A decent follow-up and closure

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 2019)

I'll start with an extract from my IMDb review of the previous "It":
"The movie is a commendably successful effort in adapting the novel to a standalone movie. But I cannot help feeling disappointed, as one who has re-read the novel several times over the last three decades since its publication. Some of the best parts have been left out in the movie, for perfectly good reasons (to customize a standalone movie), I do agree. Unfortunately, that does not change the fact that they are left out."
I like the 1990 two-part TV version better. That one, incidentally, has John Ritter from the household-name series "Three's company" of the 1970's. There is also A-list actor Tim Curry portraying Pennywise the hideous Clown.
"Chapter 2" in fact starts with the very beginning of the book when the protagonists are adults (who may not have even been casted yet, when the first part of "It" was released). On the whole, the movie stays reasonably close to the book the six earth-shattering phone calls.
The running time approaching three hours is too long. Considering that it is a 1090-pages (my paperback copy) book, the length of the movie, even if only it is half a movie, seems justifiable. But then, when I said it stays reasonably close to the book, I am referring only to the key plotline. The movie cuts out a lot, I mean really a lot, of details. For whatever is retained in the movie, the running time is too long.
Roughly, the movie is in three parts. The first, starting with the six phone calls, moves briskly to the reunion of the seven (minus one) "losers" in a Chinese restaurant in Derry, then how Mike finally succeeds in convincing everyone to stay, as promised, to finish what they started 27 year ago. The mid-section depicts how each one of them heads off for a private half-day experience that will hopefully help to bring back the lost memories, from joy to terror, and everything in between. The final third is the climactic battle, needless to say.
To get the bad stuff out of the way first, the scares in this movie are mundane at best, noise and loud. Grossly overused is this technique of a moment of silence followed by an eruption of loud and "scary" noises. When the eruption becomes a constant bombardment, you would wish to fall asleep but obviously cannot.
Not all is lost. The two stars in the cast, Jessica Chastain (Bev) and James McAvoy (Bill) are a pleasure to watch. The rest of the cast do a respectable job, particularly Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, as he did in the previous movie (as the only "adult" main character there). What I really enjoy seeing are scenes (alas, too few) of flashbacks to the pre-adolescent days of the protagonists. It's such a joy to see this talented young cast again,
particularly Sophie Lillis who plays, and inhibits, Bev Marsh with charm and defiance in equal measure.