2.5/5 stars
By Anna Husted EBS FILM CRITIC
“IT Chapter Two” is an entertaining horror ride for fans of
the Stephen King literary masterpiece, the 1990 mini television series and the
first “IT” film released the same year. That said, “IT Chapter Two” is not for
everyone: it just isn’t a very good film nor skates by on the horror, but I
recommend it if you love King’s characters and horror.
We return to Derry, Maine, alongside our protagonists from
“IT” who are now in their mid-30s and called back by their friend Mike to
defeat the maniacal clown Pennywise (a comic, yet eerie Bill Skarsgard) who has
returned to the small beaver-trapping town 27-years-later as promised.
The first film was one of my favorite movies of 2017. “IT”
created a character-based story built on shame, the jump scare, character
development through writing and nostalgia for the ‘80s; elements that are in
part utilized by “IT Chapter Two,” but are (unfortunately) replaced with
gratuitous flashbacks, unwarranted violence and, of all places the filmmakers
needed to go, cultural insensitivity toward Native Americans. “IT Chapter Two”
was trying too hard to be a big CGI box office hit instead of sticking to what
the first film did best, nostalgia and classic horror motifs.
Two triumphs of the CGI
work were the wicked wackiness of Pennywise’s eyes, face and tongue,
along with all the ‘80s-“Army-of-Darkness”-type horror. In a Chinese restaurant
scene, where we first get all our protagonists back together, their fortune
cookies turn on them, sprouting legs and heads and various amorphous bits that
attack them. This scene was hilarious and a bit frightening because it was odd
for six adults to be afraid of cookies and because it was just zany enough to
remind us, the audience, that Pennywise has the frightening ability to distort
reality to his choosing.
But like many ensemble films on the market these days, there
were too many characters to address. The film’s jumps from character to
character only worked in the beginning, establishing the narrative, but become
annoyingly and unnecessarily dominating. This continuous transitioning weakens
the film because Bill (James McAvoy) continues to reinforce, in vain, that they
can only defeat Pennywise if they stick together and because the best moments
of “IT Chapter Two” are had when the great ensemble cast (Jessica Chastain,
Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, and James Ransome) is all together. The
flashbacks for each character also cut in where clear act breaks should have
been, e.g. instead of transitioning from the typical turn in Act II we just
continue to be inundated by increasingly horror-less horrors both past and
present. This extended and jumpy approach effectively eliminated any sense of
an impending climax, giving less precedence to the ending.
Despite the cinematic and writing weaknesses of “IT Chapter
Two,” I want to reiterate that I was entertained and hoping for more because I
have grown to love these characters, including Pennywise, as Skarsgard’s
rendition is one of the most disturbing horror characters of the 21st
century. He mastered the jump scare and quirky smiles in “IT” and returned with
more absurd and great moments in “IT Chapter Two.”
“IT Chapter Two” is
now playing in theaters.
Anna Husted has a
master’s in film studies from New York University. In Big Sky she can be found
hiking a mountain or at the movies at Lone Peak Cinema. When not gazing at the
silver screen or watching her new favorite TV show, she’s reading, fishing or
roughhousing with her cat, Indiana Jones.
