[REC] 2 Review

Written by: ReelyBored   

As is the case with any sequel, it is always difficult as a follow-up or to live up to the original's success. Not so much with [REC]2. Those of you not familiar with [REC], it is the Spanish, and original, movie in which Quarantine was based on. Being that I'm not a huge fan of remakes, I thoroughly enjoyed Quarantine even though it was exactly like the Spanish version [REC] almost shot for shot but a bit more polished. So why the remake? Just another reason for Hollywood to capitalize on someone elses' success. I mean, I think that the purchase for the right was made immediately after its release in Spain! I mean, really??

The [REC] series is shot in the same manner as Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project so you can expect a lot of shaky cam business with plenty of room for scares and 'Oh shit!' moments. This film holds up watching it at home whereas Cloverfield had a different effect on your home television compared to the big screen.

[REC] 2 takes place about 15 minutes after the first film where contact is lost with the occupants of the quarantined building. A SWAT team is tasked to enter the building and monitor the situation. Yeah, not so simple as they don't know the mess that they are walking into.

Although [REC] 2 proved to be a worthy sequel, I was not thrilled with the overall premise of the film. What bothered me the most, in particular, is the fact that they explained way too much and that sense of mystery of what was actually happening was taken out of the equation. In the first [REC], there were some hints of what may be happening but never was that information disclosed. However, in the sequel, the audience is supplied with a first-class, grade-A, annoying expert who has all the answers and explains it all to us to the point where I was scratching my head and asking myself, "Oh, why did they ever do that?"

For those inclined to watch this sequel or even if you haven't seen the first, there may be some minor spoilers ahead. Of course none that gives away anything particularly crucial (well, maybe).

What had me shaking my head?

Well, the filmmakers felt inclined to turn the situation [cough] religious. Instead of keeping it nice and simple (chemical outbreak), they had to go the supernatural route which, I think, was unnecessary and unwarranted although it does make it somewhat intriguing and different than the usual and typical zombie movie. Are they zombies? Hard to say. The infection in the first [REC] seemed more like a rabies infection or an experiment gone wrong. It is obvious that the filmmakers were looking for a specific route to explain the infection, and it comes across that they made their decision with this sequel.

Still, the film holds it together with the suspense, action and tension. Another thing that had me scratching my head was the fact that there is a slew of infected persons that weren't in the original. Of course, if you know anything about the original, you would know that it centered around the occupants of a building which is quarantined (hence the American title, Quarantine) in a building because of an unknown infection. How can there be newly infected people when the building was on lock down? There's an answer to that. Apparently, there are secret passage ways in the building where the infected were hiding out.

In the sequel you would definitely need a whole cast of characters for those familiar with what happened with the previous cast in the original. The new cast members include a search and rescue team (SWAT), a priest, an occupant who is just arriving home to the building and is inquiring about his family, and a gang of annoying nosy kids who for some reason want to get inside the building (fracking idiots they are).

For those who think that less is more then this film is not for you. The curtain is lifted with this sequel as the filmmakers Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza make it a point to come up with an explanation of the outbreak and it's origins. To me, this was a major turnoff even though I still enjoyed the film. There is a good amount of gore and scares throughout the movie as well as many moments in which you just want to slap the shit out of many of the characters for A.) being annoying and for B.) being pretty dumb