The Article below was published in Vol. 135, Issue 1 of the Lake Forest College Stentor on September 20, 2019
By Christian Metzger ‘20
Staff Writer
Much like any novel, It Chapter 2 is hoping to recapture the same magic from the first chapter—It (2017)—but, instead, ends up being one book you wish you could put down.
This is not to say the film is entirely a wash, as it boasts many commendable aspects, but It Chapter 2 fails to recapture the same feeling of tight consistent storytelling and character that was present in its predecessor.
Like the previous film, It Chapter 2’s greatest strengths lie in its characters, the titular “Loser’s Club” as they reunite once again to take on the demonic clown Pennywise and try to stop his schemes to terrorize Derry. All the lead actors comprising the returning circle of close-knit friends are able to bring their A-game. In particular, Finn Wolfhard as the comic of the group and James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, who at times displays riveting desperation as he attempts to stop children from meeting a cruel fate at the hands of the entity “It.” Speaking of, Bill Skarsgård once again brings the menace back in spades for the iconic clown—shining in those subdued moments where he comes face-to-face with our heroes.
Another aspect of praise is the cinematography work by director Andy Muschietti and cinematographer Checco Varese. The film is rife with many creative transitions that are sure to be a treat for many audiences, such as one particular moment when the camera pans up to the starry night sky and slowly zooms in to become a puzzle board shot from below a glass table. I think small artistic flourishes like that speak to a talent on behalf of Muschietti and Varese that hopefully gets to shine in future projects.
The cracks begin to appear with just about every other aspect of the film. One aspect I praised of It (2017) was its choice to split into two separate parts, one focusing on the Loser’s Club as kids and the other as adults—as that was a trap the original miniseries in the ’90s fell into that dragged the entire thing down. The hope was that there would be proper time to really flesh out the group dynamics and slowly build over the course of each film a plan to stop Pennywise.
Unfortunately, that is not the case in this film. While there are moments of group camaraderie, there is a significant bulk of the film where the characters are separated to retrieve individual mementos to take down the clown. This segment bogs down the middle of the film and feels directionless, like there is no significant progress being made to stop the villain, and it becomes predictable very quickly as to what’s going to happen: the character arrives at an important childhood location, has a flashback, Pennywise appears and taunts them for a little bit with something scary, and then they leave. This repeats for every character in the Loser’s Club, thus consuming the bulk of the film and making it seem like several mini-movies stitched together loosely until they finally reconnect just in time for the film’s climax.
Much of Pennywise’s original menace is missing as well, and that is in part due to the use of CGI, or computer-generated imagery. In the previous film, the clown’s more bombastic displays were few and far between, being mostly practical and more subdued in the background. In this film, however, you see Pennywise just standing out in the open very early in the film, reducing his presence, but you also have more bombastic displays with a goofy Paul Bunyan statue chasing a kid through a park. While sure to delight some with the over-the-top absurdity, it’s moments like that which betray the overall horror premise of the film—as this seems far less of a horror film as it is some amalgamation of various different genres and is never able to fully commit to one. Though, in fairness, when It Chapter 2 does commit to the horror, you’ll be on the edge of your seat.
There are numerous other issues with the film, ranging from awkward and semi-confounding editing choices that leave the viewer semi-confused as to what’s currently happening on screen; characters like Mike Hanlon and Henry Bowers, who are almost complete footnotes in the story; to the ending feeling rather unearned after all the meandering preamble up to that point, etc.
The small issues are too numerous to mention here, but It Chapter 2 experiences a death by a thousand cuts, it’s many problems holding it back from truly being able to stand on equal ground to the previous movie and consigning it to a fate of being remembered as an “ok” sequel to a superior first entry. Sadly, this is one “book” that failed to fully stick the landing.
5/10
Christian Metzger can be reached at metzgerct@lakeforest.edu.
