IT: Chapter Two
Year: 2019
Director: Andres Muchietti
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James McAvoy, James Ransone, Jay Ryan & Bill Skarsgard
Runtime: 170 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 04/11/22
Director: Andres Muchietti
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James McAvoy, James Ransone, Jay Ryan & Bill Skarsgard
Runtime: 170 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 04/11/22
Andy Muschietti’s 2017 adaptation of the first chronological half of Stephen King’s epic novel IT was a runaway success. One of the most refreshing horror films in years whilst also being an all-round excellent film, landing itself in many Best of 2017 lists, including my own. But as the final scene told us, the events of that film were just the beginning, and IT would return for the Losers Club twenty-seven years later to finish what it started. Suffice to say that IT: Chapter Two had the monumental task of not only resolving the story in a way that would function with how the first film had presented itself in contrast to the source material, but also do it in a way that would make it just as endlessly enjoyable as that first film.
In 2016 Derry, Maine, IT returns to begin a new series of killings, once again presenting itself as Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgard) after having been thwarted by the Losers Club twenty-seven years earlier. Meanwhile every member of the Losers Club has led successful and happy lives, entirely forgetting their childhoods in Derry. Bill (James McAvoy) is an acclaimed writer, Beverly (Jessica Chastain) is a New York fashion designer, Ben (Jay Ryan) is an award-winning architect, Richie (Bill Hader) is king of the stand-up comedy circuit, Eddie (James Ransone) is a successful risk analyst, Stanley (Andy Bean) is a founder of a large accounting company. When they are contacted by the final member of the club, Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), now the Derry librarian, he reminds them of the promise they made all those years ago to return and finish what they started.
Upon returning to Derry the Losers must learn to remember what happened in the summer of 1989 so that they can reunite stronger than ever to finally kill IT once and for all.
In 2016 Derry, Maine, IT returns to begin a new series of killings, once again presenting itself as Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgard) after having been thwarted by the Losers Club twenty-seven years earlier. Meanwhile every member of the Losers Club has led successful and happy lives, entirely forgetting their childhoods in Derry. Bill (James McAvoy) is an acclaimed writer, Beverly (Jessica Chastain) is a New York fashion designer, Ben (Jay Ryan) is an award-winning architect, Richie (Bill Hader) is king of the stand-up comedy circuit, Eddie (James Ransone) is a successful risk analyst, Stanley (Andy Bean) is a founder of a large accounting company. When they are contacted by the final member of the club, Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), now the Derry librarian, he reminds them of the promise they made all those years ago to return and finish what they started.
Upon returning to Derry the Losers must learn to remember what happened in the summer of 1989 so that they can reunite stronger than ever to finally kill IT once and for all.
The biggest hurdle the IT films need to overcome is that Muchietti chose to adapt the novel chronologically, rather than doing a direct adaptation that has the timeline jump backwards and forwards. Whilst this can function perfectly well for the childhood era of the Losers Club’s story, it’s not as easy to pull off for the adult era because not much of the story actually happens when they’re adults. It’s something the 1990’s TV Miniseries encountered too, with the second episode covering the adult era in exceedingly boring montages of adults trying to recapture their youth.
In Stephen King’s novel, the adult era acts as the framing for the whole story, and where the Losers learn all the important information, they need about what IT is, and how they can kill it. But they learn all this information by remembering their childhood, and recontextualising it as an adult. The first IT film had the issue of feeling like a series of jump scares with no real purpose to it at times, but the second film has the issue of being all exposition with not a lot of entertainment value.
Muchietti has managed to tackle this slightly by expanding upon the events shown in the montage at the start of the final act of the first film. As our adult Losers explore Derry, they’re reminded of when they split up following their first group encounter with IT and how they became united once again. In terms of the story this makes sense, but in terms of the pacing it completely kills it.
IT: Chapter Two is an extraordinarily long film, especially for a horror. Coming in just shy of three hours, Chapter Two overwhelms the viewer with information, but also feels like it wants to re-tread old ground in order to give the people who came for horror their share of Pennywise jump scares. The result is a string of seemingly disconnected vignette style memories that climax in an extravagantly big jump scare, followed by that adult character confronting Pennywise in some form or another. This happens for each character in the Losers Club for the entire second act which takes up roughly an hour and a half of film time, before they’re finally reunited to actually take on IT in a massive showdown.
The reason why the film is so long is because the adult era story doesn’t have enough meat on its bones to be a standalone film, so it’s padded out with new scenes starring the returning child actors from the first film that add nothing to the story.
In Stephen King’s novel, the adult era acts as the framing for the whole story, and where the Losers learn all the important information, they need about what IT is, and how they can kill it. But they learn all this information by remembering their childhood, and recontextualising it as an adult. The first IT film had the issue of feeling like a series of jump scares with no real purpose to it at times, but the second film has the issue of being all exposition with not a lot of entertainment value.
