My God, the director loves strobe lights

Rating: 7/10 (6 September 2019)

The first one is better, but this beats the OG 90s version.
The good: Great acting, some real good scares, and an overall terrifying vibe. The casting could not be more spot on. There were parts that I found myself looking away for and parts my jaw dropped out of fear and horror. I can't wait to rewatch the original and compare them.
The bad: it is 3 hours, and it feels like it. The pacing sometimes feels off and the plot got a bit muddied because of it. There's also so much strobe effect, my head started to hurt which brought me out of the film.
It had some tone issues. Its a bad sign when you're in a full theater and 1 out of 5 jokes get a chuckle when the rest are met with silence. There were also too many unnecessary jump scares and unnecessary gore, which compared to chapter 1, made the horror fall flat.
After the success of chapter 1, it was hard for chapter 2 to not let some people down. I would love to watch the 90s one, then chapters 1 and 2, and compare them both to the book. I have the feeling out of them all, I'll still feel that chapter 2 is the weekest.
Either way, the series is strong and will forever be a classic and loved by many, including me.