A Step Down From the First But Enjoyable to Watch

Rating: 7/10 (16 September 2019)

IT Chapter 2 Review:
Defeated by members of the Losers' Club, Pennywise returns 27 years later to terrorize of Derry once again. Now adults, the childhood friends have long since gone their separate ways. But when people start disappearing, Mike Hanlon calls the others home for one final stand. Damaged by scars from the past, the united Losers must conquer their deepest fears to destroy the shape-shifting Pennywise. I thought the first installment of this movie series was pretty good. It captured a good tone, had a compelling story, and interesting character dynamics. I don't know many people who were fans of the first that wasn't excited for the sequel. Chapter 2 was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Unlike most people, I had a hard time figuring out my thoughts on the movie. The first time I didn't really like it all that much. I thought it was mediocre. Then I saw it again a week later and I think I liked it. Then the next day I debated again and made pros and cons. In the end I think this is an enjoyable movie. The kids story is more interesting but I think this story is interesting as well. However the almost 3 hour runtime is about an hour way too long. So much unnecessary scenes were added. One aspect being flashbacks with the kids. They were mostly unnecessary. When the adults explore Derry alone, they encounter different places where they have a specific memory. I think that was a good idea because those were kind of more key elements. The big problem with the flashbacks was the CGI and voice editing. Since the kids have grown up a little more, their faces look a little different and some of their voices have changed. The CGI was just horrible to look at. Their faces were just filled with what I can only describe as over emotion. Sophia Lillis had the least amount of work done so she was pretty good. Their voices were even more high pitch than in the first and sometimes the audio was just sped up and overwhelming to hear. There was basically no emotion in the voices. Not their fault but more the editors. The acting was fine. Bill Hader had to be my favorite. He provided many funny jokes and actually put emotion towards his character. There's a character arc for him that's supposed to be a big deal but it wasn't too much of a big deal, at least how it came off. When it's first introduced the way it's presented felt off to me. Anyway I liked him the most. Personally I wanted Amy Adams to play adult Beverly but I thought Jessica Chastain did a pretty good job. And if Adams did play her she may have not gotten the opportunity to play her role in Sharp Objects with the best acting from her I've ever seen. Chastain had probably the most interesting character and she just made the most sense throughout the movie logically. Bill Skarsgård was good as Pennywise, I don't think as good as the first, but again is a great antagonist. I thought he showed up a little too much in this since the first actually didn't have him appear much, but that's just me. The rest of the actors were just fine. Nothing too great. Onto my biggest issues for the movie. Along with the first, this had an over reliance on CGI throughout. This more than the first. Everything was CGI'd and it just looked so fake where it was funny to look at. The end was just horrible with that. At least with the first they tried using makeup for some things. This was just all CGI. Speaking of it looking funny, I honestly think this is a horror-comedy. Every five minutes there was at least something funny said that made everyone laugh, this happens mostly with Bill Hader and James Ransone. Maybe if they took about half the jokes away I wouldn't think that but honestly this is a pretty funny movie at times. Nothing felt scary to me. There were only three jump scares that got me the second time I watched it. There's a little too many jump scares but I think it somewhat makes up for the horror aspect, though I personally don't like those. There are two things that I wish they would've changed to the plot. One involves Henry Bowers. He returns but honestly his character had no purpose. It did bring tension at times. Also I just didn't like the end. I think it was dumb and just funny to me. Based on how it ends, I'm wondering if the first movie could've just ended the whole thing if they continued using their method just a little longer. In the movie Bill is a writer and they keep bringing up one of his stories with a terrible ending. I personally believe that's kind of foreshadowing the end of the movie. Because I don't like leaving things on a bunch of cons here are some aspects I enjoyed. Benjamin Wallfisch's score is pretty good for a horror movie. I liked the first score and I think this one is just as good. The very very end of the movie I think was a really good way to end it. It's about the characters and it's just a good way to end it all. Also when all of the Losers' Club was together either having fun or just not panicking a whole lot about their situations, those were the strongest scenes. IT Chapter 2 isn't a bad movie in my opinion. It's just a step down from the first. Many people are divided and I understand why. Even though I find flaws throughout I do find myself enjoying the movie.
My Grade: B-