They All Float - IT Chapter Two (REVIEW)
written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)
It’s time to head back to Derry with the Loser’s Club when 27 years after their first run-in with a psychotic supernatural clown left them traumatized. IT Chapter Two tells the second half of their story, jumping back and forth between 2016 and 1989… the year the first chapter was set in. Living up to the promise they made as kid’s, the Loser’s Club gets back together when tragedy strikes and Pennywise returns to Derry for yet another feeding frenzy.
The young cast from the first film returns, as for their older counterparts we have the likes of Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James McAvoy, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, and Andy Bean. First off, I do need to point out how amazing the casting was for the older counterparts. Chastain is a dead ringer for an older Beverly Marsh while McAvoy absolutely is a believable older Bill Denbrough.
As for the story we have, Mike Hanlon (Mustafa) was the only member of the Loser’s Club who stayed behind while the rest of their crew moved far away. What this ended up doing was wiping the memories from 27 years ago from their memories, seemingly the further away they were from Derry… the further away those memories were. This plot point felt almost too convenient, and honestly wasn’t my favorite part. While each member of the Loser’s Club almost instantly remembered what happened when Mike Hanlon called, I never really got why they all forgot Pennywise.
Determined to beat the beast once and for all, the Loser’s Club dig deep into their own memories, remembering the summer of 1989 to track down personal totems they can use for an ancient ritual meant to seal “It” away for good. All seems kind of fantastical am I right?
Well, comparing the two chapters… IT Chapter Two felt like the weaker of the package. While it does bring to cinema the climactic battle and a few great scares, Chapter Two felt more like a thriller than a horror film. Thinking back to the scares from the first film, they felt far more effective than what we were given here. While it does help to be able to refer back to events from the first film, the jumps from 2016 to 1989 felt jarring at times. Derry doesn’t change much in 27 years, so in some cases I don’t realize they’ve jumped until I see either a kid actor or an adult actor.
One the upside, as a villain, Bill Skarsgård is fantastic as Pennywise. Like Pennywise was dialed up to 11 for Chapter Two, making him one of those memorable cinema villains that stick out.
Despite how amazing Skarsgård was, in fact the whole cast was incredibly talented, but it’s a shame that IT Chapter Two had to be such an unwieldy mess. An uneven pacing made it more of a chore to watch than I wanted it to be. While the scope was grand, it felt so muddled at times it was almost a waste how great the casting was.
Overall, IT Chapter Two was a fun popcorn flick that unfortunately doesn’t live up to how amazing the first film was. I am glad they approached it this way to be honest. Looking back at the original miniseries, the adult scenes were always the weakest part of the package. As a whole, IT Chapter Two felt uneven. Despite establishing the rules of this world, those rules are almost thrown out the window during most fo the film’s runtime.
D+
Falls short of what the first chapter offered
