Directed by Argentine filmmaker, Andy Muscheitti, the film was released in 2020 and is the second instalment of 2017’s American psychological-thriller and horror film, IT: Chapter 1. It is the remake of 1990’s two-part psychological horror-drama miniseries – IT, which was based on a novel of the same name, written by the king of horror, supernatural, crime and sci-fi books, American author, Stephen King.
If you don’t fall into the category of people who have seen both or either of the most recent instalments, then you would probably be in the category of people who saw the original miniseries in 1990. Of course, for the few who don’t fall into any of the categories, here’s a summary of the story:
Every number of years, children of a fictional town are terrorised and eaten by an evil monster that appears in the form of a witty and mischievous clown known as Pennywise/It (Bill Skarsgard). Seven misfit children; each having been tormented by Pennywise in one way and at one time or another, band together as the ‘Losers Club’ to put a stop to this evil menace. They succeed, but only temporarily. Twenty seven years later, the terrifying beast is back and the now adult seven must reunite to fulfil their oath to destroy IT once and for all. It isn’t an easy battle, as Pennywise uses the deepest darkest secrets, fears, and past traumas of the seven to attack them supernaturally, thereby taking them through a roller coaster of hell.
While vaguely remembering the 1990’s release by horror films director, Tommy Lee Wallace, I do have memories of it being extremely scary yet very interesting and enjoyable to watch. The first chapter of the 2017 remake did quite well in the box office, and so did the second chapter, albeit less so. For no reason at all, I only just watched IT: Chapter 2 recently and felt I had to give my two cents on it.
There are particular things that ruin a film for me, and one of them is lack of a plot. This film didn’t have one. It looked like they were just making it up as they went along. Throwing together a bunch of senseless, over the top, supposedly scary scenes does not a good horror movie make. It’s like too much time was spent trying to come up with really scary scenes, not enough time was allocated to developing a worthwhile plot that actually made sense. Having said that, I rather enjoyed the humorous personalities of and comical banter between adult Richie Tozier (Bill Hader) and adult Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransone)
What really irks me about a bad movie, in my opinion, is one where there’s a waste of talented actors or/and special effects. 2019’s IT showed off some really good makeup, props and special effects. However, if the core of the film is weak, the others are just wasted frills. I consider James McAvoy (He played adult Bill Denbrough) a very talented and versatile actor. Jessica Chastain (She played adult Beverley Marsh) is also a very good actress. Check out 2020’s American action-thriller, Ava, where she plays a deadly assassin; she wouldn’t have been my first, second or even third choice for that role, but she manged to pull it off. Both McAvoy and Chastain’s talents were wasted on IT: Chapter 2. That’s not to say the other actors didn’t do a good job. Skarsgard’s reprisal of Pennywise/It was as brilliantly done as in 2017.
For me, the film was all over the place. It was pretty haphazard and, quite frankly, not scary at all. The opposite might be the case for those who are psychologically sensitive. The end of the film could have been anything. There was no way to destroy Pennywise, but they somehow found one, because they just had to… and it was quite simple really!!
Not a film I would recommend, except you’re curious or have seen 2017’s Chapter one, and now have to see 2019’s Chapter 2. I would rate it 4.5 out of 10.
Further Information
Director -
Played Pennywise / It
Played Bill Denbrough
Played Beverley Marsh
Played Richie Tozier
Played Eddie Kaspbrak
Played Mike Hanlon
Jay Ryan -
Played Ben Hanscom
Played Stanley Uris
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