OVERVIEW
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come brings Grace back for another night of bloodshed, expanding the first film’s world of rich-family death games with even more wealthy lunatics and the introduction of her sister.
BACKGROUND
Originally conceived as a stand-alone film, Ready or Not surprised audiences and critics alike at the end of the 2019 summer, grossing $57 million worldwide on a $6 million budget. It was not a full-blown phenomenon, but it gave a major boost in visibility to both Samara Weaving and Radio Silence, and many reviews at the time treated it as the beginning of something bigger for both. That happened to some extent, but not on the level those early reactions seemed to predict. Weaving never fully crossed into A-list territory, while Radio Silence moved on to larger studio projects like Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023), and Abigail (2024), films that were generally solid but not especially lasting. Seen from that angle, bringing Weaving back into the wedding dress felt not only unsurprising but somewhat inevitable.
Yet the landscape the film arrives in is completely different. If in 2019 the “eat the rich” subgenre still felt like it was only beginning, by 2026, it already resembled an orange squeezed to the last drop. Series like Succession and The White Lotus, and films like Triangle of Sadness and Glass Onion, tackled wealth and class resentment with real intelligence and precision. But with every The Menu, Saltburn, Blink Twice, Opus, and Death of a Unicorn, the subgenre has felt more drained and not really inviting.
EXECUTION
Ready or Not 2 goes in the most predictable direction possible: it repeats the first film, only on a bigger scale, which unsurprisingly and ironically makes it blander. There is absolutely no reason for it to exist, and the film is not remotely interested in making any social commentary this time around, focusing entirely on the “fun” of its central hunt. That would be fine, since there is only so much a film can do with mocking shallow millionaires, if the hunt were actually fun or if it at least gave us a reason to care about anything happening on screen.
It spends roughly its first 30 minutes setting up new villains and supporting characters, and the approach Radio Silence takes is similar to the one used by the John Wick franchise: expanding the universe, adding rules for why these games occur, and introducing more players. A lot of the first film depended on the surprise of its setup (unless you saw the trailer, which spoiled everything), and there is nothing remotely surprising here. Not only do the characters behave exactly as expected at every turn, but the film also makes the entire endeavor predictable through the way it frames its main game. Now the families compete to kill Grace, but only one family member is allowed to play at a time. That leaves the others feeling like substitutes waiting for their turn. Worse, the film does not use that opportunity to make the game escalate or raise the stakes. Instead, it starts bigger and somehow becomes easier for Grace and her sister as it goes along.
The sister, played by Kathryn Newton, is completely devoid of charisma and is easily the film’s low point. She does not believe Grace at first when told about what happened in the previous film, and because we already know it is true, the movie spends far too much time beating around the bush just to get her up to speed. It is also laughable how the film introduces her after Grace said in the first film that she had no family. Their attempt at reconciliation feels completely forced, and any emotional investment the film expects from us is close to zero.
The most frustrating element, however, and the one that truly sinks Ready or Not 2, is how uninventive all the action set pieces are. There is no suspense, no fight worth remembering, and no death you could really call creative. There is gore, but ultimately, Radio Silence always resorts to the same trick: blowing up a character. This kind of joke is fun and unexpected the first time around, but it becomes predictable fast (despite the characters themselves insisting it is “always shocking”). The film only needed to convince us that Grace was in greater danger, while also delivering fun, inventive deaths along the way. It does neither, and the addition of more killers only makes things worse: it becomes increasingly implausible that Grace would survive, and the villains look increasingly incompetent for letting her. Despite Samara Weaving’s talent and the easy hook of its premise, Ready or Not 2 ends up simply boring.
AFTERTASTE
In the end, Ready or Not 2 is a sequel that never justifies its existence, mistakenly assuming that repeating the original with a bigger budget, a larger cast, and more lore is enough to make up for its utter lack of originality. It brings back the dress, the blood, and the rich, but none of the surprise, wit, or rhythm that made the first film a modest hit. Samara Weaving deserves better.