It Chapter Two

***It Chapter Two*** (or stylized as ***IT*** ***Chapter Two***) is a 2019 American epic supernatural horror film and the sequel to the 2017 film It. It is the second of a two-part adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King, primarily covering the second half of the book. The film is directed once again by Andy Muschietti, who directed the first film, and it was written by Gary Dauberman. The film is set in the year 2016, twenty-seven years after the defeat of Pennywise The Dancing Clown. The film stars Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, and Bill Skarsgård, who returns as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. It is the second, and the final film of the *It* film series. The film is produced by New Line Cinema, Double Dream, Vertigo Entertainment and Rideback, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

*It Chapter Two* premiered in Los Angeles on August 26, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 6, 2019, in 2D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, audience, and fans of the series, and as well the fans of the 1990 TV series of the same name, praising its adults' acting, performances, creepy soundtrack, some faithfulness to the source material of the second chapter, and its themes, although it was criticized for its weaker scares compared to the original, and its near three-hour runtime. But nonetheless, the film was a moderate box office hit during its theatrical run, grossing over 473.1 million dollars over just a few weeks after the release.

## Plot

Ever since Pennywise the Dancing Clown was defeated by The Losers Club in the summer of 1989, Pennywise has suddenly comes back in 2016, just 27 years after his defeat by the Losers Club. One night, Don Hagarty and his boyfriend name Adrian Mellon were at the carnival in Derry Maine at night, and they were encountered with a youth gang, named John "Webby" Garton, shouts homophobic slurs at them, causing Adrian and Don to leave the carnival, but were attack by one of his gangs at the bridge and Adrian is being thrown off the bridge into the water below. In the riverbank, he notices Pennywise the Dancing Clown is at the river, but he was attacked and was bitten off his heart by Pennywise, while Don catches and trying to save him, and tons of red balloons disappears both Pennywise, and Adrian, and Don Hagarty, witness the blood paint words on the trains bridge's wall "*COME HOME*" as the movie starts with the movie titles.

Mike resolves to call his friends back to Derry, and all of the Losers Club went back to Derry Maine, but except for Stanley, who committed suicide at the bathtub with blood after his call about that Pennywise, the Dancing Clown has returned after 27 years. We cut back to 1988 at the storm drain where a flash flood goes through the drain and washes out the number of dead victims, all except for Henry Bowers who actually survives at the point where he fails to defeat the Losers Club before the Losers Club founded Pennywise, he returned home and he was placed under arrest for killing his own father, muttering that he's not done yet and has to "kill them all." As he is taken into custody, he saw a red balloon floating by. He was locked up in an insane asylum for the next 27 years. At the Asylum, Henry notices a red balloon at the window, where he is locked up, causing him to excitedly chase the balloon along with the asylum's windows before he is locked up in his room, but he founded a red balloon under the asylums bed, and he yanks on the balloon until it pops. It, in the form of Patrick Hockstetter's corpse, emerges from underneath the bed and offers Henry his knife back.

That night, the Losers Club were all headed to "Jade of the Orient", a local Chinese restaurant, where all of the losers has been reunited because Mike refreshes their memories, and they're having a great table chat, until they begin to open fortune cookies, finding a cryptic phrase that reads "Guess Stanley Could Not Cut It", which it causes a much of horror started with the remaining fortune cookies begin to open, revealing disturbing monstrosities inside including a spider with a baby's head, a one-winged bat, and an unborn bird covered in blood, and all of the Losers started to have a fight with the horror creatures until it turns out they're having a vision, meaning all of the horror stuff were gone, and they're headed back outside Richie and Eddie accuse Mike of lying and upon learning that Stan is actually dead, try to leave, going back to the inn. We cut to a baseball game where a little girl named Vicki and her mother were watching a baseball game until she saws a firefly flies through the stadium, and she follows a firefly until she sees Pennywise The Dancing Clown, who is under the stadium, and Pennywise asks her to get rid of her birthmark, but Pennywise pauses before it can say three, she is mauled by Pennywise, killing her instantly. Meanwhile, Henry Bowers has been escaped from the Asylum by killing a lot of Asylum inmates and he goes through a broken fence and he is been picked up by Zombie Hocksteller, and he is on the move to kill the members of the Losers' Club. At the library, with an upstairs apartment, where Mike lives up there, he gives Bill some water, causes a via a drug-induced vision to a backstory where Pennywise crash-landed in the forest where Derry was founded and shows that the Shokopiwah Native American tribe's Ritual of Chüd can stop It for good.

