IT Chapter 2 | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I'm a really huge fan of the first IT movie (and the small part of the book that I've read, which I'm going back to now I've seen this one!), so while I was sceptical about this one being able to match the first one, I was still excited to see it.

In 1989, 7 kids took on evil clown Pennywise and won, making a promise to come back to their hometown of Derry, Maine, if he did.
27 years later, the friends aren't in contact and have mostly moved out of Derry, going their separate ways and forgetting about what happened in their childhoods. Except one. When Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) sees the signs of a clown in Derry once again, he rounds up the Losers to defeat Pennywise once and for all.

While walking out of the cinema, I felt a bit indifferent about this movie. After letting it digest for a day, while there were things that I didn't like about it, I do think it was a good sequel to the first movie.

For a start, the castings were amazing. Having the older versions of these characters played by James McAvoy (Bill), Jessica Chastain (Beverley), Bill Hader (Richie), Isiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan (Ben), James Ransone (Eddie) and Andy Bean (Stanley) was genius because, for the most part, they really look like the actors that played their younger selves. And what's more, the ones who didn't necessary look like their counterparts made up for it with their acting.

Because this film was very well acted. Again, for the most part, all of these actors portrayed their individual characters really well, and made it seem like they really were the characters from the first film. Of course, this is also because of the script, which matched their 'grown-up' dialogue with their 'younger' dialogue.

I also really liked the tie-ins with the first movie. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that there are flashbacks, but they're done in such a way that makes this film really great and unique. In a way, it also adds a lot more depth to the first movie, because it fills in the blanks of things that were left open-ended.

But as I stated, there were also things that I didn't like.

For a start, there were a lot of inconsistencies with the first movie. I can't mention any without spoiling the movie, but there were a few moments that made you think 'that doesn't make any sense'. Especially if you're really familiar with the first movie.

Also, I felt like there was no chemistry between the cast. Of course, having not seen each other in almost 30 years they wouldn't be as good friends as they were in the first movie. However, it really felt like they were all starring in completely separate movies with the same plot. Because of that, all the instances of friendship (or anything else) just felt forced. It didn't feel like they'd ever even met before, where I wanted them to immediately fall back into their characters from the first movie, including the amazing chemistry that the younger cast had.

And then there's the running time of the movie, which is 2 hours and 49 minutes. I've seen movies that long, or longer than that, that felt like no time had passed at all. But for this, I feel like I felt every single one of those minutes, and found myself getting restless less than halfway through. I don't know if it could have been made shorter, but I would have enjoyed it more if it was.

Overall, it's a good film that has it's moments, but it isn't scarier or funnier than the first one.

7/10

Lou