Drawn out, and lacking many scares, IT: Chapter 2 tries to expand on the original, but fails to captivate like the first.
Synopsis:
27 years after their run in with IT, The Losers club is brought back to their hometown to prevent the horrors they endured as children from repeating.
The Upside:
Fans of the book will be glad to see many elements that were left out of the first film pop up, as Chapter 2 is quite faithful to the source material. There are also one or two standout horror moments, especially a scene involving a funhouse mirror maze. Bill Hader steals the show as Ritchie, and while most of the humorous moments throughout the film feel out of place, Ritchie’s quips feel authentic and true to his character.
The Downside:
For a movie as long as this (clocking in at more than 2 and a half hours) there is a great lack of depth in everything it does. Audiences will be bombarded with different ideas and plot points nonstop, but those ideas are rarely expanded on, making the characters, and story, feel extremely shallow (which is a shame with the great cast it has). There is also a definite lack of scares. Aside from the one or two stand out moments, the horror elements of Chapter 2 get repetitive, rely far too heavily on CG (bad CG for that matter), and lack the atmosphere that was created in the first. The movie also constantly flashes back to childhood moments that were not featured in the first film, which make a lot of the moments feel like an afterthought and nothing but a way to shoehorn the young actors back into the story.
The Verdict: D+
A lack of atmosphere, low scare factor, over stuffed plot, and excessively long runtime, make IT: Chapter 2 a big step down from its predecessor. Bill Hader almost single handedly keeps it afloat, while almost every other element drags it down.
The High Point: Carnival Funhouse
The Low Point: Fortune cookie creatures
FlickFix 