It Chapter 2 makes for a good second half, even if its too long

Rating: 7/10 (6 September 2019)

You know why something like the Boogey-Man and Dracula are scary for children and not so much for children? It's about perspective. When your younger, because you don't have that understanding of the world, something like monsters seems plausible and hiding in the dark. The older we get, the more we realize that there's nothing dangerous in the dark except for our imagination. By the time we hit our twenties, it seems that the monsters have disappeared in favor of real life fears like criminals, work, and even of ourselves. The Boogey-Man isn't going to have the same effect on a thirty-year old.
In a way, the monster of It, Pennywise the Clown, is a representation of the childhood Boogey-Man; it makes itself into whatever children find scary, it hides in the dark and it only follows children (but it is willing to eat adults). Plus, taking the form of a clown is the best way for it to lure children into it's trap. I think this is why a lot of adults do have genuine fears of clowns. As a follow-up to the It movie of 2017, It: Chapter 2 brings the Losers club back to Derry to face Pennywise again.
Instead of the late 1980s, the story moves forward to the present day where a gay man missing (no thanks to Pennywise) and the only Losers Club member Mike (played by Isaiah Mustafa) who remained in Derry, discovers that they didn't kill the clown. So he makes the call to the rest of the losers to come back and finish the job. This consists of writer Bill (Played by James McAvoy), fashion designer Beverly (played by Jessica Chastain), now skinny architect Ben (played by Jay Ryan), risk analyst Eddie (played by James Ransone) and standup comedian Richie (played by Bill Hader. The only holdout is Stanley (played by Andy Bean) who commits suicide after getting the phone call.
Everyone meets up in a restaurant where Mike reveals that as the town Liberian, he's done the research to figure out how to kill Pennywise. Part of it involves them collecting items from their past, thus splitting them up to explore Derry once more. As they each go to their old stomping grounds, each has an encounter with Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgård). It's here their confronted with new fears, along with the possibility that Pennywise just may be too powerful.
The original It was a fantastic horror movie that I still highly recommend. Does It: Chapter 2 serve as a good companion piece? It does, though it's not as good as the original. A lot of the first movie was the fact that the main characters will children (all of them acted very well) and that we feared for them a lot more. It's not that I don't fear for them as adults, it's just not as interesting. I'll say it still works as all the actors playing the adult counterparts are really good. Of course the knockout is still Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise who remains just as scary.
As far as the story goes, it's also good. I've read the book It, and I was okay with it being split into two movies. It does allow the characters to explore their old hometown without it seeming like a rehash. They make it clear from the beginning that the losers forgot about Pennywise and their childhoods (likely a supernatural cause by the clown). It leads into a good encounter with the clown in his true form...that I wished would have been designed better. Without spoiling the look, though it's different, it's heavily reminiscent of the final creature from the miniseries. I think they could have gone further.
If the film has any major faults, it's with the running time. At nearly three hours, it definitely feels a lot longer then it needs to be. A lot of scenes will drag on really for no reason then to extend it. Along with that, the pacing can feel off (the first film had this problem too) when trying to combine the comedy and the humor. It's not bad, but it can also feel repetitive in spots where they encounter monsters they've seen before.
I'll give this seven Georgie boats out of ten. Despite its long running time, I was still satisfied with the end result and how this connects with the first movie. I'll be curious if they make a super edit of both movies together. It goes without saying that you need to watch the original before watching this. Otherwise, it's safe to float to the theaters.