were fine. I expected some weird evil incest angle between Titus and his sister. Instead we learn that she’s always telling him what to do because she knows he’s awful and trying to guide him. This was a fun twist since Titus immediately walks in and snaps her neck, completely proving her right and showing she wasn’t lying.
Wan Chen Xing explaining to Grace that there’s a legit loophole was a bit of a twist which I’m glad ended up not being an unfired Chekov’s gun. I would have liked to have seen Grace marry her son all the while he’s glued to his Steam Deck not knowing what’s going on. Although since the other families aren’t permitted to kill her, I don’t understand what the purpose of her carrying around the sword was for. It wasn’t for protection from the other families, so it seems unnecessarily antagonistic of her. It was basically a “Hey, you think I’m full of shit since I’m carrying this weapon that can kill you - but surprise, I’m not!” Of course, that leads to her killing Nestor Carbonell and thus dooming her bloodline as a result. To be clear, I understand the why from the narrative payoff, but from a character depth standpoint it was a dumb move.
Also, can we (or I guess I) talk about Nestor Carbonell for a moment? I’ve loved him in everything I’ve seen him in. Lost, Bates Motel — I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head. But he’s always great. Him being a fast speaking Spaniard was great as expected. He has an ability to take over any scene he’s in and did so here again. I was disappointed to see him killed off so quickly. I wasn’t a big fan of his daughter, Francesca, being Graces ex’s ex, or just of her in general. I guess since her and her family was already part of the council, she wouldn’t care about the Satanic cult stuff, and technically he’d have never married Grace so he wouldn’t have gotten killed off. Although I think this raises a question of - if two of the council families marry do they still need to play a game?
On the Francesca thread - I didn’t think two weeks in a row I’d be writing about a dining hall fight scene over a musical track. But.. it happened. Something something if I had a nickel for every. This fight scene was set to Bonnie Tyler’s (RIP) Total Eclipse of the Heart. I liked the Dan Bands version of it better. The scene was definitely goofy with them pepper spraying each other and then just swinging randomly like a shitty mosh pit. For the lack of action in it, it just went on for too long. The scene in They Will Kill You was handled so much better.
One of the pieces that annoyed me immensely was the escape sequence where Grace and Faith are at the closed gate. At first Faith has the sword at Titus’ neck. When Titus and Ursula take over and Ursula has Grace on the ground, Faith runs and tackles her. Both Titus and Ursula are stunned. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY NOT GRAB THE SWORD AND FINISH THEM BOTH OFF THEN. Grace, at the least, has the ability to kill to survive. Instead they run in the other direction to the golf cart. I was not at all a fan of this plot thread. Sure, Grace had the railroad spike through her shoulder, but it just seems so lazy and an excuse to keep Titus and Ursula for the third act to say “We COULD kill you but we won’t”
As for the third act conflict. Of course Grace and Faith had to get into an argument. Again, it’s the entire normal “Can they co-exist?” trope. You’ve seen them make amends, but then Grace has to be upset because Faith didn’t run and leave her to die. Again, just a lazy trope.
I enjoyed the payoff from the first movie with Grace having the shotgun bandolier and actually getting to use it this time. And while she wasted too many shots, her giving Francesca the requisite “double tap” was deserved.
Back to the Chekov’s Gun, I was happy and a bit surprised at the “I’ll marry Titus” bit. I was expecting a twist during the ceremony (she’s able to wait it out until dawn, she signs a different name), and it didn’t come. Which in itself was unexpected for me. But her going through with the marriage and then killing Titus, then renouncing Le Bail and the organization. I was fine with all of that. I enjoyed the tossing of the ring in the death pit and watching everyone fight for it (and the resulting blood eruption). But, I will say that I don’t understand the ending. Specifically how she got out (mostly) unscathed. The Indian influencer guy renounced it all and he got popped, so why is it that she was able to live? Le Bail shows up and nods at her with a smirk - again, so is it that he’s impressed by her cunning and decided to let her go? I suspect when you’re Satan all these lives who have relinquished themselves to you are nothing more than playthings, so maybe he’s excited to see his playthings suffer so he can reap their souls himself.
Overall, and I said it before, the movie was absolutely fine. It was worth the watch. At this time there’s no number 3 announced but I fully expect it, along with another sister (Gloria, or Glory for short). And when it comes out, I’ll watch it too, enjoying watching Grace murderpop everyone.