IT Chapter 2 fails to be better than Chapter One
I’ll tell you right now that I never read the book but I did enjoy the 90’s IT mini-series when I was a kid and really loved 2017’s Chapter One. It’s been a while since I’ve watched a movie that disappointed me until now.
Synopsis
Defeated by members of the Losers’ Club, the evil clown Pennywise returns 27 years later to terrorize the town of Derry, Maine, once again. Now adults, the childhood friends have long since gone their separate ways. But when people start disappearing, Mike Hanlon calls the others home for one final stand. Damaged by scars from the past, the united Losers must conquer their deepest fears to destroy the shape-shifting Pennywise — now more powerful than ever.
There’s a lot of good in this movie such as a solid plot and excellent acting, especially by Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise and the adult Losers Gang that features Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader who I thought stole the show and outshined everyone but there are tons of detractors such as the jerky flashbacks and erratic pacing that made this movie drag.
This movie isn’t sure what genre it is and if it’s labeled as a horror flick, I’m here to tell you it is not. It’s a 2 hour and 50 minutes identity crisis and Chapter 2 is a drawn-out Sci-Fi/Thriller/Comedy with very clumsy special effects that come off cheap and goofy. The jump scares and CGI was done very poorly which made many of the monsters and supposed scary moments in the movie laughable.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get many Pennywise scenes as he is the best thing to come out of this story. Many of his appearances weren’t done with practical effects and relied heavily on CGI which was distracting and un-horrifying. All of this took away from a movie that could have been much better if simply executed the same way as Chapter One.
Verdict
I give this movie a 6.5/10 and the only truly scary thing about this movie was the runtime!
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Sean Tajipour
Sean Tajipour is the Founder and Editor of Nerdtropolis and the host of the Moviegoers Society Podcast. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. You can follow on Twitter and Instagram @Seantaj.