It Chapter Two Review: And So IT Continues
- naterichard98
- Sep 9, 2019
- 3 min read
DIRECTED BY: ANDY MUSCHIETTI
STARRING: JESSICA CHASTAIN, JAMES McAVOY, & BILL HADER RATED R FOR DISTURBING VIOLENT CONTENT AND BLOODY IMAGES THROUGHOUT, PERVASIVE LANGUAGE, AND SOME CRUDE SEXUAL MATERIAL
LENGTH: 169 MINUTES
One of the biggest surprises in the film industry in 2017 was the massive financial success of the big screen adaptation of horror maestro Stephen King's beloved horror novel It. Not only did the film become one of the highest grossing R-rated movies of all time but it also became the highest grossing horror film ever. While the film won the hearts of many, the film did have it's detractors with some claiming that the film wasn't particularly scary. That being said, there was a lot of high expectations going into It: Chapter Two, expectations so high that it'd be hard to top.
It: Chapter Two is set 27 years after the events of the first film and follows the now grown up Loser's Club having to come back together and return to Derry to take down It, the monster that terrorized them during the summer of '89. Bill is now married and is a successful horror author; Bev now a fashion designer stuck in an abusive toxic marriage; Ben has lot weight and is now a sought-after architect; Richie has become a stand-up comedian; Eddie is risk assessor in New York married to a woman whose an awful lot like his mother; Mike stayed in Derry and is now the town librarian; and lastly Stanley is now married with a family in Georgia.
While this sequel doesn't equal in quality to it's 2017 predecessor and is not all that scary, the film's near three hour runtime goes by fast, despite the fact that the storytelling structure gets pretty repetitive at certain points. The film never ceases to entertain and a lot of that is thanks to Andy Muschietti's willingness to tap into some of the weirder aspects of King's novel, he also isn't afraid of delving into tougher topics such as grief, suicide, abuse, and sexuality. It's hard to ignore the ambitiousness of the film, Muschietti is taking a lot of swings and even though there's plenty of plot points that miss the mark, the attempt is admirable in it's own right.
That being said the flaws here are still hard to ignore, while the young cast was the big draw of the first film, here the flashbacks are too frequent and feel just unnecessary, instead of focusing on the Losers' lives as adults, the film is still 'stuck in the past'. The audience has already spent over two hours with the kids two years ago, it's time to move on. Instead there's a chunk of this movie that feels same old, same old.
The central performances are, for the most part excellent, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, James Ransone, Jay Ryan, and Isaiah Mustafa are able to stay true to the characters of Bill, Bev, Eddie, Ben, and Mike; but the true stand-out of this film is Bill Hader as Richie, who continues to prove that he needs to be cast in more big blockbuster movies. It's easy to appreciate that Hader goes beyond just the typical comedic relief role and is able to bring a lot emotion and depth to his role. Bill Skarsgard is just as creepy as ever as Pennywise the dancing clown and despite there being chunks of the movie where he's absent, when he is onscreen he chews the scenery.
It: Chapter 2 is an ambitious horror epic, the film excels in it's willingness to get bizarre and weird, but is lacking on it's focus. Fans of the first film and King's novel will probably eat it up, though it's easy to see why the film's reception is divisive.
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