IT Chapter 2 (2019)

 IT Chapter 2 (2019)

"The meeting of the Losers Club has officially begun!"

PLOT - 27 years have passed since seven children in Derry Maine called "The Losers Club" believed to have murdered a blood thirsty monster that took the form of Pennywise a terrifying dancing clown that feeds on young children. Making a promise to return if the monster isn't in fact dead, the children all eventually grow up, move out of town, and lose contact. All except for one...Mike. Keeping watch over the years, his worst fears become a reality as an adult when he sees the same cycle of murders repeating itself nearly thirty years since what originally happened. Making six phone calls, he contacts the others members of the Losers, who have gone on to live very successful lives, barley remembering what they did all those years ago. Once they return, the fear and memories come flooding back as they prepare to stop Pennywise once and for all.

LOWDOWN - Last night I watched the long awaited second half to the film version of Stephen King's IT. I still can't believe that it's been two years since the first chapter was released after the massive hype it had behind it, mostly dealing with Bill Skarsgard filling the very large clown shoes left behind by Tim Curry who played the original Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries (which I'm sure I'm not alone in saying absolutely terrified me as a kid) Luckily Bill brought something completely new to the table, as well as director Andy Muschietti. I liked the first chapter, don't get me wrong. I found it was shot beautifully, had some really scary moments, as well as taking material from the book and being able to amp up the violence and backstory that they were limited on with the original miniseries. Still, I found myself not completely getting into it since I found myself ruined by growing up with the miniseries. In my eyes the strongest part of the original miniseries was the first half when they were children. In my eyes those are the Lucky 7 kids, so all these years later seeing new children play the roles really took awhile to get used to (as well as the timeline shift from the 50's to the 80's which I totally got) Still, the monsters were great, and besides a few heavy CGI moments, it was a pretty flawless updated version. Still, I didn't seem to go crazy with the hype. I enjoyed it, and found it to be a great updated version, but that was about it. 

Now I'm a HUGE Stephen King fan. I have so many memories thanks to my mother who raised my sister and I on King's novels and films. I still remember having vivid memories of my mother telling me about the novel IT. How in her eyes it was one of the scariest books she ever read. Years later my sister and I both read it, and I can't agree enough. It's one of his best written books, as well as scariest. Not a book I would recommend to read alone in a dark house at night!

Still, I couldn't wait for Chapter 2. The biggest disappointing thing about the last half of the 1990 miniseries was how weak the ending seemed. The book's ending is epic as well as really weird. I just couldn't believe even understanding the limitations that it didn't pack the punch in the end that the book did. Another big thing was the casting of the adults (nothing wrong with the brilliant actors who played them, it just seemed "off") So now I was finally getting my second chance to see actors who I really felt were perfectly cast to match against the children actors who played the roles first. This part of the story I find the most interesting, from the phone calls, to returning to Derry, and finally the epic showdown at the end as these adults know this is the very last chance they have in defeating this monster once and for all.

I was lucky enough to watch it last night in Maine with my sister, and right from the opening where a very unsettling hate crime (which is how the book begins) instantly set the darker tone of this installment. I felt chills when Mike saw the message, and knew it was finally time to contact the others and get them to all come home. Instead of Pennywise being the main focus, I really dug that the director decided to frontline the main terror as whatever inner monster, demons, of things from the past that still haunt these adults. The film was gritty, dark, and downright heartbreaking. By the end both my sister and I both agreed it didn't feel like 3 hours, it truly flew by for us. I LOVED the little nods to the sequel, and really welcomed the new additions to the film. I won't spoil anything, but it goes to show what a truly great writer and director Muschietti is. He took King's material, and really expanded on it. This is why I'm thrilled there's an updated film version to this. Very little to be held back on. There's a terrifying part in the novel where a rotting corpse of a character who was killed years ago returns to guide another character. I was thrilled, even though they changed who this was, it was all practical, and added to the creepiness of the story. There's actual heavy hitting issues, even dealing with sexuality with a character that actually makes perfect scene. This character I feel was the heart and soul of the whole film, and a huge reason why I teared up at the end.

The humor actually works well. There was one moment that was so over the top I couldn't stop laughing because it was so stupid, yet worked perfectly. Most of the wisecracks come from Richie (played by the brilliant Bill Hader) but it works and doesn't seem annoying since this was his defense mechanism. The line of "That was way overdue." had me screaming laughing. I loved every single member of the adult losers. They were likable, and within moments of them all bonding together it seemed as though they had been friends all this time. Isaiah Mustafa killed it as Mike (my favorite character in both the films and book), as did the others...still I hate to rag on this man since I adore him, but James McAvoy really didn't do it for me as Bill (maybe it was his accent) my sister disagreed with me, thinking he was great, but he just didn't seem to be on the same level as the rest of the cast. Again, nothing against this actor, I mean if you've seen Split you know this man can act. Sadly I think playing against these others, he just fell a little short.

The film went back to it's roots, and featured some truly terrifying moments (I do agree the CGI did seem a little silly and heavy) Still, even returning to the novel's source with the ritual, really brought it in for me. The last ten minutes feature a letter, and again without going into detail, really made sense and made me tear up. This was a very crazy emotional rollercoaster, and witnessing this adventure and seeing it come to a close worked so well. I found them editing out Bev's husband and Bill's wife acutely worked and didn't make the story seem any less. This was mainly about The Losers, and it worked perfectly. A very powerful epic that I'm grateful to have witnessed on the big screen. I know reviews aren't great, but I found this as a huge fan of the novel, the ending chapter we all wanted and felt it deserved.

4 stars!