Seven years after the very enjoyable original, Samara Weaving reprises her role as Grace MacCaullay in this sequel. As with the previous film, it is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy.
Grace was the sole survivor of a brutal “game” that resulted in the deaths of her husband and in-laws. She learns that her victory comes with a price: now, the wealthiest and most influential families on Earth have to kill her in a new game, or risk losing their power and fortunes.
The original film had quite a simple set up, but this sequel feels a lot more convoluted as a myriad of characters are introduced and the new rules are established. Once that is out of the way, the fun starts as the fights and killing commence.
The one area of improvement this time around is that Grace has an ally in her sister Faith, played by Kathryn Newton who is always a pleasure to see on screen. The impressive supporting cast also includes Elijah Wood and Sarah Michelle Geller, who brings a nice nuance to her role.
The ending gets bogged down a bit, but on the whole, this is an enjoyable sequel.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10