Summary
The second half of the ambitious adaptation to one of Stephen King’s most iconic novels forges its own path but maintains the length.
Stephen King‘s It is arguably the horror master’s most iconic work, written at the height of his 80s run and destroying clowns for a generation of impressionable youths. The first chapter of the most recent adaptation, released in 2017, recaptured that intrinsic eightiesness while breathing new life into Pennywise the Clown. Yet that film’s success may have been a double-edged sword.
Director Andy Muschietti and the studio decided to slice King’s interwoven narrative in half, separating much of the childhood adventure from the text into the kind of story that inspired Stranger Things and similar series. So, with IT: CHAPTER TWO, the film isn’t just another horror film but a Horror Sequel, coming with all the burden and expectation that the category.
Most of the film takes place in the present day, or near enough to it, with the murder of a young gay man (a brief cameo from Xavier Dolan) kicking off Pennywise’s latest wave of terror after 27 years. The adult Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) calls back each of the Losers’ Club – Bill (James McAvoy), Ben (Jay Ryan), Beverley (Jessica Chastain), Richie (Bill Hader), Eddie (James Ransone) and Stanley (Andy Bean) – who have all forgotten their time together in Derry.
Muschietti and screenwriter Gary Dauberman (Annabelle Comes Home) painted themselves into a little bit of a corner with the first It film. Where King’s novel has the adult and child stories operating simultaneously, and their respective climaxes building to the same crescendo, the first film already told a semi-complete story. IT: CHAPTER TWO maintains the juxtaposition with a string of new material that gives each of the young and adult actors their due.
This becomes a bit of a pacing problem in the second act, which turns into a token quest for each of the Losers. Here it gets bogged down in an hour of jump-scares and individual stories that detract from the main story. At 170 minutes, it’s almost as long as the 1990 mini-series, and that covered the whole saga. Then again, the source material is almost 1,200 pages. So, it’s a shame it doesn’t use more of it, abandoning some of the strong mythology in favour of new subplots that seem only serve to give us fanservice to the first film.
The young cast of that first chapter were impeccable in their respective roles, so the new cast had some big shoes to step into. While McAvoy, Chastain, and Hader dominate the screen, some of the other casting is problematic. Yet Neighbours star Ryan doesn’t bring much charisma to the screen, making it hard for us to connect with his romantic subplot, and it fizzles at a crucial moment.
While not as ambitious in its faithfulness as the 90s mini-series, there are moments of fidelity that have stepped straight out of the book. Yet the sequences Muschietti and Dauberman have chosen to keep – an extended scene of a hate crime, domestic violence, and a barrage of fat shaming – aren’t given sufficient context due to the sheer amount of side stories they insisted on.
By itself, this is a serviceable thriller that checks off some deep cuts for King fans. Taken as a whole, IT is an ambitious adaptation that falls back on horror tropes during its crucial finale. It would be interesting to see a super cut of the 5-hours of film together, perhaps interspersing the scenes in the same order as King. Nevertheless, the success of this film will solidify the stream of adaptations in the pipeline, and that will still be a good thing for fans.
2019 | US | DIRECTOR: Andy Muschietti | WRITERS: Gary Dauberman (Based on the novel by Stephen King) | CAST: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, James Ransone, Jay Ryan, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård | DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow Films (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 170 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 5 September 2019 (AUS)
