the fnaf 2 movie is a mess
i need to talk about the five night's at freddy's 2 movie before i completely lose my mind. i think it is lowkey the biggest downgrade from the first film we could have gotten and i'm curious to hear other people's thoughts (and share my own, of course)
massive spoilers below.
initially, i wasn't going to come to tumblr with my ranting. i was content to just ramble my complaints to my girlfriend (who has yet to see it) and leave it at that. however, i saw people on twitter defending mike's actions at the end of the movie, and it sparked my desire to share my own thoughts.
my thoughts being this: mike had no right to talk to vanessa like that. like. at all. it blew my mind when they wrote him saying that— especially because, honestly? mike was on thin ice for me for the entire movie with the way he was acting, but the ending really solidified them completely ruining his character for me. they made him so out-of-character compared to the first movie.
i see people saying that mike had every right to snap at vanessa at the end for keeping secrets and not telling him stuff, which in turn put abby and himself in danger, but the thing is... it's not vanessa's job to protect abby? it's mike's job to make sure his sister isn't sneaking out, getting herself into trouble, and putting them all in danger. because when you really think about it, it is abby's fault that the animatronics breached containment. i hate that they made mike go from an authoritative parenting style in the first movie to a permissive parenting style in the second. in the first movie, he puts up with no nonsense from abby, and that's what keeps abby safe. in the second movie? she sneaks out and he doesn't notice. he brushes it off whenever she's upset about something instead of pushing (which he should push when it comes to a child who may potentially be upset because something or someone is hurting her). he leaves her alone both at home and at her school. when she does something wrong, he coddles and lies to her rather than parenting her. it genuinely blew my mind when abby snuck out to freddy's and he wasn't even slightly upset with her. this is your 11-year-old sister! it's the middle of the night! and he rewards her behavior by letting her take something from the place, no less! i understand she was upset, but holy shit, he's gone from a "tough-love but well-meaning" older brother to a neglectful jackass. hell, its clear that during the entire year between the events of the first movie and this one, he never once even tried to tell abby that the animatronics are gone, and she can never see them again, and it's extremely dangerous for everybody in her life to even try. had he had that conversation with her? the events of the second movie wouldn't have even happened. but instead, he lied to her and coddled her for an entire year. sure, she's a child, but she's 11, not 5; she can understand the difference between right and wrong, and she can understand being told not to do something. the mike from the first movie would be disgusted by the way mike in the second movie parents abby. also, he's clearly still not emotionally available enough for abby, to the point where even a year later, she'd rather talk to animatronics about her woes than her brother. it's like he learned nothing from the first movie. he clearly doesn't keep his promise that he's "going to do better."
and don't even get me started on the way he treats vanessa. her father is a serial child murderer who abused, manipulated, and attempted to murder her, which obviously left her with insane trauma. and mike tells her to... "just move on"? just leave things in the past? just let it go? which, quite frankly, i straight-up found out of character. it felt like that came from a bad fanfiction rather than from the actual movie. mike of all people should understand the lasting impact familial trauma can leave on somebody. he of all people should be empathetic and supportive toward vanessa. instead, he yells at her on his porch when she tries to tell him about his sister (to KEEP HER SAFE, MIGHT I ADD!). he's a complete and utter jackass with zero empathy toward the people around him, now. like— imagine if, in the first movie, when mike talked about garrett, vanessa instead said, "you just need to move on and get over it." that would be an insane thing to say to somebody, right?!?! completely unempathetic and cruel???
additionally, back to the vanessa thing: people act like vanessa purposefully kept these things from mike, but how the hell was she supposed to tell him if, when she tried, he yelled at her and said she just needed to move on? also, she had zero way of knowing that any of this was going to happen to begin with. is she just supposed to clairvoyantly know that her comically evil brother michael is back in town giving tours of charlotte's camping grounds and killing people? she was also trying to move on! unlike mike, though, the moment she realized things were amiss with abby, she went back to charlotte and tried to make sure she was trapped again. she also tried to apologize and explain things to mike in the security office— they just didn't have time. well and truly, i believe vanessa was going about everything perfectly given her circumstances.
this was a smaller complaint, but i also don't really like what they did with abby's character. it feels like they just kind of throw away all the struggles she had in the first movie and act like they never happened— suddenly she has no issues making friends, she's basically unfazed by her mean teacher, and, worst of all— she's learned nothing from the first movie. zero character development, just unleashes the evil robots from hell all over again. again, i understand that she's a kid, but like. come on. i feel like by the time i was 11 i understood that there were things i should do, and things i should not do, and if i almost died to a bunch of animatronics once, i definitely would not risk doing it all over again 1 year later. i also feel like they toned down her stubbornness and proneness to getting upset, which i felt were important and interesting aspects of her character. i adored the way she was written in the first movie, and it sucks that it feels like she's a totally different character in the second one.
i definitely agree with the people who said mike's "stay away from us" statement was just a heat-of-the-moment thing and he'll probably regret or feel bad about it in the third movie (if we even get one LOL), but i'm of the opinion that that just isn't something he'd say to begin with. it's out-of-character.
anyway, rant over. i enjoyed everything else (although i wish henry had more screen time!! he should've been way more important!!!), especially vanessa. and megan fox as toy chica #iknowthatsright