Decent, but not great

Rating: 6/10 (19 September 2017)

Condensing several hundred long book into a movie, even if that movie has two parts, certainly isn't an easy task. It wouldn't be wise to compare movie with a book, as it simply not the same format. What a movie can do, is be true to the spirit of the source material. Stephen King's books always had that chilly, creeping threat that you could sense would culminate. What I think this movie lacks precisely that, sense of threat. The movie itself seems like a crossover between horror, coming of age film with hints of comedy. In that, it is true to the source material (which I didn't find comedic but o.k.) I am not sure what to think of the rest. Certainly, as we are to expect a second part, it's yet to be seen what that will have to offer. The whole picture might be different but, for now, we have to stick with what is presented to us.
It's the horror part that I find lacking. The feeling of dread is certainly subjective and in that respect, I didn't find the film scary. It has jump scares, it has it's share of monsters, it has it's atmosphere but there is never a feeling of real dread. Early in the movie we are presented with a killing of young boy Georgie. But, in the context of the rest of the film, the gruesome scene of arm bitten off a youngster seems as unnecessary shock value. We are introduced to main characters, a group of unpopular kids who are bound together in their struggle against evil entity in the form of a clown, that feeds on children. In facing this entity, they are also struggling against their own fears, a real life type of fears like being bullied or being in a domestic abuse.
What was a huge let down for me is that these kids never seem genuinely afraid. How can a movie, a horror movie, be scary if characters don't seem to be scared. Many reviews focused on children's characters cursing all the way through. While cursing is in fact usual in that age when kids think they are more grown than they are, it's quite naive to think that they would react with constant "oh f***" when facing their worst fears, and then simply shrug it off like almost nothing happened. I mean, they react all the time like they are in a hunted house in an amusement park. No matter how grown a kid of 12, 13 year might think he/she is, he/she would probably scream "mommy" and not "f***" when in mortal danger. The whole point of scariness of it should stem from an innocence being under attack, and how characters become adults. But in this movies it's like we already have adults in bodies of children. All in all, I don't fund fear factor to be convincing in this movie. Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise is really good, but the clown itself has little else to do than to be scary.
The atmosphere of the movie is good, it's not a cliché. Good lightning, shadow play, the eighties feel are really great. The premise of a gang of children is not new but in this movie, it doesn't feel old. In that respect, as a coming of age movie, it does (no pun intended) reasonably well, but there are better King's adaptations in that respect (Stand by me for example, that has bigger emotional impact).
I also find the way in which story unfolds to be a bit disconnected, one thing leads to another almost automatically and there is little space to get to know characters or their relationships to one another (which, in the end is crucial for their victory over Pennywise the dancing clown).
All in all, how much you enjoy the movie depends on what you expect from it and how sensitive you are to being scared. My friend, whom I watched the movie with, found it pretty frightening. Anyway, my conclusion is that it is a good summer movie but certainly not masterpiece.