Rating of
3/4
Time to float!
Matthew Brady - wrote on 09/30/19
“You lied and I died!”
Making us proud Georgie.
I re-watched the 1990 mini-series and 2017 remake last month in preparation for this movie in terms of judging in quality. The 90's version had it moments, but I find some scenes unintentionally funny where it reeked of early Stephen King adaptations. 2017 was surprisingly good and a massive improvement, but laid back on cheap thrills.
‘IT: Chapter Two’ was a tough act to follow up on after the monster success of the first and with the second chapter being the hardest to adapt. I thought the movie both succeeds and stumbles in parts. Although reflecting back makes it feel more like a parody than a serious horror movie. An epic finale that ended in a over the top fashion - with themes of childhood trauma and the idea of holding on to the past despite growing up with age are sprinkled through out. The loser club are all grown up now and returning home to kill IT.
Whoever cast the grow up version of the loser club deserves massive praise here, because it’s pitch perfect casting and I could definitely see the child stars growing up to be the adult stars. James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Jay Ryan, and Isaiah Mustafa were all great in bringing the more dramatic aspects to the film. While Bill Hader and James Ranson bring the comedic aspects, but not to say they weren't dramatic as well, even making me tear up at one point.
Bill Skarsgard was truly amazing as Pennywise. The physicality in his movement has a certain silliness that you would expect to see from a clown, yet predatory with his animal-like attacks with drool running down his mouth and eyes staring in opposite directions despite looking straight at you. I find the dancing clown incredibly terrifying whenever he becomes playful and kind to deceive children.
Andy Muschietti truly shines as a director when it comes to bizarre imagery and unsettling camera angles, while also capturing some real emotions through the lens. The opening scene at the bridge where a homophobic attack takes place was really brutal and starts the movie off strong - on par with the Georgie meets Pennywise scene in the first movie.
Despite the run time being nearly three hours long, but I can’t recall ever being bored. It moved at a even pace in my opinion. I guess a few scenes could’ve been cut as most of it is unused footage from the first movie. Although it would be difficult to cut scenes as everything follows up to the next scene and that emotional punch towards the end wouldn’t be earned.
Now for the issues:
Henry Bowers was completely pointless in this movie and was only used for jump scars. Same thing with Mike, who through out these movies has nothing to do and the important things he did in the book was given to different characters.
I didn’t like how Stan’s suicide was handle, because you find out he actually “sacrificed” himself to save the others.
Some of the humor didn’t always land, especially if it’s right after a tense scene where it kinda deflates the horror. At times I struggled to gasp what the film marker was going for in certain scenes. Is this scene suppose to be scary or funny? Both maybe?
I wish there was more practical work for the monster scenes instead of CGI, because at times it looked really terrible. The finale battle at the end could’ve been in a video game boss fight.
Overall rating: Not as strong as the first, but still enjoyed it. Still, let’s kill this f**king clown.