The next day, The Losers go back to their old clubhouse and shows a flashback where The Losers Club were kids at their clubhouse and we cut back to the present to find the seven items of artifact from the past. To find them, they had to separate their group, and Beverly goes to her old home and finds a pack of cigarettes she hid as a child, and Beverly encounters It disguised as an old lady named Mrs. Kersh, who lived in her apartment where she lived, but she is suddenly turned into Pennywise, but was changed into nudity like a witch and chases Beverly, but before she can escape, she is encounter by an old man, and he painted himself into Pennywise's face, and before he can have a chance to chase her, Beverly leaves him behind and shuts the door, outside, she saw an apartment now has been looking deteriorating. Meanwhile, Bill purchases his old bike "Silver" bike from a pawn shop and he rides to the point where Georgie is killed by Pennywise. He looked in the sewer drain and he saws Georgie's hand come out with his paper boat, but was being grabbed by a number of baby hands below the sewer, and he managed to get away from the hands, just then Bill saw Dean once again and he told him not to look at this sewer and tells him to get out of Derry with his family. Ben goes to high school and he sits alone, but he started to get chased by Pennywise once again and he escapes. Eddie goes to a pharmacy and recovers an inhaler, recalling a childhood incident where he sees his mother being tied up and viciously assaulted by the Leper in the basement. He encounters the Leper again and manages to actually get the upper hand until it vomits on him, driving him to hysterically run out of the pharmacy.

Richie goes to an abandoned arcade where he finds an old game token, which he remembers a bad memory of him being taunted for his sexuality before being attacked by Pennywise and a giant Paul Bunyan statue. As Eddie arrives home from the pharmacy, Herny Bowers suddenly comes out from nowhere and he stabs Eddie's mouth and goes on a fight between the Losers and Henry Bowers. Meanwhile, Bill learns that Pennywise's note that he is going after Dean that he is going into a Funhouse at the carnival in Derry Maine, he tried to save Dean at the mirror maze, but it was too late, Pennywise smiles at Dean and he was violently mauled by Pennywise by breaking the mirror glass, murdering Dean instantly leaving Bill shocked and saddened of his death. Back on a fight with Henry Bowers, Richie is close to leaving town, but ultimately changes his mind and he joins the fight to kill Henry, and he is killed by Riche with his hatchet. Bill wanted to kill Pennywise alone, and he goes back to Neibolt house to kill Pennywise himself worrying is Pennywise can kill all of the Losers, but the Losers came to Bill and they joined their team to kill Pennywise underground once again. Inside, they encounter a headless Stanley, which he is turned into a spider, and goes on an attack against the Losers, fortunately, they managed to kill the spider and goes into the underground chamber where they previously had a fight with Pennywise when they were kids, but was flooded like a river, and they go down into an even deeper, and a bigger chamber with a huge hole where Pennywise crashed landed down a few million years ago, and all of the Losers puts down a Ritual of Chüd, and they hold their hands causes a huge red balloon pops. Suddenly, Pennywise The Dancing Clown appears one last time, which he was turned into a huge spider clown, which he is more powerful and eviler than what he was in the previous battle with the younger Losers Club 27 years ago, and the blue deadlights raise.

Pennywise begins to chase The Losers Club, but they were split up into two different paths, Bill comes back a Georgie and Bill's basement, but was flooded with water, and Bill screams at Bill "YOU LIED AND I DIED!" and they shoot a younger Bill and goes back underwater. Ben and Beverly were on a different path, and both of them fell into a restroom and a childhood clubhouse. Blood suddenly comes out from nowhere into a bathroom and turns into a blood bath, and Pennywise closes on Richie, and they manage to escape. Riche and Eddie are forced to look for a way out via three doors titled "Scary", "Very Scary", and "Not Scary at all", they tried the "Very Scary" door, which it has two body-less legs coming toward them, and they tried the "Not Scary at all" with a puppy but was turned into a scary dog, back at the chamber, Mike was being grabbed by Pennywise, but before he can kill him Riche threw a rock on Pennywise and he tried to throw a rock but was suddenly forced by Pennywise with his deadlights, Eddie overcomes his fear and deals a serious blow to Pennywise, saving Richie, Eddie thought that he had killed Pennywise but was fatality stabbed by Pennywise with his spider legs and he throws Eddie into the steps, much to the horror of his friends. The Losers regroup around the dying Eddie and, upon learning of the latter's experience with It in the Pharmacy, Mike and Beverly realize It can be killed if they make him small enough for them to destroy him. They go back and Pennywise attempted to kill all of the Losers, but they started to say mean things, which it starts Pennywise to go even smaller, and smaller and becomes weaker, and he is regressing into a small, harmless, and a near scarless clown-like creature before Pennywise tries to go back to his spider-form, Mike grab his heart and the Losers crushed his heart, and Pennywise instantly dies forever. They go back to now dead Eddie from his injuries, Richie tries to bring Eddie, but the whole chamber, and as well as Neilbolt house started to disintegrate and begins to break apart around the Losers, and they force to run away, but without Eddie, leaving him died by the time the huge chamber collapses, they quickly climbed up back up, which is also collapsing as well, and they run through the sewers and even the Neilbolt house, all except Eddie escaped Pennywise's scary place, and the whole Nelibolt house collapses and feel into the unground floor.

