It Chapter Two

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

IT Chapter Two is violent and not in an “edgy” Tarantino kind of way. It’s the kind of violence that makes you uncomfortable enough to unhand the buttery popcorn filling your palm. It’s the kind of cinematic violence that begs for some kind of break in the tension. Director Andy Muschietti was able to reprise his directorial role for this cursed clown thrill ride, helping the film maintain its continuity despite the twenty-seven year time jump. IT Chapter Two’s success cannot be mentioned without applauding seasoned horror screenplay writer Gary Dauberman for creating a script worthy of a Stephen King novel, but even so the film is not without its issues. Often self-indulgent in its gore and scares, It Chapter Two keeps its humanity with humor and heart (and not just the freshly ripped-from-the-chest kind).

The film opens with a brutal hate crime against two gay men in which one man is thrown into the water and promptly devoured by an awakened and famished Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) – the atrocities of man perfectly juxtaposed by the clown’s preternatural cruelty. It’s been a long twenty-seven years of hibernation for the clown, who is back with a vengeance and a hunger for the gaggle of kids who bested him. In the present, Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) is the only member of “The Losers” who stayed in Derry, monitoring activity for signs of Pennywise’s resurgence. Upon hearing of the otherwise quiet town’s dismemberments, he knows that the clown is back. He knows it’s time to bring the gang home.

One by one Mike summons his old friends back to Derry to fulfill their promise to each other. We see Bill (James McAvoy), now a pseudo successful writer, and Eddie (James Ransone), a risk analyst. We watch Richie (Bill Hader) vomit and forget the punchline during his own stand-up show. Ben (Jay Ryan) is a fit, successful and lonely architect. Bev (Jessica Chastain) is doomed to repeat a history she can’t fully remember. Stanley (Andy Bean) is the only one who doesn’t make it back home – killing himself when the memories of Pennywise come rushing back. The group convenes for the first time since childhood at a restaurant, sharing fragmented stories of their youth. Inexplicably all but Mike are missing memories of their time in Derry, but they’re slowly restored the longer they’re together – the longer they stay in the town that nearly took their lives.

Mike reveals to his long-lost friends that the only chance they have at defeating Pennywise – for good – is to once again become the kids that they were by opening up old traumas through collecting tokens from that fateful summer. The token will then be used in an ancient ritual to snuff out Pennywise and his “deadlights.” The Losers must collect their tokens on their own, each visited by Pennywise along the way, and realize that despite whatever successes they’ve captured as adults they always were and forever will be better together.

Despite images of clown eating children’s heads, animated corpses and towering, naked elderly zombie women…IT Chapter Two is often funny, frequently heartwarming and an exploration of what happens when we’re forced to face who we were, who we are and how those two different people influence who we will be. It’s a coming-of-age tale, followed by a coming of…another age tale that feels a lot like a macabre re-imagining of The Sandlot. Perhaps then the film’s biggest fault is its whopping running time of two hours and fifty minutes. Of course, trimming the film down would mean losing out on a series of exceptional performances from the adult stars, which would be a loss on its own.

Sitting through all three hours of IT Chapter Two will feel like a chore when you’re in the thick of it, but in retrospect it’s easy to forgive. Jessica Chastain will break your heart and put it back together as a battered Bev fighting to take her life back in oh so many ways. James Ransone and Bill Hader will steal every scene they’re in, filling it with manic humor and delightfully chaotic energy. Jay Ryan will make you swoon, frown and then swoon again. James McAvoy, despite portraying pack leader Bill, may fall flat as a compelling adult yet wow is he pretty. Ah yes, looking back, you’ll fondly remember all two hours and fifty minutes of this horror epic. There’s a little bit of The Losers in all of us – and that’s how we know we’ll make it through. Pennywise who?