Success was there for the taking. A bestselling novel from the king of horror himself, coupled with a cast of capable if not excellent actors, and the iconic blueprint of all things scary rolled into the form of a terrifying and psychotic clown. And the writers, directors, and producers of “IT Chapter Two” managed to destroy any semblance of enjoyment with an abysmal movie.
While the 2017 “IT” was a letdown in that expectations were it would be an all-time great and the result was just okay, “IT Chapter Two” is an abject failure that offers nothing in the way of entertainment value or long standing cinematic stature.
Based off the classic 1986 Stephen King novel, “Chapter Two” continues where the 2017 movie left off. 27 years have passed, and The Losers Club, now adults, must return to the ominous town of Derry, Maine to once again battle the demonic Pennywise. The sneak peaks and trailers released over the preceding months made the movie look to be a great horror tale. Sadly, the handful of scenes in the trailers are the only decent parts in an otherwise ungodly long mishmash of a boring movie.
My brief allotment of praise will come from the casting of the adult Losers, each of whom is a spot on match to the child counterpart they are portraying. The movie features recognizable names like James McAvoy, Academy Award nominated Jessica Chastain, and SNL star Bill Hader.
McAvoy and Chastain are very good with their parts, though they suffer a bit in having to share the spotlight with a large ensemble cast. Bill Hader is also an excellent actor, but his humor is often overused (more on that later), and the other members of the losers club; Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan and James Ransone were a fluctuating mix of mediocre to downright poor also-rans.
The shining aspect of the 2017 movie was Bill Skarsgård as the iconic clown, Pennywise. Here, Skarsgård reprises the role, and in his very limited screen time does a fantastic job. He brings a more sadistic and primal aspect to the character, one that not only feasts on children, but lusts after scaring them.
The issues come from director Andy Muschietti’s decision to insert bad (and I do mean bad) CGI into nearly every scene. One of the reasons classic horror films from the 70s and 80s are so impactful is the eerie nature of the limited special effects. We remember Linda Blair’s head spinning in “The Exorcist” or Johnny Depp being devoured by his bed in “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Even the tawdry canines Tim Curry sported as Pennywise in the 1990 version of “IT” were a thing of nightmares. Superimposing Tyrannosaurus fangs over Skarsgård’s mouth doesn’t add anything other than an element of distraction.
And bad CGI doesn’t just cloud Pennywise. The movie is loaded with ridiculous sub-monsters that torment the Losers as they return to Derry, each of which is a hybrid of predictable and cheap jump scares and incredibly poor video game like appearance. Throw in loud sounds and music, and a terrible host of inappropriate bathos (most courtesy of the Bill Hader character) and you have the result – a horror movie that isn’t scary at all.
The film follows the novel in certain areas, and goes its own way in others. Many of the decisions seem to employ the bad aspects of the book and leave out the good. In Part One, we follow the Losers as kids growing up in Derry in the 1980s. The terror they face at the hands of Pennywise and neighborhood bullies is real. We feel invested in their struggles.
The adult characters in Part Two are simply older and taller versions of their childhood selves. There’s no deep draw to the characters. And there’s something disinteresting about watching a group of 40-somethings going after a monster that isn’t enjoyable. And the all-time complaint is the misuse of Pennywise. He’s the best villain. He scares the kids and the adults. Why does he always change his form to be something less visceral? Here’s a crib sheet. Pennywise = Scary. CGI = Not Scary. Its simple.
A negative aspect of the book is its notorious length. The movie goes out of its way to replicate this in its 3 hour run time, and you’ll feel every minute of it as the minutia of the characters and their repetitive flashback sequences takes its toll. The best way to tell a story of this magnitude would be a six or eight part miniseries on Netflix or Amazon, it simply can’t successfully be crammed into a single or double showing at a theater. But I digress.
The reboot of the IT franchise leaves us as one of the biggest disappointments in movie history. Yes it will make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office and the like, but it’s not memorable, and has no rematch value whatsoever. In the end, it’s a typical bad horror movie that will quickly be forgotten.
