Went on for too long...

Rating: 5/10 (14 September 2019)

This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. The whole premise of It fascinated me and I thought Chapter One was a good adaptation of Stephen King's source material. What worried me was how the adult portion would be handled since the 1990s mini-series had a very disappointing take on the adult segment. Whilst this is an improvement on the mini-series version, it doesn't reach the level of its predecessor.
It: Chapter Two follows the reunion of the Losers Club, 27 years later, as they try to defeat Pennywise once and for all.
My feelings towards this movie are quite mixed. There are portions which I enjoyed and parts which I disliked. What I thought was perfect about this movie was its casting choices. Seriously, the adult cast fit right into every one of their characters. You actually feel like the kids grew up to be like the adults. The best amongst them was Bill Hader who effortlessly acts like Finn Wolfhard's Richie Tozier. I felt the chemistry between them in the same way as the kids. This is one of the film's biggest strengths.
A big issue I had with this film was its runtime. Whilst the first chapter had a continuous pace, you could feel the 2 hours 40 minutes here. Some scenes dragged on for way too long and some didn't feel necessary. If 20-30 minutes were trimmed off the length, then the pacing wouldn't suffer as much.
A few flashbacks to the kid versions of themselves felt distracting. I couldn't help but notice how some of the kids, especially Finn Wolfhard, were digitally de-aged to fit the time period and because all of them grew up since the last film. Some of their dialogue had a sense of ADR done to them as well which put me off during my viewing.
An important element that a movie like It should have is scary scenes. There were a few good scares in the first one but Chapter Two fails to recreate that same impact. Apart from one scare which genuinely shook me, nothing else affected me. A complaint I had with the first film applies here as well. There were too many jumpscares. I wish some of the effects were practical as I think that would've been more effective when it comes to the scares.
However, what I loved about this film was Bill Skarsgard. His performance as Pennywise is so creepy and entertaining. It's not just the make-up that creeps you out but his way of speaking alongside his expressions make the character of Pennywise all the more scary.
It: Chapter Two is by no means a bad film. Despite its flaws, there's a lot of appreciate. The camaraderie between the Losers felt really believable and the humour was actually funny. Muschietti's direction is once again great and the cinematography is good as well. I feel that they tried to fit in too much which affected the end result.