Preferred the first movie! 4/10

Rating: 4/10 (20 January 2020)

Review:
Well, that's 3 hours of my life that I won't be getting back! I was really disappointed with this film because the plot is all over the place, and the whole back and forth in time thing, made the movie drag. The horrific Pennywise scenes were a bit random, and I didn't feel the chemistry between the characters like I did in the first film. On the plus side, there are some "jump out of your seat" moments, which were pretty scary, but you don't get to appreciate the attention to detail because it's mostly shot with a dark palette. I did enjoy the first movie, which is why I was so disappointed with this sequel, and I personally don't know why it's nearly 3 hours long. Anyway, in 2016 Derry, Maine, Don Hagarty witnesses his boyfriend Adrian Mellon being murdered by Pennywise after a gang of homophobic teenagers beat them up and throw Adrian off a bridge while leaving the annual Derry carnival. Overhearing a police scanner, Mike Hanlon (Isiah Mustafa) discovers It has returned and calls his childhood friends, Bill (James McAvoy), Eddie (James Ransone), Richie (Bill Hader), Ben (Jay Ryan), Stanley (Andy Bean), and Beverly (Jessica Chastain), back to Derry to honour the promise they made in 1989, to kill It if it came back. While the others travel to Derry with only hazy memories and a sense of dread, Stan slashes his wrists in the bathtub soon after getting the call. The Losers meet for dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where Mike refreshes their memories, while they are tormented by hallucinations and learn of Stan's death. Richie and Eddie decide to leave until Beverly reveals that ever since she was exposed to Its Deadlights, she has been experiencing visions of their deaths should they fail to leave town without fulfilling their promise. Mike takes Bill to his library abode and shows him, via a drug-induced vision, that they can stop It for good. After the others agree to perform the ritual, Mike explains that the ritual requires seven personal items from there past to be sacrificed. Henry Bowers, who survived being pushed into the well at the Neibolt house and was arrested for murdering his father in 1989, escapes from a mental institution with help from It. Meanwhile, in the Losers old clubhouse, Mike advises the others to find their artefacts by retracing their steps following their falling out after first entering the Neibolt house. Beverly finds Ben's love letter at her old home, still believing Bill wrote it and encounters It posing as Mrs. Kersh. Ben recalls his childhood encounter with It at high school before realising his artefact is the yearbook page Beverly signed which he kept in his wallet. Both Richie and Eddie recall their own personal encounters with It while retrieving their artefacts, a game token from an abandoned arcade, and an inhaler. Pennywise taunts Richie about his sexuality, leading to him deciding to leave again and reconsidering again after recalling Stan's bar mitzvah, before menacing Eddie in the guise of the Leper, but flees when Eddie standing up to It causes the being to shrink in size. Bill finds his childhood bicycle and recovers the paper boat from the storm drain where Georgie was killed. The group descends into a cavern beneath the sewers, and they perform the ritual in the remains of the meteor that brought It to Earth ages ago. The ritual appears to work in trapping the Deadlights in the sealing jar, but they escape after It emerges from the jar in a giant spider-like form. Will the Losers finally kill It with there new ammunition? You have to watch the 3-hour epic movie to find out! Although they used established actors in this movie, and they gave each of the characters some depth, I didn't feel the emotion that I did in the first film. Also, the storyline didn't seem to flow properly because it looked like various sketches pieced together. In terms of a horror film, it didn't have the same shock value as the first film, and for a movie in this genre with a 15 rating, I don't know what type of audience this was made for. With that aside, it still made a profit so I wouldn't be surprised to see a third movie in this franchise. Disappointing!
Round-Up:
This movie was directed by Andy Muschietti, who also brought you Mama and It. With only 3 major releases, he has done a good job, in terms of box office takings, and now that he's working with established actors, the only way is up for this newcomer. With 9 movies in development, which include Dracul, Time Machine, Attack on Titan, The Howling, Robotech, and DC's, The Flash, which is due to be released in 2022, he's obviously become a bankable director that studios are willing to take a risk with.
Budget: $79million
Worldwide Gross: $473million
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Cast: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgard, Javier Botet and Xavier Dolan. 4/10