In a year that saw Avengers: Endgame and the upcoming Rise of Skywalker, IT: Chapter 2 is close behind as one of my most anticipated movies. As someone who loves the book, the original mini-series and enjoyed the 2017 movie, I was all in. This is a very interesting take on Stephen King’s novel and a movie that seems kind of divisive with fans.
How to Stream or Download It Chapter Two
You will be able to stream or to download the movie once it becomes available in a digital form via iTunes or Google Play. Click on the button below the review. Meanwhile, you can read our review of the first It (2017) film.
The Film Review
It is so hard not to compare IT: Chapter 2 and the 2017 It to the 1990 miniseries. I feel that this is an unfair comparison and I look at these as two rather different adaptations of the novel. If you go into this expecting a newer version of the mini-series you will be very disappointed. This has more in common with the book than what we got in 1990.
The story this time around sees the Losers Club all grown up. They all have moved on, started their own lives and all except for Mike have for the most part forgotten the horrors they faced as kids. The adult cast which features actors such as James McAvoy and Bill Hader are good, but for me, it is once again the kids who really steal the show.
The movie has a really brutal opening with a hate crime which does happen in the book. It is brutal in the book and it is brutal on the big screen as well. I feel that this Pennywise is “scarier” and the Tim Curry one from 1990 is “creepier”. They are both great in their own way, just two different takes on the same character.
For me, Bill Skarsgård is a more manic and crazy kind of Pennywise and it works. I just wish there was more of him in this movie. It may just be me, but I felt that his screen time was kind of scaled back here. It does not spoil the movie or anything like that and I guess on the flip side of this the fact I was left wanting more does speak to how good Bill Skarsgård is as Pennywise.
The movie moves at a pretty brisk pace and while it is set in modern times. We do get flashbacks that fill in some of the gaps of what the Loser Club got up to that faithful summer. Including a scene in an arcade which annoyed the hell out of me as it showed a Mortal Kombat arcade machine multiple times despite that game not being released for a couple of years after…. yes, I am a nerd.
I was entertained from start to end. The ending is pretty spectacular and I feel that the showdown with The Losers Club and Pennywise is pretty damn awesome, creepy and even funny in places too. The ending ties things up nicely and overall, I think that they really did a good job with the movie overall. It is a pretty long movie at close to three hours, but it never dragged.
Overall, IT: Chapter 2 is a solid movie. I know the comparison is unfair, but I still prefer the 1990 adaptation. Still, as a follow on from the 2017 movie, it does a good job of not just bring the story to a close. It also manages to fill in some of the backstories as well which I feel was very well done. If you liked the first chapter, then you will like this it is as simple as that.
