“The Black Phone 2” for me was a highly anticipated watch. I really loved the first movie and was so thrilled when the second movie was announced; they were going to continue the story and fill major plot points that I couldn’t even fathom happening. I generally had mixed expectations going into the movie, hearing reviews that it wasn’t good or that it wasn’t “better than the original.” Most people believe that sequels can never beat the original, but in my opinion, “The Black Phone 2” is superior to the first movie, with an advanced story line, camera work, and new characters to set the scene.
One of my favorite things about this movie was the camera work. As the movie is supposed to be set during the 1970s, some scenes can be seen as grainier to show the similarities to cameras from that time. The camera effect was especially used during Gwen’s dreams. The fuzzy effect showed the change in the atmosphere, how dreams can be unclear, as many people have a hard time remembering their dreams, but how dreams can be generally confusing or have no meaning.
Just like in the first movie, Finney and Gwen work together using their own strengths to help defeat the Grabber. For example, Finney is able to communicate with ghosts through the phone just as he could in the first movie. Gwen had a bigger role in this film, which I enjoyed. She got to put her dream skills to work just as she did the first movie but also had her dream rules expanded, where she had the ability to be more free and act in her dreams.
They utilized the same dialogue from the fight scene with Robin in the first movie and in the second movie with the same scripted fight scene with Finney. This really showed the connection and bond between the two characters and also gave insight into Finney’s emotions, as he and Robin were close in the first movie. It shows how Finney is coping with the whole situation, as he can’t get over what has happened and the effect Robin had on his character’s growth as a whole.
I enjoyed that they expanded the mom’s backstory to see who she was as a person, as we don’t get really any character development or insights into her personality in the first movie. This really helped connect certain aspects of the movie and fill in certain gaps.
One of the most highly anticipated aspects of the movie was having the actor of Robin (Miguel Mora) return for the second movie playing his little brother Ernesto. This was an amazing choice not only to expand the background of Robin, but also for the fans who enjoyed the actor in the first movie. Ernesto had a great bond with Gwen in the movie just as Finney and Robin shared a similar bond in the first movie. I really believe that bringing Miguel Mora back to set was an amazing way to keep Robin’s character alive and still a part of the story line.
One of the main reasons I wanted to see this movie was because I was intrigued by how Finney’s character was going to be involved. After the events of the first movie, I was interested in how Finney was going to progress due to his trauma while trying to go back to his normal life after the horrific events that took place in the first film. This movie really showed not only Finney overcoming his trauma but also Gwen trying to cope and help Finney at the same time. Madilyn McGraw’s(Gwen) performance was both raw and heartfelt. So much emotion was put into her performance which I believed showed how Gwen was dealing with the stress of everything. That gut wrenching scene was probably my favorite part of the whole movie.
