My Favorite Film of 2017, The Best Hollywood Blockbuster in 8 Years

Rating: 10/10 (10 November 2018)

IT (2017) is a film much like Halloween (2018) where I went into it highly skeptical. The trailers and TV spots I had seen of the film made the film seem like a cheapened jump-scare fest. Stephen King's masterpiece has been my favorite book ever since I first read it back in Freshman year of High School and I've only began to love and appreciate it more and more since then. This film had almost impossible standards to reach. I went in, waiting to be disappointed, and somehow...I got home from the movie shaking and sobbing at how outstanding this film was. Unlike Halloween (2018), IT (2017) didn't suck. In fact, this was, in my opinion, the best mainstream Hollywood blockbuster in 7 years. I know that's both a grand statement to make, but...What else can I say?
The acting is all outstanding. There's not a single bad or even "just okay" performance in the bunch and, much like the timeless and masterful book, it's impossible to find a character you can't relate or sympathize for. On top of that, the chemistry between The Losers Club couldn't be more natural and heartwarming, with a lot of their relationships being surprisingly complex. They were everything I wanted and more. The standouts for me would have to be Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben Hanscom and Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh. Growing up, Ben was always my favorite character in the book; the honorable and brave Knight in Shining Armor, risking life, limb and reputation for whom he loves and what he believes to be right. Jeremy Ray Taylor did a perfect job realizing the character's shining idealism and kindness, he was the moral center of a team full of already lovable and selfless people. Sophia Lillis gives one of the finest performances I have seen from a child actress in years as Beverly Marsh. She did a wonderful job capturing Beverly's strength, intelligence, charisma and, above all, her stubborn streak. Beverly in the novel is a natural rebel who's almost infamous for how non-compliant she is and Lillis did a wonderful job fully becoming this character. Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough and Nicholas Hamilton as Henry Bowers are close runners up in stealing the show. Lieberher is a wonderfully sympathetic and adorkable lead and Hamilton an intimidating and truly creepy side antagonist. Hamilton in particular really surprised me with how intimidating and chilling he was as a villain. Bonus praise should be given to Jackson Robert Scott as Bill's brother Georgie. This is pretty much the cutest child I've ever seen and his final confrontation with his brother Bill shows an incredible amount of emotional range and power for an actor so young. It's impossible for me to watch without crying.
Of course, the real question is how is Bill Skarsgaard as Pennywise? All I can say is "Tim Curry Who?" Not only is Skarsgaard's Pennywise inginitely scarier than Curry, he's infinitely funnier too. Advertising made Skarsgaard's Pennywise appear as a Freddy Krueger-esque character, an outwardly grotesque demon who no sane child would approach. However, the film's Pennywise comes off far more light hearted at times. Even approachable and friendly, if eccentric, in his introductory scene with Georgie. Fans wanting a horrific, nightmarish Pennywise will be just as satisfied as those wanting a funny, deceptively humorous Pennywise.
IT (2017) also uses its CGI wonderfully. While a lot of films use CGI as a crutch, IT (2017) uses it as an effective and inventive tool for a really chilling and twisted imagination. Pennywise is definitely no ordinary clown, and IT (2017) takes full advantage of just how otherworldly, inhuman and alien a monster he truly is. This is probably the most artistically impressive use of CGI I've seen in a film since the Star Wars prequels.
Even if you're not looking to be scared, the film is still exceptional. There's a real emotional punch to the story and the arcs and relationship of the characters that, horror fan or not, is incredibly easy to get invested in. Above all, IT (2018) is a film about abuse and abandonment, and the importance in camaraderie and the compassion in our loved ones in helping us survive them. Pennywise isn't just a spooky clown that eviscerates children; he's a living, breathing manifestation of abuse and trauma, hence why he always strikes when these children are alone and hence why the adults of Derry (Complicit in the abuse against the town's children) cannot see him. The Losers Club have to fight this horrible abuse abuse together, directly at its source; not to destroy it, but to ward it off enough for it to not become a constantly violent and destructive presence in their lives. It is no coincidence that Pennywise re-appears to wreak havoc in their lives as adults, a metaphor for the lingering traumas that can exist from abuses that could be years or even decades into the past. It's telling that the scariest scenes in the film aren't the ones revolving around Pennywise (Nightmarish and Hellish, though they may be), but the more subtle, unnerving and intolerable scenes involving Beverly's manipulative and deeply predatory father. Pennywise himself is at his most frightening at the very end where, for a moment in his battle with The Losers Club, his head shifts into the demonic visage of Al Marsh, grinning in a position of power and control at a traumatized Beverly.
I encourage everyone who's old enough to please see this movie, there really is something in it for everyone. It's hilarious to the point of laughing out loud, terrifying to the point of screaming and emotional to the point of crying. It's one of the best films of the decade and I can hardly wait for Part II. An outstanding masterpiece on every level, IT (2018) could very well be a defining classic for our decade, a title it most certainly deserves. It's an emotional, terrifying, hilarious howl of a ride.