IT: Chapter Two Review

IT: Chapter Two

     In the summer of 1989 in the sleepy little town of Derry, Maine, seven children that call themselves The Losers Club came together to battle a horrifying monster that called itself Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) and feeds on the flesh of its terrified victims. They were successful in beating back the beast, but made a promise to return should the eldritch being ever return. Twenty-seven years later, Pennywise hasn't forgotten his defeat and now he sows the seeds for a chilling revenge as The Loser's Club reunites to not just make peace with their past in Derry, but to put an end to It once and for all.

      Having not written a review of It: Chapter One (or simply It 2017), I'll sum up my thoughts thusly: It was intense and creepy as hell. Bill Skarsgard gives a menacing performance as Pennywise that takes its own gleefully evil spin on the role made famous by Tim Curry in the 90's TV miniseries. The child actors did a great job and gave stellar performances all the way around. With It: Chapter Two, we have a terrific cast looking to pick up where the previous ensemble left off and for the most part, the adults were, in my opinion, up to the task.

     James McAvoy once again nails it as Bill Denbrough. He sells the unhappiness and disappointment of seeing his work ridiculed by not just his colleagues but his own wife; the stuttering panic that swallows him up when he learns that Pennywise has returned, and the fevered desperation of wanting the creature dead in revenge for murdering his brother Georgie twenty-eight years prior. McAvoy knocks it out of the park and he is a delight to watch.

     Despite being a famous fashion designer, Bev Marsh would rather return to Derry to fight an eldritch abomination than spend one more second in an abusive marriage and frankly, who could blame her?  Jessica Chastain gives a good turn as a young woman who bears scars both visible and unseen. The unease in which she confronts both her memories of her father in her childhood home as well as the returning memories of battling and being captured by Pennywise is palpable in every scene she's in.

     Isaiah Mustafah disappears into the role of Mike Hanlon, becoming nearly unrecognizable as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" from the Old Spice commercials. While the others moved away from Derry to have successful careers despite their unhappiness, Mike stayed. He never truly moved on from the events of the summer of '89. Mustafah gives Mike an awkward, unsure confidence in his ability to kill It and it's nice they gave the character at least a little more to do in this movie as opposed to the sparse appearances in the previous film.

     Jay Ryan does a fine job as Ben Hanscom, playing him as still the nervous kid who is especially awkward around Bev. Ben's shyness and isolation despite his success as an architect are given more focus and displayed very well in a scene with him being on a video conference with a group of business associates working on the diagrams of a mall. He still harbors a crush on Bev from childhood. I say a fine job mainly because the script seemed to call for Ben to mainly make awkward conversations with Bev and look longingly at her and Bill when they interact.

     James Ransone perfectly encapsulates how little Eddie Faspback had changed during the decades by channeling his hypochondria into a lucrative position as a risk-assessment analyst for an insurance company. His fearful nature gives him a unique challenge to overcome, given that he, like Bev, married someone who was very much like their parent. Though, in Eddie's case, the actress playing his wife, Molly Atkinson, also plays Eddie's mother, making the point a bit too on-the-nose. His arc is about believing in himself and being able to, once more, overcome his fears and skittishness despite wanting to be anywhere but in Derry.

      The show-stealer though is Bill Hader as Richie Tozer, the jokester of the bunch. He gives some of the best one-liners and has one of the funnier scenes in the movie when he tries to leave Derry immediately after telling Ben that he'd stay. However, reliving a memory of his fellow Loser and late friend Stan reminds Richie of who he really is. Another interesting subplot was the apparent crush that Richie had on Eddie, despite all the insults he slung his way. He even managed to get a laugh out of me when he gets caught in Pennywise's deadlights, giving a goofy trance face that was more funny than scary.
 
      Bill Skarsgard still brings a creepy presence to Pennywise, but this is not the same being that The Loser's Club defeated in 1989. It's been brought low, wounded, made to feel weak and small. It had become the very thing that it feeds upon: afraid. It had decades to sleep, ruminating about the ones that got away. "I dreamt of you, I CRAVED you..." Pennywise mused. These children made It feel less than and It did not like that. Not. One. Bit. But then again, bullies hate to have the tables turned on them. And what is Pennywise if not an transdimensional bully? For all of Pennywise's bluster and boasting of being an "Eater Of Worlds" (insert Bray Wyatt reference here), The otherwise terrifying monstrosity is little more than a petulant, pathetic manipulator who feeds on the suffering and fear of their victims.

     There are plenty of scares to be had in this film, but this time around, it tended to focus on loud, cheap jumpscares and honestly, while there were tense moments like in the first film, I didn't feel the scares were executed as well as they were in the previous movie. There were a few nice touches, like having Pennywise's clownish appearance be part of his "final form" as it were. Also, the way they deal with Pennywise is unique and cathartic, though it's also a bit hilarious when you think about how It taunts its victims and my earlier assertion of how bullies hate their tactics being turned upon them.

     It Chapter Two is a tale of what it means to face the demons of your past and how sometimes it takes facing those fears head-on in order to begin to, if not reconcile yourself with the trauma you suffered, heal the wounds that those events had inflicted upon you. Though your scar may not magically disappear when you conquer your demons, you come out the other side with at least the chance to live your best life without fear holding you back.