IT ENDS BUT I WISH IT WAS BETTER...!

Rating: 6/10 (17 September 2019)

The sequel to the 2017 megahit now focuses on the characters from the first film, 27 years later, as they, as adults, must overcome their fears to defeat Pennywise once & for all. Focusing on the easier aspects of most modern horror films (the ubiquitous jump scare), this film works in fits & starts, strong when its uses its shock tactics & spot on casting to its good graces but then wasting them away by its rinse & repeat story construction which balloons the running time to nearly three hours. Some side characters are also given short shrift, namely a bully from their past & some of the spouses in the present, which are mentioned for the sake of the novel (& utilized better in the 1990 TV miniseries adaptation) but never truly integrated into the through line cohesively. A rumored longer cut may solve these issues ultimately when viewed w/chapter 1 but it's a shame the studio which released over nearly 20 hours of Tolkien material (The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit trilogies) went the chintzy route for this masterstroke of modern horror fiction.