It Chapter Two
IT CHAPTER TWO is one gigantic mess of a movie. A nearly three hour collection of scenes, that, while faithful to Stephen King's novel, really don't flow together to create the coherency of theme and narrative that director Andy Muschietti and screenwriter Gary Dauberman seek. Maybe this adaptation reveals flaws in the source. King tended to get long winded in some of his novels, some of which, like It, were also adapted into TV miniseries. There is a lot of (present and past) ground to cover in this sequel, a continuation of the story of a group of friends who face an unspeakably evil presence which has taken the form of a clown. We learn this time the origins of Pennywise, and the Native American ritual which would banish the SOB once and for all.
It's a long journey to get there. And the climax, unlike in 2017's IT, is a thundering disappointment. Both wildly overdone, with soul crushing CGI, and regrettably tepid, with our grown up gang of "losers" employing the same tactics used by their clown tormentor, and others we see in this film. Namely, a band of toughs who terrorize a gay couple in the opening scenes. Bullying. I was quite surprised. Before the final snuffing, the old gang verbally and physically taunt the "fucking clown" in ways that were uncomfortable parallels. I couldn't believe it. Or that right before, Richie (Bill Hader) would give a pep talk to the paralyzed by fear Eddie (James Ransone) with the encouraging "who married a woman ten times his body mass?" Using this humor such as this in a story that is all about overcoming this sort of mean spiritedness is indicative of this film's issues, to say nothing of its repeatedly clumsy insertion of comedy in the midst of terror.
I also couldn't believe that IT CHAPTER TWO would actually have a lame ending when a running gag in the movie has Bill (James McAvoy), now a best selling author, ribbed by everyone about the lame endings in his books. King even shows up as the owner of an antique store, declining Bill's offer to sign one of his novels for that very reason. Is this supposed to be clever?
The nadir? The inexplicable use of "Angel in the Morning" by Merrile Rush during one of several bits of over the top gore effects. Not funny, not ironic. It just made no sense. It's one of the worst moments I can recall in any movie. No kidding.
There's more to bash. I was even less than impressed with the normally reliable and funny Hader. Jessica Chastain is essentially slumming with a poorly written character. They're all poorly written, honestly.
The movie wasn't scary. Some of it was creepy. I liked the sets. I felt real evil could ooze out of them. The plethora of trippy shock scenes were more amusing than horrifying. Some of them, including Pennywise in a fun house of mirrors and his inhabiting of a giant Paul Bunyan statue were entertaining. Despite the wrongheadedness of much of this project, some themes about growing up and letting go survive intact, allowing a wistful moment or two. I'm not as critical of the multitude of flashbacks as some reviewers, and I feel they support my previous sentence, even if they sometimes feel like deleted scenes from Chapter One.
But IT CHAPTER TWO, despite rarely being boring, is a huge botch of a sequel/remake. It seemed evident almost from the opening minutes, but for me was confirmed when the reunion dinner in the Chinese restaurant turned ugly. And just plain ridiculous. There's too much of that to make this story truly resonate.
P.S. - There are numerous references to past horror and/or Stephen King filmizations. My favorites were nods to the 1982 version of THE THING and STAND BY ME, which was adapted from King's story "The Body".
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