The Descent Part 2

When watching The Descent 2 you’ll probably fit into three camps.  One will be the people who watched the first movie and want to know how it continues and HOW it could continue.  Second will be people who have seen the first movie and hope for a movie just as good as the original and if it’s not? Well you’ll just hate it because it’s not the original.  The third will be people who have never seen the first and just want a good horror movie.  The question is going to be who out of the three groups will like this movie?

The movie starts straight from where the first left off.  We learn that some women are trapped in the caves and people are now looking for them.  Turns out they are looking for them in the wrong place because (as the people who saw the original know) the “flight plan” that was given is wrong.  One of the women who went missing suddenly appears miles away and a team of rescuers are called in to go into the caves where they actually are and see what happened to them.  Oh yeah, they decide to drag the survivor along for the ride.  As they get deeper into the caves they find themselves attacked by the same creatures as the original party were, but this time (in a small space of time) they’ve evolved to be tougher and meaner.  Not that that makes sense of course.

As with the first movie we have few characters to work with and the actors do the best with what they’ve got.  Shame is, there is very little characterisation as this seems to have been sacrificed to get straight to the action.  This of course is not a bad thing, but it would have been good to learn more about the characters as this is one of the strengths of the original.  The two characters from the original (Sarah and Juno) are not surprisingly the stronger of the characters and it is nice to see the continuing story between them and how it concludes.

I started by saying this movie was aimed at three groups and arguably I think it will be liked by 2 of them (people who have seen the first and want to see the continuation of the story and people who have never seen the first).  The third group may like it but when you compare the original with this the original is a better and a stronger movie.

The big difference between the two movies is that the second is made to be a much more fun one.  This leads to it having a different tone and one some may not like.  The gore is also upped to add to the fun which also adds to the difference between the two as in this it’s much more cartoonish and visceral gore where in the original it was harsher and more realistic to keep to the harsh tone.

I’ve talked to quite a few horror fans who don’t like this movie (probably because it can’t live up to the original) but I for one liked it.  Sure it’s more cartoonish in portrayal of the violence on the screen but it’s entertaining and in a genre full of remakes it’s good to see a movie that doesn’t tread old ground but extends a story that many wanted to see.

rating 7/10