And I so wanted The Descent: Part 2 to be great. Neil Marshall's original is one of the best horror movies of the last decade, it being a nerve shredding roller coaster driven by the six chicks with picks. But the sequel is blighted by sequelitus...a condition that means too much effort has been put into replicating the beats of the origin movie instead of inventing new, three-dimensional characters, situations, locations or mythology for the audience to explore (Jaws 2 and Ghostbusters II spring to mind).
The Descent's follow up has well staged set-pieces, cool, gory effects, a lush cinematic look and a solid cast. But it's disappointingly under-written with barely a fresh idea in it's body. Only the final 90 seconds provide a new avenue to explore but it's way too late by that time to save the film. Since the sequel handily ignores the first movie's UK resolution (it following on directly from the more upbeat American finale) I can quite comfortably ignore this film. The Descent 2 is the Highlander 2 of this franchise...except that I would recommend this as a passable way to pass your time on a beer fueled Friday night moviethon.
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