What’s the Film About?
It has been a couple years since the release of “It” (2017) and after watching the trailer to the second chapter I decided to give the film another watch to see if it still holds up. I do think the movie is flawed but I feel that the positives far outweigh the negatives. The film takes place in Derry, Maine where a supernatural entity thrives on killing children before he slumbers for 27 years, which gets the attention of a group of kids (the loser’s club) who intend to stop him before he kills again. It is summer time and Billy (played by Jaeden Lieberher) has a feeling in his gut that his brother Georgie is still alive somewhere in the sewers so him and his friends decide to band together to find him. At the start of the film we are introduced to Billy and his brother Georgie who share a heartwarming scene together before Georgie decides to try out his new boat which Billy crafted for him. If you saw the mini series then you will know exactly what happens next, but this time around we get to see Pennywise take a chunk out of Georgie’s arm before dragging him into the sewer which surprised me. I would’ve been fine if the film cut to Pennywise grabbing his arm like in the original, but this film showed some balls by showing a kid get his arm chewed off in grizzly detail. I assure you that no children were harmed during the making of this picture. Let’s get right into what I did enjoy about this film and boy do I have a lot of good stuff to talk about!
What Worked in the Movie?
There are a lot of things to mention about this film but I will start off with the characters. Almost every kid actor in this movie did a wonderful job portraying their characters. I really felt like these kids were terrified beyond comprehension and their acting has to be commended here in this film. It’s a kiss of death for your movie to have terrible child actors but thankfully this film doesn’t suffer the same fate as The Phantom Menace did with baby Anakin Skywalker. A terrible child actor can bring the whole movie down a couple notches so when I heard about a remake in the works for a movie I considered terrifying back in the day, I was a little skeptical because… Kids. I guess I was a little traumatized going in since I couldn’t get flashes of Anakin going, “Yippee” out of my brain. I wasn’t prepared to sit through two hours of kids who couldn’t act their way out of a paper bag, but I was relieved after watching the film for the first time. I felt like there was hope for mankind after all.
I adored all of these actors and I strongly believe you will too since they are all easy to relate to. I thought Beverly (played by Sophia Lillis) was the best character in the movie since she didn’t take any shit from Pennywise. She actually stood her ground, being the first to bring the fight directly to the demented clown. Richie (played by Finn Wolfhard) was good too as the loud mouth comic relief. He had me laughing a few times during the course of the film and so did Eddie, (played by Jack Dylan Grazer) who is basically afraid of anything infested with germs. Eddie and Richie brought levity to an overall horrific film and a little relief is always welcome to ease the tension a bit. The film could’ve easily gone overboard with the comic element but it found a way to maintain balance and did not detract from the movie in any way. This film could’ve been transformed into a full on comedy if the script was written by an inferior writer and thankfully that did not happen here.
In a way, you could see this film as a dark comedy which has worked before with the likes of Army of Darkness. When Pennywise used a kid’s severed arm to wave at Ben (played by Jeremy Ray Taylor) I couldn’t help but laugh. It could probably be because I have a sick, twisted sense of humor that I found that scene funny but I am sure a lot of you laughed, too. I will let you decide if the scene was funny when you get to that point! I was a big fan of the way the film looked! The atmosphere was fantastic, giving almost every scene it’s own distinct flavor like the part where three of the children enter a creepy old house to confront the clown. The place reminded me of a haunted house in a way since there were cob webs all over the walls and ceiling, and a few rooms packed full of old cliches that you would find at a theme park such as: A girl literally hanging out with half of her body eaten off, a room filled with scary clowns which turn their heads as a character walks by, and a little boy who has a bad case of black saliva that melts away the floor.
I thought Bill Skarsgard did an amazing job as Pennywise, considering that he has two giant shoes to fill. I am pretty sure we all remember Tim Curry as the original Pennywise and I have a feeling that Bill knew he was never going to capture the same energy that Curry did years before. Tim Curry was iconic as Pennywise and I believe there is no topping the master of playing terrifying movie entities, but I think Skarsgard did an incredible job regardless of him not coming close to Curry’s performance. He steals the show in this movie with his haunting voice, demented stare, and creepy body language. He could honestly be silent the whole movie and still end up being scary based on his body language alone. Now on to my negatives but don’t worry, this is gonna be a short list.
Only Two Negatives
I thought Stanley stood out as a wimp compared to every other character in this movie. I felt like he was completely unnecessary to the plot since he didn’t add much to the overall narrative. Even Mike had more of a character than Stanley and Mike only had one good scene where he describes how his parents died when he was younger. Stanley was just a wimpy Jewish kid who is petrified beyond belief of a painting… He only has a few lines of dialogue and nothing much to do except follow the other main kid actors.
The other problem I had with the movie was the frustrating choices made by Pennywise. I understand he likes to toy with his victims before going in for the kill, but he toys with the loser club way too much, almost to the point of hilarity. Maybe it was explained somewhere in the book but I am not reviewing the book, I am talking about the movie and I just thought the decision to reduce Pennywise to a Conjuring cliche was a bit distracting. I mean, he has the opportunity to dispatch his prey multiple times throughout the film but he lets them go at the last second like some kind of amateur. After the second time, I got fed up and the tension dissipated real fast since I knew Pennywise would much rather pull pranks on them than kill them. It’s just dumb to me because earlier in the movie he ate Georgie and a teenage boy after one quick encounter. He didn’t toy with them there at all and it made me wonder why Pennywise decided to toy with the club rather than just eat them when he had the chance. It gets worse later on in the movie when Stanley gets a couple teeth marks on his face but nothing severe, even though the film clearly shows how easy it is for Pennywise to rip a kid’s arm off. It can be a little nitpick but it was really distracting to me.
Fun Facts About the Movie
- The first trailer broke all previous viewing records.
- The movie was made 27 years after the release of the mini series as does Pennywise resurface every 27 years. The number 27 is an obvious link.
- The bullies were actually nicer in the movie than they were in the novel. They were worse?
- The movie would have been rated NC-17 since the first script was much more graphic. Hmm I wonder if they included the infamous orgy scene.
- Bill Skarsgard didn’t meet the other actors until filming began to create a genuine sense of terror.The first trailer broke all previous viewing records.
In Conclusion
The movie had some intense scenes of characters desperately trying to get away from Pennywise and the atmosphere brought the movie up, especially down in the sewer. The characters were memorable for the most part and Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise really made the character his own. There were a few minor frustrations with the film but I had a great time while watching it. I hope the next film isn’t as bad as the second half of the miniseries. There is little to screw up so i do wonder how it will turn out in the long run. Hopefully Pennywise doesn’t turn into a giant stop motion spider like he did in the original. I am going to give this movie four stars out of five! Stanley held this film back and so did the stupid decisions made by Pennywise by letting the kids go after nearly every encounter. If you enjoyed my review then be sure to share this article around on social media! I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!
The Great Critic 