Moving (If Overlong) Sequel

Rating: 7/10 (10 September 2019)

Every 27 years, the town of Derry is cursed by an evil clown who terrorizes anyone he can get his claws on. 27 years prior, a group of kids called The Loser's Club thought they defeated him, but he's back again and they must all gather back at their hometown to destroy him once and for all.
Like any reunion film, there's a pang of bittersweet sadness in the air. The filmmakers of It: Chapter Two use this to create a very moving story of friendship and the bonds we make as children. Unfortunately, in between scenes of genuine emotion and character interaction, there are horrible instances of CGI horror that inspire more laughs than screams. Decapitated heads turn into spiders (a la The Thing, but more laughable) and old women turn into giant Looney Toon characters with pendulous drooping breasts while we're supposed to pretend this is in any way frightening when, more often than not, it looks like something out of a lousy 90's computer game.
Thankfully, It: Chapter Two is loaded with strong performances from an excellent cast who are given the nearly impossible task of selling a lot of the cheesy effects from their reactions alone. In that sense, the film is a rousing success as the actors manage to ground the insanity around them into something tangible and real. It's to their credit that the film wrings any iota of emotion out of the story. SNL's Bill Hader might be the MVP here as the wise-cracking Ritchie who's holding onto a big secret. He's appropriately amusing when needed and heartbreaking when you least expect it. Also excellent is James Ransone as the grown up Eddie who captures some of the nervous and manic qualities of his younger counterpart to an uncanny level.
It: Chapter Two won't be the scariest film you've ever seen (or even the scariest film of the year for that matter), but the strong performances and solid emotional core will tug at your heartstrings a little more than you might initially expect.