Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 captures the essence of a modern day sequel as it truly makes you wonder why it was made in the first place. While its charming, recognizable characters make for an enjoyable watching experience, its other redeeming factors are slim to none.
2023’s smash hit “Five Nights at Freddy’s” was met with raving fan appeal as the community was ecstatic for Scott Hawthorn’s 2015 creation to be brought to the big screen. While the film was met with subpar reviews from critics, fans found the film astonishing, as it brought what they truly wanted, a loving homage to a beloved series. This years sequel leaves something to be desired as it turns from a loving recreation, into a drawn out easter egg hunt.
One reason that the movie feels less magical than the original is the major plot holes and failures throughout that pull away from any enjoyment. Early in the movie, it is established there is a second Freddy’s pizzeria of which there was another accident. While this is not in itself a plot hole, a character later travels to it from their home by bike to this second pizzeria after not knowing of its existence.
This creates many questions throughout the film, where is this second location? How did these characters not know about it with it being so close? Why are there TWO of the same pizzeria in a mid-sized town in Minnesota? These are question I had while in the theater and had me confused as to why this obvious plot hole would be included, how could a team of writers think that these characters wouldn’t know about this?
These holes aren’t the only problem I had with the film, the strange and clunky dialogue left impactful and tense scenes feeling ridiculous and painful to watch as multiple reactions felt as though they were written for a children’s cartoon. It’s understandable to think that the film’s dialogue was written to be somewhat goofy, but it contrasts heavily with the films dingy set pieces and tenser moments.
My final problem with the film is that is panders far too much to setting up another sequel, so much so that it falls flat introducing its multiple new characters. It is a constant theme throughout the film that their is little payoff for any new additions, very little conflicts see any growth or resolution. During the movie, multiple characters are introduced and serve very little to the plot of the film as it leaves me wondering “why are they here?”
Although these glaring flaws are prevalent throughout, the film is as a whole enjoyable to the people it matters to most, the original fanbase. Every inch of this film’s runtime is packed with easter eggs and homages to the series long running themes and stories made by Scott Hawthorn and the community. From the moment I sat down in the theater I recognized dozens of references and probably missed dozens more.
Overall, While the films flaws are glaring, looking past them, you find a beloved and true homage to a fanbase that is still excited to see their favorite characters on the big screen. While I did enjoy it to an extent, I’d probably just wait for this to come out on streaming and save myself the ticket.
