IT Chapter 2
Ok so IT’s here! See what I did there…sorry I had to. Like I mentioned on my review of the first film Andy Muschietti kept the vibe going with Chapter 2. Now as those of us who have read the novel and saw the early 90s mini series, the second half of the story is no easy task. I mean, you have a shape shifting entity from another dimension that lands on earth but to top it all off well you have its natural enemy; a turtle that basically puked our universe when it had a stomach ache…yeah its crazy. But to be honest Muschietti like in the first film kept its focus on the prize.
So chapter two starts 27 years later again in the down of Derry, where yes strange things are beginning to happen. I will keep this review spoiler free because there are some creepy surprises even if you know what is coming. When body parts start to appear all over the waterways of Derry, Mike takes it upon himself to call back “The Losers” to honor the promise they made if IT ever returned. Now this is where you will have to have some patience because as you know, everyone who left the town which is all of them except for Mike(Isaiah Mustafa) have no recollection of the horrors that happen. So for a while the audience is taken down memory lane, literally, as they each find pieces of their past in order to remember and be able to destroy the creature via the ritual of chud. Now this is as far as I’ll go with the story because I firmly believe that this is one of those films that need to be seen to be appreciated. With a running time of just shy of 3 hours the IT never feels as if its dragging, as a matter of fact I would have loved an additional 15 min to really dig into how Pennywise really came to be. However, the director actually limits the clowns screen time and in a way it makes it all the more terrifying when it does show up. Now the film has a few jump scares but where it really shines like in the first is it’s comedic timing and the performances. Although each character was dead on, Bill Hader is magnificent as an adult Richie.
All in all IT: Chapter Two was a very deserving follow up to the first and Muschietti should be proud. It’s a film that does an amazing homage to its source material and there is a very surprising cameo that made it that much better.
8/10
