Director: Andy Muschietti
Screenplay: Gary Dauberman, based on the novel It by Stephen King
Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgard
Running Time: 169 minutes
Genre: Horror
Twenty seven years after the Loser's Club confronted the evil shapeshifting "It", the killings and disappearances start again in the small town of Derry, Maine. The town's librarian, Mike Hanlon (Mustafa), believes that It has once again resurfaced, and contacts the rest of the Loser's Club: Horror writer Bill Denbrough (McAvoy), fashion designer Beverley Marsh (Chastain), architect Ben Hanscom (Ryan), stand-up comedian Richie Tozier (Hader), businessman Stanley Uris (Bean) and risk assessor Eddie Kaspbrack (Ransone). All of them vowed to return if It appeared again, but now they have forgotten that long-ago summer, and as adults may not be able to recapture the power that kept them alive as children.
The 2017 film It went on to become the highest grossing horror film of all time, and so a sequel was inevitable, although this isn't really a sequel, because the first film only adapted the first part of Stephen King's mammoth bestseller, and this film adapts the conclusion. This is long, unwieldy and has some great moments but, when it's bad, it is really really bad. One of the main problems is that it is never particularly scary. Bill Skarsgard does well for the most part as Pennywise the Dancing Clown (It's favourite form) and his scene with a girl at a baseball field is genuinely chilling, but he sometimes verges on just being goofy. It has numerous opportunities to kill the Loser's Club which It doesn't take. Also it is full of surprisingly bad CGI, which looks more like something from a video game. Also it is full of misplaced, clunky humour, which evaporates any tension or suspense. There is a running joke throughout the film where Bill's novels are criticised for their weak endings, another gag involves a reference to The Thing (1982). The cast are mostly okay, with Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy being the standouts, although Bill Hader has some powerful moments. The thing is that the characters are affecting as children in the first film, but are much less so here where they are adults in their forties. Also they come across as pretty obnoxious at times. The child actors from the first film (Chosen Jacobs as Mike, Jaeden Lieberher as Bill, Sophia Lillis as Beverley, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben, Finn Wolfhard as Richie, Wyatt Olef as Stan and Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie) reprise their roles in the many flashback scenes. Stephen King has a small role as the proprietor of a secondhand shop and acclaimed director Peter Bogdanovich has a cameo as a director, working on an adaptation of one of Bill's books.
The film opens very strongly and the ending has real emotional weight, and there are some good moments sprinkled throughout. Mostly however it is pretty disappointing.
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