Does it float or sink?

Rating: 6/10 (5 September 2019)

Since the 70s, there's been great Stephen King adaptations (Shawshank, Green Mile, The Shining, Misery and Carrie), there's quite a few mediocre (Cujo, Children of the Corn, Pet Cemetery) and quite a few that are just rubbish (The risible Maximum Overdrive, Dreamcatcher, Dark Tower etc).
King's not to blame for the variable quality of course, not every director is Stanley Kubrick.
So where does It: Part 2 rank?
I enjoyed the first film for what it was, despite some silly moments and excessive jump scares. I appreciated director Andy Muschietti's style for the film and looked forward to seeing where the second film would go.
Unfortunately this anticipated follow up is quite frankly, more of the same.
Despite strong performances from all the cast (In particular Bill Hader) and some well executed set pieces, the genuinely creepy moments are dwarfed by CGI jump scares, but I have to admit, I jumped back in my chair several times. Cheap or not, those damn boo moments work.
However I still miss the era of films like The Shining, where slow tension and atmospheric chills were more important than cheap boo scares.
Not a bad film by any stretch, it's leagues above the frankly crap TV miniseries (Apart from a bonkers Tim Curry as Pennywise, the 90s version is pretty forgettable).
A solid addition to the genre (With a fun cameo from a genre master), but it's not exactly going to dethrone the great Stephen King adaptations.
But goddammit, I jumped back in my seat three times. And my partner loved it.
Recommended. I guess.... Yeah... go see it. Shrug.