Although I tried to avoid reading reviews for It: Chapter 2 before seeing the film, it was hard to ignore the article titles that popped up on social media, or the review on the news that was aired on the tv at work. I was excited to see this sequel, but the reviews were not sounding all that favourable. The main complaints and comments that I was hearing were that the movie was too long, many scenes felt repetitive, it was too much of a horror-comedy, but it was also very scary. Still, I am a fan of Stephen King films – good and bad – and I don’t always agree with film reviews, so I was certain I would still enjoy the latest installment of It.
As far as the length is concerned – yes, it is a long film. And although I got the feeling that it was a bit too long, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what needed to be cut. I read the book about 10 years ago, and there are scenes I still remember quite vividly that did not even make it into the movie. So on the one hand, I wanted more and I understand why the scenes in the film made it into the final product, but it still felt a little too long. Additionally, since I had read the book I was expecting certain scenes to take place, so I did not find the plot too repetitive. I saw the film with Mark, who has not read the book, and he did find it repetitive due to the fact that many scenes were back-to-back scares for each individual character.
I wholeheartedly disagree with any critics who claimed that It: Chapter 2 is more of a horror-comedy. Yes, there were funny moments, but those kinds of moments almost serve as a way to give viewers a bit of a break in between scares. And yes, there are funny characters, but they have been placed in a horror scenario; the horror elements of the film are not all that funny. I think it is a bit too much of a stretch to think of this as a horror-comedy. But I do agree with the reviews that commended the film on delivering the scares. I feel that Chapter 1 was probably the scarier of the two films, but Chapter 2 did scare me when I expected to be scared. And, as always, Bill Skarsgard delivered a frightfully wonderful performance as Pennywise.
Something else that was done really well in the film was the way the back and forth between the two time periods was handled. First of all, I loved that they cast adult actors who looked so similar to their child counterparts; the adults were certainly believable grown up versions of the kids from the first film. But mostly I was impressed with the editing and use of transitions. I was really impressed with a lot of the techniques used, and at no point did I find the transitions choppy or out of place. Since the book goes back and forth between the two time periods so often, I was really pleased to see that this aspect of the film was handled well.
But my favourite part of all was the cameo from Stephen King. Even some of my favourite scenes from the book that had made it into the movie could not compare to the excitement of seeing one of my favourite authors of all time appear in the film. With so many Stephen King films making their way into theatres, I really hope we get to see more cameos from him soon.
Like with Chapter 1, I saw Chapter 2 in DBox. This time, however, I was not as impressed. I remember the experience for Chapter 1 being worth the extra money, but I felt a little underwhelmed with the DBox seats this time. The movements were really only there during the scares, which was an interesting choice, but I just felt that there wasn’t enough being done.
Overall, I’d have to say that It: Chapter 2 was a good movie. On it’s own, it was scary and well done for a horror film, but as a sequel it was not as strong as its predecessor. And as an adaptation of a book, it was decent; but there were scenes I was really hoping to see that just never made it to the screen. It wasn’t a bad movie at all, but unfortunately this sequel just didn’t quite live up to the expectations I had from the book, the original film from 1986, and the more recent It remake (Chapter 1). But would I watch it again? Sure! In fact, I wouldn’t be opposed to an It movie marathon someday.
