A decent conclusion, but lacking the magic of the first half

Rating: 7/10 (20 September 2019)

After two years of waiting we finally got the concluding chapter of Andy Muschietti's remake of the Stephen King novel 'IT'. While mostly executed well like its first half, the magic wasn't quite captured for the ending of our beloved Loser's Club and their defeat of the titular entity. I shall try to avoid major spoilers for those who wish to read the novel or watch the movie.
Brief summary of the plot (easy to get from the trailers): 27 years after defeating the entity known as IT, the adult Losers must return to Derry when IT comes back seeking new victims and revenge on the adults Losers.
For our adult cast, Muschietti assembled a top-notch cast including James McAvoy as Bill Denborough, Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, Bill Hader as Richie Tozer, Jay Ryan as Ben Hanscom, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon, and James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak. Bill Hader is easily the standout as Richie, the foul-mouthed comedian of the batch which is perfect for the Saturday Night Live alumni. Hader is able to balance the dark humor with his dramatic chops that he acquired from "The Skeleton Twins" and his Emmy winning role on HBO's "Barry" and his facial gymnastics are silly, but purposeful. His comedic chemistry with James Ransone is touching and funny at the same time especially when the climax arrives and you feel for Richie.
Returning as our scary clown is the ever creepy Bill Skarsgard in a much more toned-down (for the most part) Pennywise. While more cartoonishly creepy like his predecessor, Tim Curry, in the first chapter (which annoyed me a bit), Skarsgard is able to be in his element in the second part. The actor goes much more manipulative in this movie to get his victims (particularly in one sequence under some bleachers) which is a welcome change to spouting some of Tim Curry's original dialogue. The only downside is the climax for the Swedish actor, but it's more the fault of the visual effects team and writing. However it doesn't quite diminish the step-up for the performance.
While the first chapter employed practical effects with some CGI, the team unfortunately went overboard with the CGI here. Thankfully Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise and the excellent Javier Botet get the majority of the practical work (considering Botet is the alternate Doug Jones for creepy monsters like Mama). I was laughing at the CGI particularly for one of Pennywise's young victims as the CGI jaw is so in your face and blatant which isn't the only ridiculous moment as you will see in the climactic showdown.
Screenwriter Gary Dauberman returns to pen the script after his first directorial debut earlier in the summer with the third "Annabelle" movie. However you can tell that his writing isn't as strong as the first film specifically with the so-so chemistry between the adult Losers. As pointed out earlier, the strongest bond of the group is Richie and Eddie while the triangle between Beverly, Bill and Ben is ignored a little more than the novel and rushed through. Having a longer runtime (almost 3 hours long) also packed in too much material that could've been trimmed out of the script (not really blaming Dauberman for that as that is more on Muschietti and the editor). Don't let this detract you though and try to enjoy the remaining time with our characters.
Do give this film a chance particularly if you enjoyed the first movie and the novel, but lower your expectations to a reasonable level. It's always a challenge to follow a successful first half, but it's not a terrible film just not great.