It Chapter Two (2019)

Rating: 4/10 (16 March 2020)

Directed by Andy Muschietti. Starring James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James Ransone, Jay Ryan, Isaiah Mustafa, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Bill Skarsg책rd, Chosen Jacobs, Teach Grant, Andy Bean. (R)
Nearly three decades after the events of the first film, the now-grown members of "the Losers" return to Derry for a reunion of grim purpose--seems that nasty, ol' Pennywise (Skarsg책rd) wasn't defeated last time, and with new young blood spilling, the time is nigh to put the fiend down once and for all. Sprawling but structurally-unsound and meandering horror story is full of hoary convolutions (including "rules" delivered with such solemnity they can't possibly be taken seriously) and repeats scare sequences with too little variety; as in the first film, when the "jumps" arrive, they're followed by explosive laughter instead of screams (despite Skarsg책rd's best efforts, his "clown prince of evil" is still far sillier than it is terrifying). Only Hader really stands out among the main cast, and he provides the intentional jests to go along with the inadvertent variety; the film's potential status as an accidental comedic masterstroke, however, is spoiled by far too many profitless detours and flashback reiterations that drag this thing out close to three hours. The protracted climactic showdown provides yet another piece of evidence in the argument that gargantuan digital effects do not mix well with fright flicks. Stephen King and Peter Bogdonavich both show up in cameos.
41/100