It: Chapter 2

This review may contain spoilers!

This film is over inflated and needed to be an hour shorter, yet in spite of this some of the charm from the original film manages to be caught. I would give It: Chapter 2 a 6/10.

It: Chapter Two is the highly anticipated sequel to 2017's It; taking place 27 years after the Losers first defeated Pennywise they must reunite to stop him once and for all. The film has a real fun sense of humour that sits strong amid this horror/supernatural thriller; the brilliant fourth-wall breaking and humour that calls back to the childhood fun we saw in the first film is great. There's also a really cathartic style to how each character deals with their trauma from their childhood, you see each of the characters become stronger and closer because of the emotional journey they go through. The cinematography throughout this film is really sharp, you get these weird creative visuals that heighten the dizzying sense of fear Pennywise creates. The score for this film is just as good as the first one, you feel entirely unnerved but more significantly you also feel like you're watching a thrill of an adventure.

James McAvoy, who played Bill Denbrough, really captured the troubled leader of the group who barrelled recklessly into danger; I was really impressed with how McAvoy played his character's eventual acceptance and forgiveness for what happened to his onscreen brother, Georgie. Isaiah Mustafa, who played Mike Hanlon, is this very resolute figure from the beginning who is determined to fight Pennywise; Mustafa really shows how long and deeply his character has lived for killing Pennywise and seeing him break when things unravel in the final confrontation was excellent. James Ransone, who played Eddie Kaspbrak, is this very erratic character who seems constantly anxious by the world around him; Ransone and Hader onscreen together were electric and played to a friendship I truly believe re-emerged after years apart. Andy Bean, who played Stanley Uris, didn't have a great deal of screen time but entirely stole the show in his scenes; Bean makes the death of Stanley a really profound point in the feature that resounds with you from beginning to end. Bill Skarsgard, who played Pennywise, showed us all that it was possible to be the creature of horror and still be an incredible source of acting in the first film; this time around he continues to test just how far he can really go to horrifying lengths. Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs and Jeremy Ray Taylor, who played Young Bill Denbrough, Young Stanley Uris, Young Eddie Kaspbrak, Young Richie Tozier, Young Beverly Marsh, Young Mike Hanlon and Young Ben Hanscom respectively, were all great to see returning in their original roles; I could talk for a while about how these young performers are the best of their age in the business at the moment but I will instead quickly mention that I'm glad Oleff got more opportunity to show audiences exactly what he can do in this film. Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who played Victoria Fuller, has this exceptional scene with Skarsgard that is probably the best Pennywise scene of the film; the pair construct a great interaction in which Pennywise manipulates Armstrong's role's own self-doubts about herself to ultimately kill her.

However, the best performance came from Bill Hader, who played Richie Tozier. This is quite frankly one of my favourite roles Hader has portrayed in recent years. The intro to Richie having grown up to become a famous comedian is absolutely perfect and Hader has the charisma to capture that. Yet it's more than that, Hader really shows how deeply his role is affected by the fear of returning to Derry. The character also gets a really interesting moment of introspection when it comes to his background and sexuality. Hader is spectacular at showing how Richie struggled with coming to grips about being gay in a very prejudiced town; but more than that he is exemplary at showing how his character has held deep feelings for one of his friends for years. The grief we see from Richie after watching Eddie die in front of him is one of the single most powerful moments in the film.

This film knew how to have some fun, which it pulled off rather well, but ultimately this movie wasn't supposed to be a comedy. The film was so bogged down with running jokes that you felt like it had lost a sense of what it was trying to achieve half the time. It 2 was shockingly long and the pacing needed some serious work throughout, but most significantly in the second act. The film even breaks down it's three act structure in a rather cringe-worthy way; the Losers have to reunite (first act), then individually collect their totems from when they first defeated Pennywise (second act) and then finally they must defeat Pennywise in a battle of wills (third act). It seems pretty cut and dry until you think about that second act and how we have to spend time with each individual member of the Losers as they collect their token. This whole treasure hunt sequence scattered with easy scares and odd Pennywise moments really sinks the film in a big way. In fact the entire reasoning behind why the Losers have to go through all this to kill Pennywise is a bit over the top in the first place; one of the characters goes to a Native American tribe in which he gains the knowledge required to confront the clown antagonist. The entire way in which the film handles defeating Pennywise is pretty laughable, having all the characters 'will' him into becoming weak didn't translate well and made for quite the dissatisfying ending. There was also a big shift in this film to focus on representation of gay characters. Normally I'd be really excited for something like that but It 2 decided to focus on most of it's gay characters through a storyline involving abuse, which was just plain uncomfortable and lazy. For some of the film the special effects looked alright but the old woman character really did not look alright at all; worse than that, the final battle with Pennywise really felt like it didn't reach its full potential due to the constant dependence on CGI to make the scene.

Jessica Chastain, who played Beverly Marsh, took what was one of the best characters from the first film and made her quite boring to watch; it was like watching all the fight go out from one of the toughest fan-favourite characters and I really had expected more. Jay Ryan, who played Ben Hanscom, worked very strongly to the love triangle subplot that existed between him, Chastain and McAvoy and I really wish he hadn't; Ryan reduced a character who really subverted expectations in the first film to a simpering lovestruck role that existed to pine after the female lead and did little else. Teach Grant, who played Henry Bowers, is one of those roles that could have been axed to save valuable screen time; watching grant go completely over the top in his portrayal of his role's insanity after making a deal with Pennywise was a hard watch. Luke Roessler, who played Dean, is meant to be one of the young victims you feel sympathetic for but it doesn't really pan out; Roessler seems very distant and disconnected from the scenes he is in which means the audience struggles to connect with him.