Muchietti has managed to tackle this slightly by expanding upon the events shown in the montage at the start of the final act of the first film. As our adult Losers explore Derry, they’re reminded of when they split up following their first group encounter with IT and how they became united once again. In terms of the story this makes sense, but in terms of the pacing it completely kills it.
IT: Chapter Two is an extraordinarily long film, especially for a horror. Coming in just shy of three hours, Chapter Two overwhelms the viewer with information, but also feels like it wants to re-tread old ground in order to give the people who came for horror their share of Pennywise jump scares. The result is a string of seemingly disconnected vignette style memories that climax in an extravagantly big jump scare, followed by that adult character confronting Pennywise in some form or another. This happens for each character in the Losers Club for the entire second act which takes up roughly an hour and a half of film time, before they’re finally reunited to actually take on IT in a massive showdown.
The reason why the film is so long is because the adult era story doesn’t have enough meat on its bones to be a standalone film, so it’s padded out with new scenes starring the returning child actors from the first film that add nothing to the story.
But the most egregious issue I have with the film is the half-hearted inclusion of the more fantastical elements from the book. The first film almost completely stripped any notion of IT being some otherworldly creature, and instead presented IT as something more grounded and realistic, beyond comprehension but still believable.
Chapter Two decides that it’s going to try and explain the origins of IT, and what it really is, because that’s exactly what happens in the adult era for the book…but because the fantastical elements weren’t present in the first film it feels nonsensical and like they’re grasping at straws. Even come the end of the film you don’t really know what IT is, just that it has been a part of the land that became Derry for thousands of years.
The final battle also goes on for far too long and simply isn’t particularly interesting. Whilst for the most part it’s true to the book, it doesn’t work in a visual medium anywhere near as well, and as a result feels extremely anticlimactic. But even then, it doesn’t dare go as bat shit crazy as the book, probably for fear of losing audiences altogether because of the extremely strange places the end of that book goes.
What does work very well though is the casting. Much like the first IT film, the casting here is simply phenomenal. McAvoy steals the show as Bill with him becoming gradually more unhinged as the story goes on, his side-story involving the young boy who now lives in his childhood home is arguably the best part of the entire film.
Chastain is also a perfect casting for adult Beverly, and the transitions between her and Sophia Lillis who portrays the young Beverly are seamless.
I also enjoy how they lean into the idea that Richie probably isn’t straight and probably has a thing for Eddie is also fantastic and brings a new dimension to those characters that remains faithful to the previous film and the book but looks at it in an entirely new way.
IT: Chapter Two is a hard film to recommend. It’s good, and I probably sound like I’ve just slammed the film within an inch of its life. It’s just so long and doesn’t do a particularly good job of adapting the adult era of the book. If you’ve not seen the first film then there is absolutely no point in seeing the second as it’s been designed to be seen as a single film (which makes sense because the source material was a single book, it's just been split in two for the sake of making the film adaptation more digestible). But if you have seen the first film, Chapter Two is likely to leave you feeling a little unfulfilled. You’ll definitely have a good time with some portions of it, but you’ll be begging for the end to come long before the credits are actually due to roll, and you’ll often be left with a peculiar sense of deja-vu
Chapter Two decides that it’s going to try and explain the origins of IT, and what it really is, because that’s exactly what happens in the adult era for the book…but because the fantastical elements weren’t present in the first film it feels nonsensical and like they’re grasping at straws. Even come the end of the film you don’t really know what IT is, just that it has been a part of the land that became Derry for thousands of years.
The final battle also goes on for far too long and simply isn’t particularly interesting. Whilst for the most part it’s true to the book, it doesn’t work in a visual medium anywhere near as well, and as a result feels extremely anticlimactic. But even then, it doesn’t dare go as bat shit crazy as the book, probably for fear of losing audiences altogether because of the extremely strange places the end of that book goes.
What does work very well though is the casting. Much like the first IT film, the casting here is simply phenomenal. McAvoy steals the show as Bill with him becoming gradually more unhinged as the story goes on, his side-story involving the young boy who now lives in his childhood home is arguably the best part of the entire film.
Chastain is also a perfect casting for adult Beverly, and the transitions between her and Sophia Lillis who portrays the young Beverly are seamless.
I also enjoy how they lean into the idea that Richie probably isn’t straight and probably has a thing for Eddie is also fantastic and brings a new dimension to those characters that remains faithful to the previous film and the book but looks at it in an entirely new way.
IT: Chapter Two is a hard film to recommend. It’s good, and I probably sound like I’ve just slammed the film within an inch of its life. It’s just so long and doesn’t do a particularly good job of adapting the adult era of the book. If you’ve not seen the first film then there is absolutely no point in seeing the second as it’s been designed to be seen as a single film (which makes sense because the source material was a single book, it's just been split in two for the sake of making the film adaptation more digestible). But if you have seen the first film, Chapter Two is likely to leave you feeling a little unfulfilled. You’ll definitely have a good time with some portions of it, but you’ll be begging for the end to come long before the credits are actually due to roll, and you’ll often be left with a peculiar sense of deja-vu