It, Chapter 2 (2019) – Sleep On It Review – “Not Turtle-y Enough for the Turtle Club”
Having seen It, Chapter 2 again, I can say…I enjoyed it more than I initially did. It’s not ideal, but I was thoroughly entertained…satisfied.
So, let’s get the gripes out of the way, first…
The CGI in this—the creatures, some of the Pennywise effects, and so on—look…wet, underdeveloped. It’s the same problem I had with the recent film adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark; some of the monster effects seemed rushed out, and…I can’t help but partially blame the studio. Opinions on them, aside, though, a sequel like this is probably just viewed as product—as well as the first part did, financially, and the second part being greenlit in-tandem with that release, they filmmakers had two years to develop this…and two years to have it meddled with. Also…the de-aging of the kids was awful; the new sequences shot for this sequel were done with the same kids that have, no duh, aged two years and grown up a lot, in some cases—Finn Wolfhard, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer were all retouched weird with CG. Some real “uncanny valley” stuff, at times…
This opinion ties into the “ending”, too. There’s a finality that just doesn’t belong there; readers of the book will know what I mean. Standing alone from the book, sure, it works…but when “based on the novel by Stephen King” is slapped on the opening credit roll, there’s a mutually-agreed-upon promise that’s made, in that. Adapting a book like this isn’t rocket science, though it does require some trimming of the fat. A director like Muschietti would know that, so…I’m not blaming him. I suppose, months from now—or, at least, after the movie’s left theatres—there will be reveal articles that talk production woes with this, that, and the other thing…and it will be of no surprise to me. The ending in the book is nearly perfect—I hazard to say the 1990 miniseries did some elements of it better, if brought it down to a level where it wasn’t so…confusing. Here, it’s like that vision was nearly realized…and then flushed. It’s just frustrating… High hopes all through, dashed in the dénouement.
A turtle of some sort would have made this a ten-outta-ten—heavens know we hinted at it enough, throughout the course of both chapters…!
Now I know how the Harry Potter fans feel…
I could’ve used more Pennywise, too. We get very little of the actual clown—by that, I mean, Bill Skarsgård…in full make-up…doing his thing. The adult actors are great; McAvoy, Chastain, Hader—especially—and the rest all kill it. More of the origin (which is hazy, at best), old days in Derry, before it was Derry (teased in the trailers, but lazy), and less…fluff. Much more could’ve been cut to make room for more fleshing-out of King’s greatest villain. Alongside this, cinematographically, the film felt…off. Color palettes and shooting styles flip-flop between scenes and even adjacent shots—another reason I’m suspicious of upper-echelon interference. Ain’t that the way they say it goes, though…
On the upside, the rubberbanding of emotions, throughout, plays perfectly to this feeling of resurgent dread the Losers feel upon coming back to the place of their…let’s say turbulent childhoods. I got teary at some moments—even this second time around. The humor is good, too, when the Losers are together and playing off each other. On the other hand, the “levity” applied to some horror scenes is…forced, and just not funny. Takes me out of the movie on several occasions…
The set-ups for the scares are (mostly) good, and unique, and I felt genuine terror, despite that damn, cheap violin sting(!) being used for the jump-scare moments… One thing I won’t complain about is creative liberty, and that’s done really well here for when Pennywise tries to get at, chip away at the Losers’ psyches when they’re on their own. New takes on familiar terrors are great, and make for some good additions to the proceedings. Derry is better-realized—we see more of it. What practical effects there are in here are cool, and some memorable moments from the book are reworked nicely.
Take the negatives with the positives, I suppose… Good with the bad. No movie’s perfect.
Initially a ***/**, after sitting on my first viewing…I’m content with raising this a level. I enjoyed it more, just sitting down and watching the movie. Final, final ‘Risk Assessment for It, Chapter 2: ****/*, but a weak score, at that…no clownin’ around.
