Director: Michael Chaves
Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell, Bonnie Aarons
Screenplay: Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, Akela Cooper
110 mins. Rated R for violent content and some terror.

The Conjuring Universe is probably the 2nd most successful cinematic universe after the MCU, and the way it uses its budget, we will likely be seeing more installments over the years. With 3 Conjuring films and 3 Annabelle films, it only seems natural to continue with the story of the Nun. While I had mild fun with the original film as a purely cinematic haunted house movie with little to no substance, I was hoping for The Nun II to further expand on the main characters and villain, but I also questions what could be done with an installment set between the previous film and Maurice’s appearance in The Conjuring.

It’s been four years since the events at Saint Cartha’s monastery in Romania. Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga, The Mule) is no longer a novitiate and serves in an Italian convent. When she has a vision of Maurice (Jonas Bloquet, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), asking her to save him, she is sent by the Cardinal to the cause of several deaths across Europe potentially related to the demon Valak (Bonnie Aarons, Mulholland Drive). Her investigation soon brings her to France where she discovers the possessed Maurice has been working.

Sure, The Nun II is an improvement over its predecessor. The original film had a kernel of a good idea but ultimately became a very wash/rinse/repeat little horror ride, and I had fun with it, but it isn’t the next great classic. The Nun II is able to improve upon the faults of the original but it also felt so lifeless at the same time. I think the tone and atmosphere was a definite step up, but the narrative was a cobbled-together mess with all these disparate elements struggling to cohesively come together. We know from the outset of the film that Irene is going to eventually make it to the French school and Maurice, the audience has that information, so having much of the run time dedicated to her investigation when we already know the outcome feels like wasted time in a film that is way too long for its own good.

There’s also this issue with this sequel’s lack of forward momentum for the Universe. Let me explain: the first Nun film ends with us learning the identity of Maurice and his connection to the original Conjuring film. James Wan had said in an interview that he wanted this film to connect to the previous Nun and the original Conjuring and bring it full circle, but this film begins and ends in the exact same place for the character journeys. Nothing has really been accomplished, which feels like we spent the whole run time spinning our wheels. It isn’t that it doesn’t further The Conjuring Universe. It’s that it doesn’t even really further the characters in its own film. Now, I’m hearing that elements of this film connect to the fourth Conjuring film, so maybe it’ll make more sense once it can be seen in that light, but this is what we have for now.

Okay, so that’s a lot of the issues I had, but I want to tell you about the things I loved as well. I loved Taissa Farmiga’s continued character as Sister Irene. Given the material she had, she makes the most of it, and I feel like she’s far more fleshed-out a character than she was originally. I also loved a number of the scare sequences, like the magazine rack and the moment where Valak disappears into a stain on a wall. The finale has a number of exciting moments, and because of the strong atmospheric detail in the movie, I was more drawn into the shock than I expected.

The Nun II is a solid step in the right direction, but it could have been so much more. If you’ve enjoyed the Conjuring Universe and particularly The Nun, I think you’ll take a lot away from this one, but it isn’t a film that will finally make you a fan. It’s another safe entry in a universe that really needs another flagship for when Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga decide to walk away.

3/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Corin Hardy’s The Nun, click here.
For my review of David F. Sandberg’s Annabelle: Creation, click here.
For my review of John R. Leonetti’s Annabelle, click here.
For my review of James Wan’s The Conjuring, click here.
For my review of Gary Dauberman’s Annabelle Comes Home, click here.
For my review of Michael Chaves’s The Curse of La Llorona, click here.
For my review of James Wan’s The Conjuring 2, click here.

For my review of Michael Chaves’s The Maiden, click here.