A Satisfying But Slightly Underwhelming Sequel

Rating: 3/10 (7 September 2019)

It Chapter Two is a satisfying but slightly underwhelming sequel. It concluded the story in a satisfying way and was faithful to the book. The performances were all fantastic across the board namely Bill Hader, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and Bill Skarsgard. Surprisingly this film was much more of a comedy than a horror film, and I loved that personally, and the humor was definitely intentional, I was not laughing at it as some have said they did. This is unironically the funniest film I've seen so far this year. The humor always worked for me and was always funny and clever. I liked the script and the writing a lot from a dialogue perspective, if not from a plotting perspective. And I did find some meaning behind this film not being scary, but at the same time that's a problem with the film. The opening scene deeply unsettled me, but I don't think the film ever got to that point again in terms of horror. Plus that scene didn't end up affecting the story at all. There's a character in this film who served no purpose and could've been cut out entirely. I realize this character was in the book but an adaptation needs to know what works for the film and what needs to be cut out, and this character definitely did because he/she didn't impact the narrative at all. There's a lot of retread and flashbacks in this film, and while some are meaningful, some are pointless. The execution of the second act was poorly written and meandering, one specific set piece in the second act could've been removed entirely, plus the narrative in the second act is a bit shallow. The scenes don't flow together very well and don't connect at all, and there could've been a better way to execute these individual set pieces. The editing, visual effects, and de-aging technology were all bad. Lastly, the film's length, it did not need to be 2 hours and 49 minutes long, they could've easily shaved off 20 - 30 minutes and the film would've been better. Overall, not as good as the first, but still a enjoyable sequel.