IT... should have been better

Rating: 4/10 (23 January 2018)

IT
No spoilers. Pretty mediocre effort but a decent film based on a novel by Stephen King, which I have read several times since it was published.
The Plot: A loose knit group of nerds come together to fight a monster from the past that returns to hunts children... eventually stalking them. It's a great plot, timeless even. Worked great as a novel, seems much more of a challenge as a film.
Screenplay: was decent and had to have been a challenge to pick and choose scenes with so many characters to develop from a book that's almost 1200 pages long. That said the opening sequence was pretty creepy.
Direction: Think the film starts to lose traction soon after when the director forces the actors who are kids to try and act like kids. Tried too hard to make them look and act like losers, made them sanitized versions of kids. Andres Muschietti and the cast should have watched the 1995 film 'Kids' before the shooting started. Lastly, many scenes drag on way too long, shock value goes away pretty quick.
Cinematography: The film is shot in such a way that the audience never 'feel' like they're in the shot, more like they're just watching from a distance. Need to stay in your face, up real close for it to work.
The Climax: Again just mediocre and way too drawn out.
Overall worth a watch maybe but given the budget could/should have been a lot better.