[Rec] 2

[Rec] 2 (2009)

Runtime: 85 minutes

Directed by: Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza

Starring: Jonathan Mellor, Oscar Sanchez Zafra, Ariel Casas, Pablo Rosso

From: Filmax

Here’s the sequel to the popular Spanish “found footage” movie [Rec], which I watched and reviewed last year, and which spawned an American remake, Quarantine, which is almost identical. Now, Quarantine 2 is completely different from this movie, funnily enough.

To bring things up to speed, this movie starts 15 minutes after the first one ends; as a refresher, the first film was about a film crew from a news station that followed around the local fire department. They get called into an apartment complex and it turns out that there was a sickness there and the government sealed them in due to what the sickness was, which would cause people to become blood-crazed lunatics. Here, a SWAT team and a guy who calls himself a doctor go into the apartment complex to see what’s going on there and if there are any survivors.

My opinion on the movie… well, I got done watching it about 10 before midnight, and since then I’ve been on a messageboard bitching about it, so that says a lot right there.

Now, I should have enjoyed this movie being like Aliens to the original’s Alien. Unfortunately, I didn’t. One thing is that as the movie expands on what you found out in the first, I wished that I knew less. The creatures ended up being changed and for the worse, I say. It’s so bad it almost ruins me watching the first movie as I now know more about those creatures and what they’re all about.

Then, there’s the bitching… throughout the movie you get a LOT of bitching, arguing, crying, moaning, whining, and so forth. I mean, sure you get that in the first, but it pales in comparison to what you get here. After awhile, it just becomes tiresome. Even the SWAT team isn’t as awesome as you’d expect. To steal a quote I saw online, all of them act like Hudson in Aliens. One of him is great, but all of them? No, doesn’t work.

Unfortunately, I have to give out a spoiler here but it’s important. The four SWAT guys and the doctor aren’t the only characters you see throughout. About 40 minutes in you’re introduced to some other characters in what seems like a sidetrack that is uncomfortably shoehorned in. Those characters made the regular ones seem levelheaded and sedated in comparison, as they *really* up the ante on arguing, bitching, crying, moaning, and all that. I loathed those characters and really wish they wouldn’t have been shoehorned in.

Things pick up but then the ending, and the preceding 10 or so minutes… it’s just stupid and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Once the movie ended, I almost wanted to throw my remote at the TV in frustration. What a disappointment this turned out to be. From the plot description, it could have been awesome; aside from some moments that I DID think were well-done, it otherwise was a real letdown.

I’ll be back Thursday night (or maybe Friday morning) with a new review.