REVIEW: It - Chapter 2

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Some spoilers ahead.

It: Chapter 2 outshines its predecessor in every respect. The cinematography is more inventive with awkward angles and bold color choices. The characters feel more complex and well-shaped. The horror aspects are off the charts ranging from eerie creepiness, to straight up body horror, to comical whimsy.

And it has so much more to say.

27 years after the events of It Pennywise is back to his old child murdering game. As per a tween blood pact made in the first film, the traumatized members of “the losers club” reunite in the sleepy town of Derry, ME to put an end to this supernatural terror. Along the way our band of friends is confronted with their pasts, their presents, and some grotesque monster stuff.

I’ve never seen a film where older actors are pulling so much from the performances of their young counterparts. It’s a unique challenge that every member of the cast nails, especially James McAvoy, Jay Ryan, and Bill Hader. That being said, “the losers club” is less of a club this go around and more of an unlikely troop of combatants thrown back into the fray.

Nobody really wants to be monster hunting with half-remembered friends from middle school and often they try to flee the battlefield out of pure terror. But there’s also an inevitability to everything. Something about childhood trauma that brings the group into focus and ready for a fight. This concept creates an odd bit of structure where we get 5 or 6 vignettes of each adult directly confronting their pasts and then coming back to reunite.

I’ve seen a lot of critics note this choice when talking about their dislike of the movie especially in relation to the first chapter. But I think it’s rather effective.

Going through these perspectives one by one firmly gives each character their own adult voice and amps up the tension quite a bit. The events of the first film were scaring for the group as a collective but scars are individual things. Specific things. Things that inform futures and shape adults even when childhood friendships dissolve. Having to confront that alone is not only scarier than confronting it as a group, but in my opinion, more authentic.

And that really is the profound beauty of It: Chapter 2. The film feels authentic to me.

It’s a story that recognizes deep down we are all still a bunch of scared teens looking for acceptance and identity. Nobody knows how to go about it and often we push the most important people away as a response to our pain. Even as adults we’re grappling with the problems of our youth, desperate to grow and become more than we are, but forever shackled to our experiences. It’s hard to be vulnerable with others, especially in a world that characterizes unfettered friendship and character development as the stuff of children’s tales, but in It: Chapter 2, we are all still children and that is okay. We can make it through those messy bits and come out a more complete person. We can confront our demons and reach out with friendship to kill them.

There are many things I would change about It: Chapter 2 if I had the option.

The movie has the subtlety of a Boeing 747 that often works against its messaging, the ending is a 35oz bucket of Utz Cheese Balls, which I like okay, but know will be too much for most, and the plot is full of unanswered questions/inconsistent pacing. Especially the last 30 minutes.

The Native American scenes were confusing at best. They don’t add anything, they feel woefully dated, and it would have been better to not include them at all. Mike, played by Isaiah Mustafa, is less of a character in this iteration and more of a plot device. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of his scenes were cut for time as the movie is a WHOPPING 2 hours and 50 minutes but it’s still sad. Finally, as a chubby man, I selfishly wish the overweight kid Ben became a fat adult but still got the girl because he’s kind, charming, and a good dude. Like I said before Jay Ryan did a great job, but still. Something about the idea of this guy being unable to find love until he's an attractive millionaire rubs me the wrong way. Shout out to all my chubby dudes.

Final thoughts? It: Chapter 2 is a flawed film, a solid sequel, wildly entertaining, and more than the sum of its parts.

 

4/5

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