It Chapter Two: Moody But Disorganized

I think it's hyperbole to say that originality is dead in Hollywood, but even exaggerations don't come from nothing. Still, no one ever said that adaptations had to be as uninspiring as It Chapter Two. That's not to say that the second narrative of Stephen King's classic novel is anywhere near as energizing as the first, but something about an idea as safe and glib as aging the heroes thirty years and giving them all PTSD is particularly frustrating in high definition. Still, sequels - as good and as ugly as they can be - come with higher budgets, and while money can't buy happiness or capability, it can purchase outward beauty. It may not be the freshest balloon in the bunch, but on an objective scale, Chapter Two looks fantastic. Improved cosmetics may be par for the course in terms of expensive sequels, but the production design and cinematography here are of an undeniably elevated quality, and it's almost a paradox that a movie as inoffensively mediocre as this could be so tender on the eyes. But while it may be beautiful and may or may not be restrained by source material, the biggest crime of Chapter Two is that too much of it accomplishes next to nothing. Long story short, it's been twenty-seven years since Pennywise last arrived like a red balloon floating in on a suspiciously quiet breeze to terrorize Derry, Maine. But all of that can change in an instant, and the evil clown is back to prey on the children of the small community once again. And when the now-grown and separated members of the Loser's Club catch wind of the news, they all reunite and make the trip to Derry to face Pennywise once again in an obvious and harmless enough follow-up.

It may not be able to do everything, but Chapter Two gives its clown a circus. This movie boasts a carnival-esque visual flair with an enticingly dark undertone, much like a scary noise emanating from the dark corner of a funhouse. The unseen presence of Pennywise permeates every corner of this movie, a fascinatingly menacing but enticingly fun phenomenon. Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise is undoubtedly one of the better horror villains I've seen in recent years, erratic, mysterious, and even a little silly in the same breath. This is a villain with many different sides and shades to him, but despite all of the many tricks in his bright red bag, Skarsgard's fantastic acting ensures that Pennywise is unmistakably one single, evil force when he could have seemed like several different characters in the wrong hands. Cinematographer Checco Varese does an outstanding job of visually realizing both the wicked clown and the small town he corrupts, especially when working with different shades, hues, and variations of dark shadows. Even if this movie wants to be about the Loser's Club, Pennywise predictably steals the show, taking Chapter Two much further than it would have gone had it featured a lesser villain. In fact, all the characters in this movie are strong enough, but like the first It, this sequel suffers from having too many moving parts.

The first movie works better than the second by having every character come from the same town, but now, every member of the Loser's Club is grown and spread out all over the country, and the first act of this movie - which focuses on getting the gang back together - plays less like something Chapter Two wants to do and more like something it needs to do. This movie is, in too many ways, a slave to its own premise. It's also highly nostalgic for its predecessor, a little too nostalgic. So much of it is flashbacks to and references of the first movie, and Chapter Two makes the conscious decision to live in the shadow of Chapter One. I get that a sequel is supposed to build on the first movie, but It Chapter Two does little more than reminisce on what came before with no apparent purpose behind its recitation of and devotion to old memories. It contains a lot of scary and sentimental moments without much rhyme or reason to tie them together, and it almost behaves as if someone cut the first movie apart and then stitched the pieces back together in a different order. This sequel is also way too long. At nearly three hours in self-important length, it would have benefited from either a sense of urgency or a ruthless editor. This movie reminisces about nothing of importance to its overarching narrative for two hours before finally committing to telling the story it promised - that of the adults of the Loser's Club fighting an evil clown.

Call it a nitpick, but in addition to its lack of focus, Chapter Two is too quiet. Even with the volume set to maximum on my laptop, I sometimes struggled to hear what the characters were saying. The gaps are there in this sequel, and they're not difficult to spot. Nevertheless, Chapter Two sticks the landing where it counts. The cast chemistry of the adult actors for the Loser's Club is spectacular; think of it as the cinematic equivalent of a somewhat unattractive person with a beautiful personality. This funhouse of horror, though too often a slog to traverse, isn't always a chore, either. To be certain, this movie contains some memorable set pieces; my personal favorite is a disorienting, not-so-fun house of mirrors that genuinely threw my expectations for a loop or five. Chapter Two goes the mundane way you expect it to, right up until it doesn't; this familiarity and subversion are both a blessing and a curse, more of the latter, unfortunately, but undeniably effective when it's the former. I don't know; I suppose I'm feeling optimistic today.

Take this movie or leave it. It's barely compelling enough to watch, just forgettable enough to miss. It may not know where it's going, but whenever it remembers not to be boring, it definitely has fun getting there.

It Chapter Two - 6/10

1 John 1:5-7