Sloppy Execution

Rating: 3/10 (10 September 2019)

I loved Chapter 1, so I went into Chapter 2 with high hope. The beginning sequence felt forced and incredibly exaggerated, with no relation to anything else that happens in the film. Henry Bowers had a brief cameo, honestly I don't know why he was even kept in the sequel for the little involvement he had. Pivotal scenes, like Stanley's death, were rushed or poorly handled. And for being a film at 2 hours and 40 mins, I felt that they did too much and not enough at the same time. I loved the adult actors in this film, they matched the younger actors quite well, they had modern technology at their disposal and an immense book to diligently pull material from and it just fell short of mediocre. They could've made Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 and really emphasized on the horrors they experienced as a kids, and then amp up the horror as adults. Aside from the Lumberjack scene and Stanley spider head... I did not get a horror vibe - AT ALL. The whimsical music also took so much from the film, as if they were in a world full of delight and wonder; it made no sense. As a Rated R film, they really held back. The studio really blew this... it could've easily been the first billion dollar horror film.