They went back to the lake and they jumped into the water to clear out of the blood all over them, but Riche has no more jokes to make, due to Eddie's loose. Bill and Beverly finally shares a kiss underwater, and the Losers went back to Derry and they look at their past selfs when they were kids. Back at his office, he notices his letter from Stanley just before he killed himself, stated that he knows that he was far too terrified to return and would, therefore, hold them back while telling them to live life to the fullest. Meanwhile, Ben and Beverly start a romantic relationship and Richie returns to the bridge where he had once carved the initials of him and another person, now revealed to be Eddie. Richie re-carves them before leaving. The movie ends with Mike drove away with his car and his stuff, leaving Derry, Maine altogether to start his new life as the scene slowly fades to black.

## Why **IT**'ll Float Too Again (No Pun Intended)

1. It's the ultimate conclusion of the movie series, which adapts the second part of the book, and just like *Avengers: Endgame* (which was ironically released the same year as this movie), the conclusion is pretty satisfying, albeit with some bittersweet tinges.
2. Bill Skarsgård still did an amazing job as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and he is at his absolute best, with him being stronger, evil, and powerful than ever.
3. Unlike the 1990 TV miniseries for the adult actors, the adult actors in this movie give off amazing performances as the older Losers' Club, and it was widely improved from 1990 miniseries one, for a particular highlight being Bill Hader, who is a lot of hilarious and even quotable lines.
	* James McAvoy also deserves credit for his performance as adult Bill. He's great at capturing an older version of the stutter stopping nice boy played by Jaeden Martell, and his determination makes you practically begging for him to protect Dean and atone for not saving Georgie when he was younger, but he unfortunately fails just as hardly as last time.
4. In addition, the Adult Losers Club are likable, much like the kids' Loser Club from the first movie.
5. The movie is still faithful to the novel, even though it was less than the original, as it included the scene with the novel (such as Adrian Mellon's death, despite the controversy), compared to the 1990 miniseries.
6. It still has intense and scary moments, even if it has weaker scares compared to the first film.
	* For example, Pennywise's appearances under the bleachers and in the hall of mirrors (a.k.a. his two successful child murders) were heavily featured in the film's advertisements and have been cited by critics and fans as among the scariest and most well-acted scenes in the film.
7. Good quotes such as:
	* **You lied, and I died... *YOU LIED!!! AND I DIED!!!***
	* "Come back and play! **COME BACK AND PLAY WITH THE *CLOWWWNNNNN!!!!!*"**
8. A clever cameo of Johnny from the Shining with his catchphrase during the final battle in the restroom with blood.
	* Likewise, Stephen King (the novel) has a perfect and hilarious cameo as Shopkeeper that sells Bill Denborough his childhood bike Silver back.
9. Some of the set and creature designs are some of them were the best, and maybe better than the original since it gives off a ton of nostalgia.
10. The still retains a lot of humor from the first movie.
11. Many found Mike to be underdeveloped compared to the other Losers in Chapter One, especially since his role of historian was largely given to Ben in the first film. As an adult, he has the historian role like he does in the book and gets a little more to do, leading the others in the Ritual of Chüd and even ripping out IT's heart (unlike in the novel, where he isn't present for the final battle due to being critically injured in his fight with Henry Bowers).
12. There's also a lot of touching moments in the movie.
13. A big criticism of the first film is that Pennywise is so overtly scary it's impossible to believe he could draw any kids in, which may have resulted from the filmmakers trying to avoid falling into narm like Tim Curry's portrayal arguably did at times. However, in this film, his encounter with Victoria shows him actively playing on her sympathies of being embarrassed about his looks, which she can relate to with her birthmark, showing his manipulative talent. Pennywise is also more deliberately comical in his behavior, addressing criticisms that he was also too scary for the clown persona to seem at all effective.
14. Henry getting arrested by police officers is satisfying for all the bullying and murder that he caused towards the losers.
15. Still, Andy Muschietti did an awesome job for directing this movie.
16. The romance in the movie like Bill and Beverly is not cliché or forced in at all. This movie really did it well.
17. Benjamin Wallfisch's score is still creepy and awesome. An example would be "27 Years Later".
18. The movie doesn't just cut to the future. It even has references to the original film, which gives off a good transition.
19. Great ending, all of the Losers moved on from Derry Maine despite the loss of Eddie during the final battle with Pennywise, ending the whole Chapter from the book.

