“It Chapter Two” just officially had the second biggest opening for a horror movie of all time and it’s only second to its predecessor “It Chapter One.”
Audiences came out in droves to find out how the cinematic sequel would conclude based on Stephen King’s legendary thousand-page novel of the same name. But it was also a staggering three hour long conclusion.
So is “It Chapter Two” worth three hours of your valuable time?
When “It Chapter One” hit theaters in 2017, it was the 27th anniversary of the original television version starring Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown. That number 27th anniversary number wasn’t just convenient; it was orchestrated.
The reason why that number carries significance is because that’s the exact amount of time between both parts – between the kids and when they come back to the small town of Derry, Maine 27 years later to defeat Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
“It Chapter One” was widely praised as being a horrifying masterpiece from director Andy Muschietti and starring Finn Wolfhard and Bill Skarsgard in the titular role.
The epic conclusion featured a star-studded cast including Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader. The story is about the “Losers Club” who are now all approximately 40-years-old and are needed to go back and defeat Pennywise once and for all. But the problem is that some of them really don’t remember what happened all those years ago and they need to figure it out.
Is this story worth your 3 hours assuming you’ve seen the first installment? The short answer is a resounding yes.
Before the new film was released, Golden Globe and Emmy Award Winner Bill Hader (“Saturday Night Live” and “Barry) stole the show. And they’re all right, Hader is absolutely exceptional in “It Chapter Two.” Twenty-seven years later, Tozier (Hader) is a standup comedian so you can probably imagine how funny he is and when you fuse that with a vicious clown, it’s a recipe for absolute joke-telling gold.
There are some terrifying sequences and moments. Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise is absolutely dangerous because the character is so unpredictable.
Muschietti invokes some wild imagery through Pennywise that’s not thing short of eye-popping. In that sense, it was better than the previous installment.
Outside of a few jokes that fall embarrassingly flat and might make you think “did they really just try to joke about that?” like what Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransone) says during the climax. It was a perplexing joke to have at that moment in the film.
One thing that is a little obnoxious about the film’s story is that literally every single one of the characters except the lone African American of the Losers Club who never left Derry, Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa), are rich and successful. One is a famous standup comedian, another is a novelist and a screenwriter, another is a super successful architect, etc.
“It Chapter 2” is just shy of three hours long but it never feels like it’s that long partly because the pacing is expertly crafted.
The novel has an excellent message about the main theme of bullying and the both installments of the film do it justice. It’s absolutely worth your time.