| At the end of Chapter 1, Alex was at university, but Stanley, head of the violent cultists living on an island, had already tracked her there. It doesn’t take long for him to kidnap her, instigating a cat and mouse game of revenge with Danny. If you liked Chapter 1, you’re going to like Chapter 2. The action is a bit more evenly paced this time, and extends the story with a few different angles. | | 2026
Directed by: Adam Davidson
Screenplay by: TJ Brady, John Hlavin, Rasheed Newson
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Amelie Hoeferle
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Unlike in Chapter 1, where almost half the movie was dad and daughter bonding, the action starts a lot earlier here. Just two scenes with Alex at university where she let her guard down just enough for Stanley to kidnap her again. Danny, the ex-special forces operative, is quickly on the hunt. Arriving at the cult’s island during the first act. Similar to most of the first part of the movie, it’s quiet and calm for an action movie. Danny has to get the lay of the land, formulate a plan. The second act delivers a pretty fun set piece where Danny has basically booby-trapped an old house to watch Stanley’s hunchmen pick themselves off one by one.
Meanwhile, back at the compound where they’re trying to predict Danny’s next move, a lot more characters are given full stories with more relationship dynamics coming into focus. Lily, the other young woman we briefly met in Chapter 1, has a son now and if she’s going to escape this life, she’s only going to do it with her son. Many of the other cultists came here (either willingly or forced) as a way to live off the grid, away from society, peacefully. But with Stanley hellbent on revenge, that peacefulness is gone.
There is also an additional angle in this chapter which works for the film; in chapter 1, Stanley wanted Alex alive, a young woman to keep their bloodline alive, in chapter 2, he says early on that this is about revenge for killing his son, he has no intention to keep them alive, he just wants them to suffer first.
Like most action movies, some moments go a bit too far, and if they did just want to kill Alex she would have been dead by now, but conveniently Stanley’s need to watch her suffer gives Danny the opening that he, and the film, needs.
Some fans may be frustrated that this is two movies instead of one, but I think releasing this as a sequel is necessary. It has a different flavour than Chapter 1, the flow and pacing work better here, and will be received better if audiences give a little bit of time in between the two chapters rather than watching as one long movie.
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