What is IT? Can’t say… it’s a Clown Spider

I’m sure you all read Jay’s review of IT: Chapter Two and thought “ well that’s not how I feel”. You know, me too.

Anyone who knows me understands how little I care for Horror films. In my opinion most of them are poorly made, with terrible casting, suffer from predictable and lame jump scares that refuse to acknowledge all viewers aren’t 10 year old girls sitting in their living rooms alone at 2 am on a Saturday night, or my biggest complaint, they just try way too hard at trying to gross people out.

Thankfully, the first entry, IT Chapter One, wasn’t that. The cast was phenomenal, the gross out factor was toned down or at least made sense for the story and characters, and while there were jump scares, they weren’t over used or as predictable as with most films. For me IT Chapter One was one of my favorite movies of 2017 and is a top five horror experience which raised my anticipation and excitement for IT Chapter Two through the roof. Especially since they added a handful of excellent actors to continue the roles of the characters as adults.

Lets get into it here.

IT Chapter Two is a solid follow up to the first film. And while it stays true enough to the source material there are a few liberties taken with the movie that seemed a little unnecessary for the story we are watching. Let me first get out of the way how shocked I was at Bill Hader’s performance as Richie. While the character Billy was absolutely the heart of the first film, Richie takes that mantle in part Two and it is due to Hader’s brilliant performance. The rest of the cast was Great. James McAvoy might be one of the most underrated actors of this generation, Jessica Chastain finally showed me that she is a competent actor in her own right… And the rest are solid and resemble their younger counterparts enough to make the transition from Chapter One to Chapter Two seem pretty seamless.

This film is at its best when the cast is together working through their issues in remembering their past and facing the evil Pennywise. Unfortunately there are some moments when they are separated that are tough to sit through that’s not to say though that there aren’t moments that are interesting and enjoyable in these scenes.

Bill Skarsgard is once again menacing and perfect in the role of Pennywise. However, I feel we didn’t get enough of him in this movie as we did in the first. At least his more silly antics as the Dancing Clown.

Director Andy Muschietti definitely had a bit of a feat in this movie as he had to explain a lot of the back story of what we didn’t see after the Loser Club “defeats” Pennywise in the first movie. Because of this there are odd, and at times confusing, transitions that some may get lost with.

The jump scares are a plenty and sadly all predictable. While they did get my viewing partner to jump a few times I saw every single one coming from a mile away and the horrid film score is partially to blame for it.

Why cant horror films get music right?

The Movie is also a tad too long. Something that could have been fixed had they removed a few unnecessary scenes from the movie that had no relevance to the overall story.

The ending strays from the source material a bit and even seems a little, lame, but it also feels oddly satisfying. All in all it is was a solid outing if not only because of the strong cast.

Lastly, I will say that I’m shocked they found a way to incorporate what Pennywise actually is… (SPOILER) A Giant Clown Spider..

It Chapter Two isn’t a must see… but, for those who watched and enjoyed the first part I say check it out. Just make sure your bladder is empty prior to sitting down as it is a long outing.