Following its appearance in “The Nun,” the demon, Valak, returns as a headliner to the film in “The Nun II.” Despite being a major component of the popular “Conjuring” universe, this entity fails to make this film worthwhile.
It isn’t just the demon at fault, either. The film, though it has potential, suffers from a plethora of errors, including poor character development, a dry plot and a noticeable lack of appearances from the titular nun herself.
Five years after the events of the first “Nun” film, Sister Irene is sent to investigate new sightings of the return of the demonic entity Valak. She is eventually reunited with Maurice, who is possessed by the demonic entity, at a boarding school in France and comes face to face with Valak again.
Much of the main cast of the first film returns, with both Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene and Jonas Bloquet as Maurice, aka Frenchie. Noticeably Demián Bichir, the first installment’s Father Burke, is absent with only a passing mention despite a leading role in the previous film.
Of course, in this one, the demon that was seemingly defeated in the previous film has mysteriously returned. The film suggested that Valak may return in the previous film when Valak left a mark on Maurice, creating a connection between them.
Ultimately, the choice to bring back the majority of the main cast members was an odd one since their initial appearance failed to leave much of an impression, and it essentially puts this film at odds with the continuity of the rest of the franchise.
The continuity isn’t this film’s only issue, as the story itself is so close to saying something interesting but disappointingly fails to follow through. Both the characters of Sister Irene and Storm Reid’s Sister Debra have components that could make for some interesting commentary on how women are often the backbone of Catholic communities despite the main roles of authority being delegated to men. In the case of Sister Irene, the payoff for such an arc is entirely there but lacks in any of the setup.
This lack in development is especially noticeable when you realize that Sister Debra is incredibly underutilized and could have served as a force to push Irene to call for more respect at the beginning of the film in order to properly set up the arc that never finds its completion within the film.
On top of all these issues, it doesn’t help that there is also a lack of genuine scares as well. A lot of the film likes to build up tense moments and overutilize cheap jump scares, but other than the magazine-flipping scene shown throughout the trailers, nothing else was particularly interesting or unique.
It was interesting to see the demon take on a different form at one point other than the nun, but although this form was unique, the film fails to do much with it, and it eventually just fades into obscurity rather than as a device to further the plot. Along with this, when in the nun form, nothing much is done other than creepy sudden appearances.
The problem continues from the original film with the demon having poorly defined powers and goals that makes its motives questionable. A detailed history is unnecessary, but the film would benefit from some context that could provide motive and reason behind the seemingly contradictory actions, which as they are written, leave the character as simply a device to serve the script.
Ultimately, ‘The Nun II’ is a major installment in the popular “Conjuring” franchise, but it fails to truly do the franchise any favors as it struggles in almost all aspects.