## Bad Qualities

1. The film has weaker scares compared to the original and miniseries since some scenes are more funny than scary, which is more of a comedy than a horror, kind of like an Indian horror film.
2. It feels too long at times, considering the movie's almost three hours runtime.
3. The opening scene with Adrian Mellon's death drew controversy, with many criticizing the real-life parallels to the murder of Charlie Howard, a real gay man who died very similarly, minus Pennywise. The scene was accused of being added into the movie for "gay-bashing" or simply shock value but it was justified since this scene was actually a scene from the original book that was cut from the TV miniseries and was meant to show just how monstrous IT was from fans of Stephen King, drawing on Charlie Howard's murder two years prior to the release of the novel in 1986.
4. We don't learn about why Greta Keene, Beverly's bully, was mean to her and how Mr Keene wasn't aware of her actions. Making the plot-holes forgotten.
5. While the CGI is decent, it, at times, can be outdated and obnoxious, like it was rendered on a computer from the 1980s.
	* The de-aging CGI for the child actors is pretty weak and kind of uncanny, with Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie) being the worst offender.
	* The CGI on Pennywise's final form is not very good, pretty much so that the film almost tries to hide it through strobe lighting and having the camera constantly shake around.
6. The pacing can be slow at times.

## Reception

### Critical response

***IT*** *Chapter Two* received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, audiences and fans of book alike, with praise for its acting (particularly Hader and Skarsgård), production design, score, emotional weight and themes but criticism for its near-three hour runtime and weaker scares compared to its predecessor. Its faithfulness to the novel also drew a polarized response. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 377 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10 and verified audience approval rating of 78% based on over 25,000 ratings, with an average rating of 4/5. The website's critical consensus reads: "*It: Chapter Two* proves bigger doesn't always mean scarier for horror sequels, but a fine cast and faithful approach to the source material keep this follow-up afloat." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 58/100, based on 50 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The average user score has a score of 6.5/10 from 810 ratings. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same as the first film, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 76% and a 56% "definite recommend." On Letterboxd and IMDb, the film earned the ratings of 3.0/5 and 6.5/10.

### Box office

*It Chapter Two* grossed over $211.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $261.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $473.1 million.

## Trivia

* At 169 minutes, the film is the longest horror film given a wide theatrical release.
* At 2 hours and 49 minutes, this film is 34 minutes longer than It (2017), which ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes. In total, both films have a combined running time of 5 hours and 4 minutes, which is over two hours longer than the original 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel.
* The Australian marketing team had the bright idea to put an especially terrifying shot of Pennywise on giant public billboards, to many parents' complaints and children's nightmares.
* The month before the film’s release, IMAX screenings of *The Lion King* at AMC Theaters had the film’s trailer attached to it. Given this is a rated-R horror film, putting it before one of the major tentpole family films of summer 2019 wasn’t the best idea.
* Stephen King calls the film not a sequel but the second half to It (2017).
* Continuing with the extreme coincidence of the number 27, this film was released on September 6, 2019 (9+6+2+0+1+9 = 27). The 1st chapter It (2017) was released on September 8, 2017 (9+8+2+0+1+7 = 27). There's a 27 year age gap between Isaiah Mustafa (Mike Hanlon) and Chosen Jacobs (young Mike) as well as Teach Grant (Henry Bowers) and Nicholas Hamilton (young Henry).
* Unlike It (2017), Stephen King was more involved in the behind the scenes process of this film. King served as a consultant for the filmmakers and did a cameo.

## External Links

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