It Chapter Two (2019)

For me It works best when it is being a drama about the horrors we face as children and the way we reckon with that as adults. When It's trying to be what it's sold as, a horror film, It tends to loose me. Perhaps even more so with Chapter Two than the first film. As I am not a fan of the novel, with its dues ex machina resolutions and its reliance on horror cliches, the films have both been an improvement for me, but some of the problems with the book seep through for me into the films. But there are ways that the films do reach me and transcend some of Pennywise stuff.

For me, the moments when It is working is when director Andy Muschietti focuses on the characters, their interpersonal relationships, and their personal growth. I enjoyed the way the characters in the first film as children each faced the terrifying things in their lives, reminding so many of us of the things we survived. In It Chapter Two we get to see the legacies of those developmental moments, the ways adults are broken by their pasts, and the healing that come come through connection. It is in these moments when It shines and offers something more. The best horror always finds something to offer its audience beyond scares, something cathartic and cleansing.

But perhaps some of the success of the first film hinders this one a bit. Like with The Lord of the Rings, the runaway success of the first film gave permission to err on the side of excess. The film is long and likely doesn't entirely need to be. There are parts where I truly appreciated the film taking its time to tell its story, but other times when the film seemed to be playing up stuff that just didn't add value or emotional weight. The film, like the first, is heavy on the CGI and although its good CGI, never looking cheap, it also never feels quite real.

It as a story suffers from so lack of constraint. The evil entity at the heart of the tale is never defined, which in someways is good but in many ways it means the film can just have it do whatever the film needs it to do taking away any sense of real threat. The parameters of the confrontation are never laid out clearly so what happens often feels random, without purpose.

But the biggest downfall for me was that I want a horror film to scare me and It doesn't scare me. The film relies on what we are supposed to be scared of (clowns, creatures with crazy teeth, naked old ladies???) as opposed to building up real fear and existential dread. So when we cut away from the stories of our characters and their wrestling with their own demons, we are then supposedly entertained by jump scares and CGI effects. It never quite did it for me.

But once it comes back to the heart of It, the story of who we are and how that is formed through the adversity we face, the film becomes fascinating again. Muschietti is a beautiful director how can tell a compelling story. For me the horror part just wasn't all that compelling.

Still, overall this is my favourite telling of this narrative. For me it had more impact than the book or the TV series.

It Chapter Two
Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Skarsgard, Jay Ryan, Bill Hadar, Isaiah Mustafa, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Jack Dylan Grazer, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Wyatt Oleff, Teach Grant, Nicholas Hamilton, Xavier Dolan
Director: Andy Muschietti
Writer: Gary Dauberman