It Chapter Two.

Review #1271: It Chapter Two.

Cast: 
Jessica Chastain and Sophia Lillis (Beverly Marsh), James McAvoy and Jaeden Martell (Bill Denbrough), Bill Hader and Finn Wolfhard (Richie Tozier), Isaiah Mustafa and Chosen Jacobs (Mike Hanlon), Jay Ryan and Jeremy Ray Taylor (Ben Hanscom), James Ransone and Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie Kaspbrak), Andy Bean and Wyatt Oleff (Stanley Uris), Bill Skarsgård (Bob Gray / Pennywise), Teach Grant and Nicholas Hamilton (Henry Bowers), Javier Botet (Hobo / The Witch)
Xavier Dolan (Adrian Mellon), Taylor Frey (Don Hagarty), Molly Atkinson (Myra / Sonia Kaspbrak), Joan Gregson (Mrs. Kersh), and Stephen Bogaert (Alvin Marsh) Directed by Andy Muschietti (#991 - It)

Review: 
I curiously anticipated this film from the moment that the last one had completed its run. Whether one had read the 1,138 page novel by Stephen King or not, there was certainly a chilling atmosphere brought by the filmmakers in terms of its direction from Muschietti and his three writers in Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. The key difference now is that Muschietti has just Dauberman contributing to adapting the second film. With a run-time of 169 minutes (horror fans could compare it to Midsommar (2019), which was actually ten minutes shorter), my expectation was that it would try to cover all of its bases in terms of story and horror and do so just fine. Ultimately, the resulting film is an okay one. It only proves fitting that the film jokes too many times about a character's bad endings to his novels, since this film is the lesser of the two It installments, an example of a film stuffed to the brim in ambition but not quite up to task in delivering all of its goals safely. That's not to say I didn't like the movie, since I did feel that I got my money's worth when it comes to entertainment, but It Chapter Two is certainly going to be one of those sequels that will inspire discussion over how far it needed to cover with its adaptation material and where it could've gone a different direction. For all of the horror imagery that it delivers in terms of its monsters and dark corridors, it feels a bit weird in really trying to stick together. This is in part due to the humor that gets sprinkled throughout the film. It isn't so much that I don't love a horror comedy (Ready or Not was a pretty good dark horror comedy, and that came out just weeks ago), but it sometimes seems to actually get in the way of keeping a tense atmosphere. As mentioned earlier, the references to the bad ending does tend to get old. How many times do we need to hear about it before it gets old? The Peter Bogdanovich cameo? Jokes by the other leads? No, I think it really does go overboard when Stephen Kings shows up for a cameo and does that. Sometimes you really need a more tense film to keep you on your toes.

When it comes to a cast like this, where the adults have to live up to the previous (and current) portrayal by children, it sure is nice to see a main six that work out just fine. McAvoy is pretty good with walking into the shoes of the nervous yet capable head of this group, emulating what was without any sort of struggle. Chastain seems a bit more reserved, but she makes her echo count just fine. Hader steals the show at times, cracking a few lines alongside fighting the fear that goes with the territory. As much as the film should just relax with trying to be funny, at least Hader is not making an annoyance of it all, which would be the case in the hands of a unrestrained comic relief. The other members of the cast also manage to pin down the quirks from before with no reservations. Undeniably, the film really does hinge on how Skarsgård does with having a second act for his clownish character. In that sense, he does just fine with some creepy voice-work, even the physical side of his character perhaps doesn't feel as scary as before. Sometimes seeing the villain again just diminishes their effect.

There are a few highlights, such as a scene in the bleachers, or the one involving fortune cookies, and while scenes may drag on a bit sometimes, there are more effective scenes than failures. The film likes to jump between the modern (well, 2016) time and scenes with the kids, which feels a bit like It 1.5, which does work out fine for the most part. Honestly, I am curious to see how a compilation of both films into one would look like (let's not forget that the miniseries was just three hours), but what would it have looked like as a show? Sometimes it just seems that the movie wants to spend a little too much time down memory lane (restoring their memories through artifacts), where nearly every character gets their own trip down the memory hole while barely spending much time around the town itself. The weirdos seen from the first one barely make an impression (such as an older reception lady who liked to tease Eddie back then), but it really becomes glaring when one does not see much of Grant and his character of Henry, who was pretty intimidating but isn't as such now (the mullet joke makes this apparent). The film spends so much time with this group that you barely even realize half of these folks actually have spouses (from what I've heard in the book, this matters especially for one couple). The fates may not change, but the circumstances certainly change to make for a slightly more optimistic if not simpler film (while the book involves things such as a "Macroverse" - yep). When you know a giant spider is on your way, one wonders what kind of expectation to have, and there certainly is enough a light show to make it try to seem creepy. Ultimately, this is a horror film that tries to cover as many bases as it wants with a lofty material (much like with its first installment) that goes up and down a roller coaster of loading the senses with attempts at scares and laughs that lands long enough to make it mostly worth it without a huge crash.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.