It Chapter Two (2019)
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It Chapter Two Movie Review
It Chapter Two is a 2019 horror film directed by Andy Muschietti and starring Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader and James Ransone among others. It’s such a good sequel.
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“For 27 years, I dreamt of you.
I craved you… I’ve missed you!“
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Members of the Losers Club reunite 27 years after their departure to defeat It once and for all. This is obviously a very faithful movie to the book for the most part and I loved that about it, though there are some questionable choices narrative-wise. Yes, let’s get that negative out of the way first. The movie did not really need those flashbacks in my opinion.
I do realize that this type of narrative with the jumps back and forth was employed in the book, but it was gloriously utilized there and much better than in the cinematic form as that form is less suitable for such a treatment.
I personally liked that they did not mostly just copy the scenes from the first film as they put some new stuff that was essential for the plot and I loved all of those sweet details myself, but I have to admit that they weren’t hugely needed when all is said and done as they have already made this book into two parts so that was an odd choice for sure.
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But other than that, I loved the film personally and I find it incredibly underrated, especially among critics. Yes, it is never as terrific as ‘It’ was, but that film was one of the greatest pictures of 2017 so it was always going to be very difficult to come close to its level of greatness. But the fact that this film is very good, though not amazing, is enough for me to deem this duology a success.
I will touch upon all of the characters in a lot of detail in just a moment, but let’s first analyze this story a bit. Other than the flashbacks which are uneven in pace, quality and immediacy, the film is excellently crafted in terms of narrative. I loved its book feel, though of course it’s not for everyone. But the collecting of the fragments was so engaging to me and so well done.
I also loved their friendship. It was as beautiful as it was in the first film, and their dynamic is infectiously amazing. Whenever they have their interactions, I was having a blast. The film got a huge mileage out of the first film’s amazing characterization and establishment of this group so that even some of the flashbacks had a lot of levity to them. It was a very emotional experience for me as I love these people and I’d come to care for each one of them.
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Now’s then the perfect time to analyze the Losers. Beverly. She got a lesser role than the first time around which was fine with me as she really had a lot of screen time before. Her abusive relationship makes sense as she has always been a victim of her father. The film’s wonderfully feminist, but in such a greatly subtle manner. I loved her powers, which were so well tied with the original, and her relationship with Ben was emotionally rewarding. They truly shared a great romance.
Speaking of Ben, he is handsome and hot now as he lost a lot of weight. And I personally found that message great and important. The film threw the stupid PC fat acceptance bullshit out of the way in favor of a more realistic scenario where a boy had to get in shape in order to get a hot girl. Thus, the movie is responsible instead of irresponsible. I loved his insecurities with his previous weight issues and he is just a genuinely likable dude.
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It itself is great. Bill Skarsgard is once again amazing in this role. Although a bit diminished in runtime, I was fine with that choice as we got a lot of him before. He is a spider alien and I personally loved that mythology about him. That was so well done and constantly intriguing to unravel as a mystery. And how they killed him off was perfect and emotionally satisfactory.
So Stanley killed himself which is faithful to the book, and I found that choice necessary as he was always the weakest-minded of the group. It led to a lot of levity for the entire group and it was genuinely felt as a tragedy.
Bill himself continues to be kind of a leader, but a more relatable person as an adult in my opinion as he’s more realistic and flawed this time around. I liked his manic behavior here and him separating from the group at times was as well handled as these moments can be.
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Mike is important for literally bringing them all back to Derry. He is thus admirably resourceful and determinate, and I loved how everyone really trusted him throughout. However, he needed more flashbacks and more moments for himself as he was the most individually underutilized person of the team.
And now we come to Richie and Eddie. The twist here is that this was a sad gay romance that could have been. Richie was in love with Eddie, but remains in closet throughout. I really liked how subtle these moments were, but still so potent and instantly iconic. Richie is so well developed here, so complicated and easy to root for. But because I love Eddie so much as I relate to his fearful nature and clumsiness, I found his eventual death truly heartbreaking. That moment destroyed me as it was so powerful and tragic.
I found the acting stunning across the board. The film employs a stellar cast that mixes unknowns and well established figures. Of course, you can expect always the best from James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain so they both killed it per usual here, but Bill Hader is also fantastic as he always is. He’s very underrated as an actor.
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Isaiah Mustafa played Mike’s instability so well and Jay Ryan is solid as Ben. But James Ransone is an absolute revelation in this instance. He is a lesser-known actor, and I have great hopes for his future in Hollywood judging by his great work here. Yes, everyone played their characters as truthfully as they ought to have played them. However, Ransone’s Eddie is so damn similar to Jack Dylan Grazer’s Eddie that they seemed like a real same person which was crazy, and very necessary for this character to work and still remain my favorite.
It Chapter Two is unfortunately never as scary as the original was. But the original was among the scariest films that I have ever seen so that was to be expected. The scares weren’t as elaborate and simply kids in peril is and will always be much scarier than adults.
But we got some shining moments here such as Beverly’s encounter with the creepiest old woman ever. That was amazing and so suspenseful. The death of Bill’s acquainted kid was perfectly executed while the young girl’s death near the beginning was incredibly suspenseful, featuring disturbingly manipulative Pennywise.
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The second half was much less scary in my opinion and almost anti-climactic in that scene as the first half had some very creepy scenes in it. And also disturbing as was that opening. Yes, that opening was a real-life horror of a gay couple being brutally beaten up. I found that scene unexpectedly shocking, scaring and devastating at the same time.
That was actually the scariest thing in the film as it felt so real. Which brings me to LGBT representation. It’s great here as it’s so subtle, and never aggressive, but just perfect. Richie’s case is great, but this scene is also amazing in its harshness. The film is thus very progressive in that regard along with featuring a powerful black guy, a woman and incredibly utilized, intriguing Native American mythology. All of these were subdued and all the more powerful for it.
Yes, the film is three hours long. It was simply not necessary to be this long as it is a duology. But I personally found the pacing okay as I was never bored, but mostly captivated. The editing could have been better in the transitional scenes, but the film was engaging for me. The cinematography is excellent, the score is still great and the direction from Andy is solid, though not great. The film is overblown, but epic.
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It Chapter Two is rarely as great as the original was, but that film is amazing so that was to be expected. Those flashbacks are sweet, but overlong and not all that necessary when all is said and done. It’s a bloated, but still epic film which held my interest throughout. The gay storyline is quite subtle and all the more powerful for it while the mythology in the film is very intriguing too. The opening brutal scene is the scariest along with that creepy old woman, though the film overall is never as scary as the first It. But the real power again lies in the characters. I care about these characters so much that the film was a very emotional experience for me. Eddie remains my favorite, and though McAvoy, Chastain and Hader are all magnificent, the real breakthrough star of this film is James Ransone who played Eddie so realistically and with such great care and nuance that I was very impressed.
