WARNING: Major spoilers for Smile 2 ahead.
Summary
Smile 2has been released in cinemas worldwide and is already terrifying audiences. The opening scene in particular has been a point of interest, as it pulls the franchise’s cruelest trick yet.Smile 2sees Kyle Gallner return rather briefly as Joel, the police officer from the first movie. It’s a somewhat predictable move, but writer/director Parker Finn takes it in an unpredictable and horrifying direction.
This new scary sequel stars Naomi Scott as pop star Skye Riley. Skye is trying to make a return to her music career after a dreadful tragedy caused by her drug and alcohol addiction. However, her world is turned upside down when the evil Smile entity attaches itself and starts to torment and stalk her, just like it did Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) in the first film.
Joel Tries to Break the Curse’s Pattern in Smile 2’s Opening Scene
Smile 2has already been a big success. The movie opened with an impressive $23 million at the box office in the United States, toppling horror indie darlingTerrifier 3off the number-one spot.Smile 2also managed to beat its predecessor’s Rotten Tomatoes score, which isvery impressive for a horror sequel. That’s almost unheard of in the industry.
While the horror sequel follows Skye, the movie opens with Kyle Gallner’s Joel. The opening scene reveals Joel’s fate, which was left somewhat ambiguous atthe end of the first film. Joel tries to save Rose at the end ofSmile, but she ends up passing on the curse to him. The second film starts with Joel trying to figure out how to save his own life. Until now, everyone who’s been inflicted with the curse has ended up killing themselves in front of another person, which passes the demonic entity onto them.
After having witnessed Rose set fire to herself at the end of the first movie, Joel now has to try and find a way to rid himself of the curse. However, he does have one thing in his favor: Joel knows the curse’s pattern and its behavior. He understands the rules and knows he only has a short amount of time before he meets the same fate as Rose. So, he tries to find a loophole, and ends up successful.
Joel Figures Out The Loophole In The Smile’s Curse
Joel obviously remembers that he can murder a person in front of another witness. The Smile curse would be passed on to the witness, and Joel would then be free. He was told that this would work by convicted murderer Robert Talley inSmile. So, Joel plans to murder a drug dealer’s brother in front of him. However, it doesn’t end up going as planned.
Joel thinks that by murdering a drug dealer and passing on the curse to his brother, he would be freeing an innocent person from said curse. Joel believes that he would be innocent in this case, even though he’s murdering someone. However, the police officer’s in a rather tight spot here, so murdering a criminal feels like his best option.
Joel succeeds in murdering the drug dealer, and the curse is passed on to the other witness as planned. However, the police officer doesn’t enjoy his freedom for too long, as he ends up in a shootout with the other dealer. Joel accidentally kills him, thus eliminating the witness, and it’s insinuated that the curse passes back to Joel.
This is where it gets tricky, because it’s not really explained whether Joel is freed from the curse or not. He ends up being run over by a truck after fleeing the scene of the crime. What’s very clear, though, is that Joel is killed by the collision, and with his rather violent demise comes another big problem.
Joel’s Knowledge of the Curse
Joel, along with Rose, knew what had to be done in order to pass the curse onto another person without actually dying. With Rose having lit herself on fire at the end of the first film, and now Joel having been fatally run over, that knowledge lies solely with Robert Talley. This means that the loophole that could save at least one person’s life cannot be shared or taught to others who become afflicted with the curse. This is a fantastic subversion from Parker Finn, who could have easily focused the movie on continuing this part of the story, but instead leaves the audience and characters feeling hopeless. Instead, the movie cleverly introduces a new way to rid one’s self of the curse, but it is far more risky.
After having killed the two drug dealers, Joel comes across an insignificant dealer named Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage). It turns out that Lewis witnessed the murders, and he’s now the one who’s been inflicted with the curse. Joel is relieved when he discovers that the curse has been successfully passed on without him having to take his own life. However, that doesn’t last very long, as he ends up being run over shortly afterward. As for Lewis, he has no idea what’s really happened or what horrors await him. On top of that, he will never have the knowledge that killing another person in front of a witness can rid him of the curse without having to take his own life. Instead, the curse latches onto the small-time drug dealer, and he passes it on toNaomi Scott’s Skye Riley.
