The Nun II review

THE NUN II: 

SEQUEL TO CONJURING PREQUEL IS SURPRISINGLY ENGAGING DESPITE INDIFFERENT PLOT! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Valak the Nun is back in The Nun II

 

            The sequel everybody was asking for is finally here in The Nun II, the latest installment of the Conjuringfranchise and follow-up to 2018’s The Nun. The Conjuring films have been rather hit or miss to me with the only ones I truly enjoyed being The Conjuring 1 and 2 and the second Annabelle film, Annabelle: Creation while the rest ranged from either average, bad, or in Curse of La Llorona’s case, I didn’t even see it…the first Nun is bad! 

            Despite decent performances by the cast and an occasionally good scare, the first Nun is a very standard and predictable horror movie with little variety and a giant step backwards from the other Conjuring films. Even though it was ripped apart by most critics when it came out, The Nun was a financial success thus resulting in the sequel we’re talking about right now. 

            The film is directed by Michael Chaves who has already directed films in the Conjuring Universe including The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It and features Taissa Farmiga (The Bling Ring, DC Animated Universe, The Mule) and Jonas Bloquet (The Family, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, 1899) reprising their roles as Sister Irene and Maurice. I had very low expectations going into it, but I was also hopeful that it would be an Annabelle situation where I did not like the first movie and really enjoyed the second…and yes, it’s (kind of) an Annabelle situation. 

            Let me get this out of the way, The Nun II is not a perfect film (Not even close!) nor is it one of the best films in the Conjuring series, but it is a huge improvement over its predecessor with a lot of creative scares and I was invested in the characters this time around. It’s a complete reversal of the Meg movies where the first one I kind of enjoyed while the sequel is among the worst films of the year. 

            Set four years after the events of The Nun, the film follows Sister Irene (Farmiga) being sent to France to investigate a series of horrific murders including that of a priest. When the demonic entity, Valak the Nun (Bonnie Aarons-Mulholland Drive, Jakob’s Wife) targets a French boarding school that her friend, Maurice (Bloquet) happens to work at, Irene and a young novitiate known as Sister Debra (Storm Reid-A Wrinkle in Time, The Invisible Man (2020), Missing) who accompanies her must race to put an end to Valak’s reign of terror…at least until she’s reawakened when The Conjuring 2’s plot begins. 

             The film also stars Anna Popplewell (Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy, Reign) as Kate, Suzanne Bertish (The Wife, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Sex Education) as Madame Laurent, and David Horovitch (Miss Marple, 102 Dalmatians, House of the Dragon) as Cardinal Conroy. 

            Overall, The Nun II is a perfectly serviceable installment of the Conjuring series and horror movie on its own. I came in expecting it to be just like the first film and I came out of it moderately entertaining which is more than I could say for its predecessor. 

            The scares are a lot better this time though some of the best ones were unfortunately spoiled in the trailer, specifically the brilliant magazine rack scare (If you’ve seen the trailers or the movie, you know exactly what I’m talking about) which was probably the best in the film, I really wish they didn’t put that in the trailer. With that said, there are plenty that weren’t spoiled in the trailer like this particular scare involving a Valak painting that I loved, a haunting opening sequence where a priest gets levitated and set on fire, and some of the scenes were a certain character gets possessed by Valak are both genuinely creepy and even a little comical. 

            The acting is also superb especially from Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene who once again carries the whole film. I may not have liked the first film that much, but I found her character very compelling and likable and the same can be said here. 

            Jonas Bloquet is a treasure in this film as Maurice and has greatly improved since the first film. He does a great job selling this sense of vulnerability and also has charming chemistry with this young girl he befriends at the boarding school, unfortunately I cannot say much about his performance without going into spoilers so I will move on now. 

            That is already a huge step up from the first Nun movie because I actually cared about most of the characters this time and wanted to see them prevail in the end. With the exception of Farmiga’s Sister Irene, I could care less if every character from the first film got killed while here, we have actual character development. 

            While the film excels at inventive scares and captivating characters, it doesn’t really do anything new in terms of story. It hits every beat you’d expect from a film like this and aside from a few plot elements and ideas explored, it’s mostly just going through the motions and structured like another generic Conjuring spin-off with some standout moments. 

            The Nun II is perfectly fine and one of the better Conjuring spin-offs, the acting is strong, the characters are likable, and the scares are very creative. Had the plot been better, I think this could have been on par with Annabelle: Creation, but as is I don’t regret seeing it.