SMALLS FRIGHT FEST: DOES IT CHAPTER TWO SINK OR FLOAT?

Hello fellow Horror Nuts, and welcome back to Fright Fest! We're starting early this year with a trip to the Derry Canal Days Carnival and it's main attraction: Pennywise The Dancing Clown!



It: Chapter Two certainly has big clown shoes to fill. The previous It: Chapter One set a high bar, and the proceeding chapter certainly isn't shy about aiming for the stars....but does it succeed?

In It: Chapter Two, the Losers Club (James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak, Bill Hader as Richie Tozier, Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon, Jay Ryan as Ben Hanscom, and Andy Bean as Stanley Uris) are called back to the little town of Derry 27 years after their initial showdown with the evil interdimensional being known as  Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) to finish the monster off once and for all. First, they must contend with their forgotten past, personal demons, and growing rifts in the group if they are going to be strong enough to survive this last battle with Pennywise.

It: Chapter Two emulates it's source material by structuring itself after the Stephen King penned novel. It constantly flips back and forth between the present day Losers Club and flashbacks to their younger counterparts (kept pristine and young via mostly seamless digital de-aging technology. Unfortunately, the young cast only look a little off when they are screaming or freaking out, which is quite often). A few flashbacks would have been enough, instead they take up around half of the film. The choice to structure the film this way is odd, because we already had a full film with nothing but the kids. The effect is the exact opposite of the novel: Every time the kids are on (and to their credit they all do superb jobs once again), you can't help but wait anxiously for the adults to come back into play.

The adult cast are all fantastic, and work very well together. You buy them as the grown up versions of the young actors from the first film. The standouts are Bill Hader as Richie (who is consistently funny.), James McAvoy as Bill (Complete with an occasional stutter), and James Ransone as Eddie . I also have to give props for them giving Mike more to do this time around, and for keeping his original arc of being the unofficial town historian. I would go so far  to say that if there was an award for best ensemble cast, It: Chapter Two should win it. The actors are that good (Unfortunate they spend very little time as a group, most of the time off on their own seperate quests). Pennywise still plays a role here and is in the film quite a bit, but oddly enough, he almost feels absent a good deal of the time. Maybe it's because he is mostly CGI'd up when he appears; which takes away some from Skarsgard's phenomenal performance; or maybe it's because a good deal of his scenes are flashbacks with the young Losers Club. Either way, his Pennywise is still iconic, I just wanted more of him as human Pennywise.

Like Chapter One before it, Chapter Two is littered with references to the novel....some of which are only there for die-hard fans to point at the screen and say: "Hey, I get that reference!" (One example: Bill's old bike Silver makes an extended cameo, but since Bill's actress wife doesn't return to Derry, it doesn't have much of a role to play). The film's opening scene is perhaps the strongest, scariest and most affecting one: Where a young gay couple (Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty, as portrayed by Xavier Dolan and Taylor Frey, respectively) are brutally beaten by a gang. Mellon is then thrown over a bridge where Pennywise finishes him off as Hagarty watches . It's a scene ripped straight from the novel, and it is as effective and disturbing as it ever was....especially since Mellon is very likable in his few minutes of screen time).

The strengths in It: Chapter Two lie mostly in the film's first and third acts (although the final battle isn't quite as satisfying as you would hope). The 2nd act feels a little bloated and aimless as the adult losers kind of just wander around, argue amongst themselves, and wait for the inevitable final showdown with Pennywise. There's also a lot of CGI shenanigans that distract and detract from the overall product. That said, the film starts on a high note and ends on a high note. The almost 3 hour run time doesn't feel too long, and the film never drags despite some of my complaints.

It: Chapter Two certainly isn't as well made as it's predecessor....but it does have a lot more to say, it's definitely more disturbing and scary, and it's still very memorable; managing to recreate all the scenes from the Stephen King novel that it needs to (right down to the final battle with Pennywise in giant spider form, something I wasn't crazy about in the novel and am still not crazy about here. If there was one area to branch off in a different direction, it was here). This sequel definitely strays further from the novel than Chapter One did, but it still replicates all the important stuff just about right. It Chapter Two aims for the stars and has enormously lofty goals it doesn't quite achieve. While it doesn't quite hit its mark, it still manages to reach the moon and that's good enough for me. In short: It floats.

3.5 STARS

Be on the look-out for a Stephen King cameo!

Isaiah Mustafa is perhaps most well known for playing the Old Spice guy.

How would I cut down the run time (although it never bothered me)? Axe most of the flashback scenes, saving only the important ones (like Bill screaming into the sewer, Ben and Pennywise in school, Richie in the arcade, and Richie with Paul Bunyan).

Luke Roessler plays a memorable bit-role as Dean, a kid that the adult Losers Club keep running into. Pennywise eventually targets him as a potential victim.