SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
It Chapter Two makes every effort to one-up its predecessor in terms of scope and emotion but falls short trying to achieve greatness – feeling more like an action comedy rather than a suspenseful horror film.
There is always a desire for stories of friendship and victory over personal trauma. 2017’s It told the story of a group of seven friends as young children, each of whom didn’t quite fit in with their peers and were subject to traumatic experiences at home and school. Their insecurities attract the attention of an ancient malevolent entity taking the form of a creepy clown known as Pennywise, who has been terrorizing and murdering children for centuries. Bonding over this common threat, they came together to defeat “It”, which otherwise overcame them as individuals alone. Like the book it is based on, It Chapter One became a massive success.
IT Chapter Two reunites The Losers twenty-seven years after the events of the first chapter. As a series of eerily similar killings takes place in their hometown of Derry, Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) asks Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Bill (James McAvoy), Ben (Jay Ryan), Richie (Bill Hader), Eddie (James Ransone), and Stanley (Andy Bean) to return to Derry and destroy It (Bill Skarsgård) once and for all. Their mission involves an ancient Native American ritual that metaphorically represents confronting a deeply buried, but not resolved, insecurity and overcoming it, to destroy the clown.
The ritual is serviceable at best and unbelievable at worst, but at least the film’s adult cast is talented enough to sell it.The camaraderie established at the beginning between the adults is a major reason this film is enjoyable . You see them reminisce happily about the good old days, trade playful insults and secretly hope to develop deeper relationships now that they’re caught up. The strongest thing about this movie is how it makes you believe that the adults you see are the same people as the kids you saw in the first film. Each actor is a spitting image of their childhood self, although a few years older.
Despite being the more experienced thespians, portraying their characters with the same level of realism as their younger counterparts proves to be an uphill battle for our seniors. The only ones to surpass the kids in this respect are James Ransone with his perfect imitation of the apprehensive but competent Eddie, and Jay Ryan’s portrayal of Ben with his measured speech and movement, and solemn but hopeful demeanor. In terms of looks, I’m compelled to mention the likeness between the Jay Ryan and Jeremy Ray Taylor. With their flat eyebrows, round nose-tip, and pronounced chin, the likeness is uncanny. The reason I think this casting was a success for all the characters is due to the similarity between the young and older actors’ eye-shapes. The attention to detail there paid off.
I haven’t read Stephen King’s novel, but as always, adapting all the source material of a book and crafting it into a movie is a challenge and most of the time, imperfectly done. Despite being longer than usual, the movie is engaging, but it is so for the wrong reasons. The film attempts to include a lot of material but it doesn’t quite know how to pace itself. There are plot elements that were effective but should have been given more screen-time, like the relationship between Beverly and her husband. But some scenes stretch for too long and wear the film down. At times, it stumbles over itself flitting between the individual Losers. Other times, the film spends too long with scenes where The Losers are together.
More specifically and noticeably, this movie shoots itself in the foot by highlighting the visual effects and having many action scenes “in the light” rather than keeping us in the dark to maximize the slow burn the way great horror films in the past have done. An example of well-executed horror was the projector scene in the last movie, but in this film, the visual effects and action aren’t restrained enough to preserve the tension the scene tries to build up. Every time Pennywise terrorized the Losers, my awe of the special effects on the screen drowned out my feelings of dread.
That is why, overall, I say this film was less scary than the previous one. In defense of this film, I could say the tone and reduced sense of dread seems logical since it’s easier to overcome your fears as an adult, when you’re not ruled by emotion as much as you are by reason. Nevertheless, it feels as though the film has lost part of the core source material, and lost some of its power to frighten you. It Chapter Two is still an enjoyable film to watch on a weekend to blow steam, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark as a character-driven horror film.
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