What happened?

Rating: 7/10 (11 September 2019)

About a year and a half ago (I believe) we were served with a truly remarkable yet slightly flawed adaptation of IT, one of Stephen King's best novels. Splitting the narrative into two movies was a good idea, as a 1100+ pages novel would be quite troublesome to adapt into a single (watchable) movie. However, these two movies should function as a whole yet they do not. This movie, by definition, cannot be defined as a horror (because there is none) but more of an adventure/mystery movie with certain fright segments. But first thing's first:
1) The acting. The casting was top notch! Chastain and Mcavoy were brilliant casting choices but Hader was the one who stole the show alongside Ranson. Ryan and Mustafa were not bad choices either. However, only Hader and Ranson gave their characters some flair or character. Hader stole almost every scene he was in and the chemistry he had with Ranson was extraordinary. Ryan was nowhere to be seen. He simply lost himself in the midst of the other characters and was left completely unexplained. Mustafa was, specifically due to bad writing, simply a character that was poorly written and deviated from the source material almost entirely, leaving the audience with a completely wrong impression about him. As for Mcavoy and Chastain, this is a prime example of - I simply do not care - way to portray a character. They were unimaginative and uninspiring, she was emotionally blank and distant, especially in scenes with Ryan (he only segment where she should not have been) and Mcavoy simply had a busy year and I guess this movie was the last in line. There is no other explanation for his lethargic portrayal of Bill. Regarding SkarsgÃ¥rd, he did, again, a great job, but suffered due to a tragic lack of screen time and overuse of CGI.
2) The story. All they had to do was follow a simple and linear path King had in the book. Remove certain side stories and the main story-line is here. Why they decided to intertwine the adult stories with (again) their child counterparts is completely beyond me. Those segments destroyed a coherent and cohesive narrative, leaving the viewer with a sense that they are watching dozen small scare segments tied up into one. The smart idea would be that the grown-ups revisit all places the kids in the last movie got spooked and continue from there (why that was not the case is, again, beyond me). Not to mention that the part with the kids were not scary at all, and those segments were, at points, extremely CGI-ish so they take the viewer from the experience. Also, certain segments that should have provided decent scares were nullified by comedic elements (e.g. the "Just call me Angel of the morning" segment). Also, Pennywise was almost absent from the movie which is a shame as this part of the story should be considered his revenge, and it was everything but that.
Another great misfire was the direction and editing of the second half of the movie. Once the Losers split up in the movie, the direction and storytelling is all over the place with no sense of where the director or screenwriters were going or what was the overall importance of certain scenes. Most segments from this part were not in the original novel and that is really noticeable (even for someone who has not read the book). Ironically, for an almost three hours long movie there are story parts that are left unexplained (e.g. why is Beverly's key her totem) and characters left undeveloped (e.g. Bowers). On the other hand there were scenes that should have been completely left out of the final cut (e.g. It's second kill in the movie). Taking all that into account, it is no wonder that the movie is almost three hours long but the disappointing thing is that it would have functioned much better as a two hour standalone sequel focusing solely on the adults and only here and there referencing the kids.
3) The general lack of scares. This one I find most interesting. The movie is not really a horror flick (unlike the first one). However there might be a logical explanation to that. My girlfriend noted that as adults we do not scare that easily any more but are much more prone to anxiety and stress. She also stated that this movie should, taking that into consideration, be viewed through the eyes of adults, whereas the first one should be viewed through the eyes of a child. Henceforth, the first one is scary and frightful and the second one is not, but makes you feel tense and anxious at points. Considering that, maybe the lack of scares can be contributed to the prism of the eyes of the beholder - child/adult. Albeit, Pennywise did say - You've all grown up.
Finally, the battle with Pennywise is overly prolonged, lacks a definitive climax and is unceremonious. The latter being the fault of (again) hacking the character into several groups and (again) putting them into yet another stream of small segment scare scenarios. The end of Pennywise is, unfortunately, just the same as the rest of the ending - bland.
4) The direction. It could be a trait, but I still find it much more of a lack of experience. Movies should not feel as if they are interconnected small segments. The movie lacks a flow and is at points a bit lost in itself. This can, but doesn't have to be, the directors fault. However, as the first part has the same feel to it, I will be contributing it to a directorial trait that has to change in the upcoming future (especially taking into account that he is directing the upcoming FLASH movie).
5) It's actually entertaining. Despite all the negative aspects of the movie: the duration, the messy editing, the generally uninspired cast, the badly timed jokes and humor etc. It Chapter Two is a highly entertaining movie. It has a high re-watch value, it is light, it is funny and easy to comprehend. I am not sure if that was the goal of the movie, but if it was, it surely succeeded in it in every aspect. If it wasn't, well, it just accidentally achieved a high entertainment value. And that is not something many movies can say about themselves these days.
All in all, if you saw the first IT, see the second one. You will not regret it and you will have a good time. A shame that time was not a bit more scary.