IT Chapter 2 is a film that seems constantly at odds with itself – it rears to rise above horror movie cliches, but often succumbs to the trappings of the genre. IT Chapter 2 is a drag with more focus on cringe horror than psychedelic effects. For instance, when Mike calls his friends in different cities, they either spill their coffee or just bang their car. It’s funny, not scary.
Like the 1st film, Chapter 2 is at its best not when it is spooking you with loud noises or gory decapitations, but when it is riding rickety bicycles with the wind in its hair; when it is leaping off cliffs for a swim in the lake; and when it is making juvenile jokes at the expense of mothers.
Watch the It Chapter two trailer:
Mike calls all his friends back to Derry as strange things have started to take place, which may mark the return of Pennywise. They all return to find that the town hasn’t moved on much, but it seems only they are concerned about its past and what it could bring in future. The police is prominently absent in most parts. That also means, the grown up boys—Billy, Ben, Richie, Mike and Eddie—and the traumatised girl Beverly, are supposed to fight Pennywise’s mindgames without losing their soul.
Everyone forgets that they need to rush to the center of the problem and search a way to contain the clown. They just keep delving in their past which turns out to be more interesting than the present, even on second viewing.
The Pennywise has been planned so many times in the film that you stop caring whether he will eat the hand or the heart. A couple of scenes are set terrifically, one of them featuring Beverly visiting her old house, but they all lose steam before making you uncomfortable in the seat.
The main problem is, when it transforms into those old Ramsay Brothers films where you need to keep chanting and believing in yourself. It’s tiring, to put it mildly.
Everyone, including otherwise delightful James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain, have not gotten their A-game on. They lost touch with Stephan King’s premise and the film.
In three hours movie, It Chapter two is a physically draining experience, one that requires the sort of riches that can afford exorbitantly priced theatre snacks, and patience that I doubt modern audiences have. It leaves you with the decidedly draining feeling of having aged 27 years yourself, albeit with more than a few fond memories to look back on.
It Chapter two
Director: Andy Muschietti
Cast: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, James Ransone, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, James Ransone, Jay Ryan, Bill Skarsgard
