Unreal and Overcooked

Rating: 4/10 (28 October 2019)

The problems with It II are well observed by other reviewers. It's length and wasted cast are far from the only problems however. It appears that the director has come to believe in his own mythology since the success of the first film, which was a very good, if not great horror movie.
This time round, he's tried to throw in everything into the pot to perhaps set up a career path into a more dramatic film future. Hard to say, but he falls way short of doing what he's supposed to, which is to create a gripping horror film.
Within the first 30 minutes, there are three separate incidents of white males perpetrating violence against innocent parties, that feels like it belongs in 1977, not 2017 when this story apparently occurs. More anti-straight white male bias dressed up as edgy cinema. Is this a film on gay hate crimes, police brutality and domestic violence? These things are not as common today as they were in the past, despite what the over-saturated, click-bait media may have you believe.
In any regard, he's thrown all three down our throats within half an hour and they really have nothing to do with the central plot of Pennywise and the kids at all. The Beverly situation in particular, was false to the point of being laughable. One scenario was more than enough. Instead of gritty realism, its cliched farce. Just get on with the story.
The adult characters, who haven't seen each other in decades are riding each other, quite harshly in a couple of situations, yet there is no normal adult reaction. Same when Richie (Bill Hader) has an interaction with a child in a restaurant. It's totally false. The parents do nothing. It's just poorly written. It feels like a completely different team involved here than the first film. I like the actors. I just don't believe most of what's coming out of their mouths.
It's not worth going on, tearing the film to pieces. It's simply overcooked, (like its CGI) with everything thrown into the mix, and more than should be there, like it's farcical lead ups, except what it should have, which is decent characterization and plotting. The actors did deserve better. It's a massive disappointment. Watch the 1990 version instead, or read the book. It's one of King's best.