Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Review
It didn’t feel so long for Five Nights at Freddy’s to make its way back to the big screen. The signs for a sequel were already very obvious, thanks to its extremely dedicated fan base and its propeller box office numbers. That isn’t to discount the impact it’s had on the community, who love the original for everything, both good and bad. Five Nights at Freddy’s pulled out all the nostalgic stops to keep fans hyped, but at the cost of a strong plot. With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, it continues to do exactly that in all aspects, perhaps a bit too much.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 sees Mike (Josh Hutcherson), his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio), and Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) trying to move on from the first film’s events. However, trouble comes back when a group of “ghost hunters” awakens William Afton’s (Matthew Lillard) original victim, Charlie Emily. With Charlie possessing the Marionette, a powerful animatronic that can take over other animatronics and humans, Mike, Abby, and Vanessa must come to terms with the past and stop Charlie.
What’s perhaps the strongest element of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is simply how faithful it stays to Scott Cawthon’s vision. The film itself is booming with many narrative points that not only build up what fans know from the second game, but also from other games. There’s a strong narrative tie to the tail end of the original game series through the exploration of Vanessa’s childhood in a vision. The easter eggs are also plenty, with one being a split second cut before Mike flashes into the halls (fans will definitely pick up on this one.) Whereas the first film only had a few mentions and scenes spread about, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 truly digs deep into connecting Charlie and Vanessa together.
The way that the film goes about this is also kept brief as to keep the story going at a steady, if somewhat fast paced. The dialogue between characters, like with Mike and Vanessa and even with Mike and Abby, have only some character-centric dialogue that builds upon their roles. For example, there’s a heated moment between Mike and Vanessa about discussing their pasts that feels somewhat waived off. It wants to carry that emotional weight, but it doesn’t allow such moments to fully simmer. However, most of the dialogue is relegated to being narratively driven to keep the hardcore fans hooked on the animatronic action.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is truly packed to the brim with so much animatronic action, you could possibly consider it the Avengers: Endgame of the series. There’s a lot of pulling and tugging that’s done, but given the PG-13 rating of the film, it still feels like the film can only accomplish so much with the action. Although, some of the gore is there this time! Once the film gets into its big climactic battle, it genuinely feels like the team knew that going “animatronic vs. animatronic” was simply too good to let up.
The animatronic that definitely had the most meticulous build was Mangle, but it’s unfortunate that the only time they’re fully on screen is by the end of things. That isn’t to say that the jumpscares aren’t all that bad: some of the ones involving the Marionette did catch me a bit off guard, but they’re mostly a rarity.
Charlie, aka the Marionette, works on a whole different level from the others. Tammi and Cawthon decide to apply a technological perspective rather than the supernatural one fans know, which might downplay the character’s actual abilities. Although, whatever supernatural powers Charlie has, it gets passed down to whatever or whoever the Marionette possesses. This truly shows when Charlie takes over Lisa (Mckenna Grace), which provides much of the scares in this film.
While the action and that call to the fans’ nostalgia is what holds this movie strong, the narrative doesn’t feel particularly strong when it tries to tie Charlie and the Aftons. The context that’s provided is simply done in an expository way, mostly done through the conversation between Mike and a disgraced Henry Emily (Skeet Ulrich). Surprisingly, the film doesn’t make as much use of him as some would’ve believed, but hopefully, there’s room in the future to get him back.
Despite wanting to create a “twist villain”, one of the specific characters had very little build-up to begin with, only appearing in a scene or two when the original location is shown. Their motivation in causing chaos only has a basic contextual layering without any further depth: to continue what he started. Due to the fact that fans and some, like myself, picked up on what the narrative twist was, it was somewhat predictable to see that coming.
Overall, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 continues to play with the fanbase’s heartstrings by bringing in more animatronic action, hardlined references, fun easter eggs, and great scares at the risk of a strong plot. Though it’s clear that this franchise can survive on its hardcore fanbase alone, it feels certain that Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 is already greenlit. However, the coming days can only tell so much.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 releases in theaters on December 5.
Rating: ★★★
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.