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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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IT: CHAPTER TWO: Ed’s Very Important Thoughts on This Year’s Biggest Horror Sequel

Everyone loved 2017’s adaptation of Stephen King’s It, directed by Andy Muschietti, and I was no different, but part of that was the cast of kids assembled to play the Losers Club. Imagine what the filmmaker of that movie can do when given a cast of some of today’s biggest stars, and you have some idea why It: Chapter Two lives up to its predecessor.

As you probably know, the movie mostly takes place 27 years after the events of the first movie. The sequel begins with a short bit to show that Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) is indeed back in Derry, Maine, as a gay couple are being brutally gay-bashed by locals before one of them (played by filmmaker Xavier Dolan, no less) gets brutalized even worse by the killer clown.

We then get a brief re-introduction to the Losers Club, most of whom are doing about what we might expect: James McAvoy’s Bill is an author, Bill Hader’s Ritchie is a stand-up comic and Eddie (James Ransone) is still a neurotic mess being nagged at by his mother-replacement wife. Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) stayed in Derry and in the ensuing years, he’s spent most of his time becoming a hoarder as he pondered over the lore about Pennywise that connects him to the local natives with a possible interstellar origin. With the return of Pennywise, Mike calls in the “Losers Club” and their promise to return to Derry if the malicious menace returns. This time, Mike has a plan how to stop “It.”

I’m not going to get too much further into the plot, because if you were a fan of the 2017 movie, s you’ve probably already decided if you’re going to see whether Muschietti was able to stick the landing. In my opinion, he has.

The character dynamics and interaction are so good in the film you almost forget that it’s meant to be a horror film, and Pennywise’s machinations do fall to the backburner for a bit, until the group splits up and then we get a series of moments for both the older and younger Losers where they must face Pennywise’s antics. This is an interesting section of the film mainly for the fluid transitions between young/old members of the cast, but it offers some of the film’s best scares, as well. Unfortunately, it also helps to drag down the flow of a movie that’s already very long.

It's hard to believe one can come away from a movie starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy where they’re not the most memorable part, but they are part of the bigger ensemble and coming off much more showy roles in other movies, particularly McAvoy who was just in Glass. Because of this, others are allowed to stand out, which actually makes for a better ensemble piece. Besides having Hader and Ransone recreating the chemistry between Richie and Eddie, the film also explores the love triangle between Bill, Jessica Chastain’s Bev and Ben, played by Jay Ryan in only his second film appearance. That young romance might not be something you would think might last 27 years but clearly, the younger, fatter Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) had a major thing for Bev (Sophia Lillis) and now that he’s older, richer and has slimmed down, there’s little reason why he shouldn’t go for it… except that Bill is back as well, and he and Bev were actually an item in high school. I generally liked how all of the characters have evolved but also kept a toe in the past, and it’s not the type of clever characterization you normally see in a big budget Hollywood horror movies.

The problem is that like so many other “conclusions,” this one goes on too long. There’s a perfectly good place to end things but then the movie just keeps going. It’s understandable that Muschietti and the filmmakers would want to wrap everything up in a bow, but one particular character’s story felt like it was always concluded so bringing him back for one more epilogue just seems like one too many.

That said, It: Chapter Two is incredibly satisfying, because it feels like every moment in the first chapter eventually does pay off, some in quite emotional ways. The conclusion is legitimately earned. If you just want a movie that gets even bigger and crazier in the last act than the previous movie, then Chapter Two delivers that, as well.

Rating: 8/10

It: Chapter Two opens in theaters on Friday, September 6.

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