Directed by: Andy Muschietti
Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Jay Ryan, Sophia Lillis, Bill Skarsgard, James Ransome, Andy Bean, Teach Grant, Isaiah Mustafa
At a nearly three hour running time, the filmmakers of IT: Chapter Two seriously overestimate our desire to watch Pennywise and the adult Losers battle it out onscreen. I reread my review of IT (2017) and in it, I pleaded against a sequel. Thanks to the money the initial movie made, a second chapter in which the kids, now grown up of course, return to Derry, Maine to take on the evil clown Pennywise twenty-seven years after the events of the first film. We get more blood, more vile exercises in brutal slayings, and plenty of boredom.
Pennywise is an uninteresting villain who is never fleshed out as a character. We want him to see him meet his demise so the movie can finally end, rather than taking satisfaction in his downfall. Since Pennywise doesn't seem to be governed by any set of physical or logical rules, he can be anything or anyone at any time. He can be dream or real, or neither. He can be a cackling sadist one minute and a shape shifter who can make the T-1000 Terminator envious the next. He's just there, about as multi-dimensional as the final antagonist one must overcome in order to conquer a video game.
The now adult Losers prove that if you are dull characters as kids, you can grow up to be a dull grownup as well. With the exception of Richie (Hader), who is now a standup comic with at least a little zinging wit, the rest of the Losers, who made a blood oath as kids to return to the town if Pennywise should ever show his face again, aren't exactly people we care much about. IT: Chapter Two even begins with a troublesome, ugly hate crime in which two gay men are brutally beaten by bullies. One is dumped into the river from a bridge and floats away to be devoured by Pennywise.
The bullies are never seen again, the victims are never mentioned again, and the incident is never referred to later. You mean to tell me there was no other way to mark the return of Pennywise than that sickening display?
The lone member of the Losers who stayed in Derry, Mike (Mustafa), who lives in a church attic and surveys the crime scene as if he is a cop (it is not made clear whether he is one), contacts the other members of the group and asks them to come home and fulfill their vow made years ago. Each of the Losers isn't exactly in a happy place, and cautiously returns home. Some claim not to remember the oath, others only remember that horrible time in their lives sparingly, but yet there they are reuniting to dispatch of Pennywise and save the town from his evil. They seem to have each other's cell numbers, but aren't close anymore. Mike has to remind each of them who he is when he calls.
The bulk of the running time deals with each individual person facing the demons of his/her youth and exorcising them. Each. Individual. Person. I didn't care about them as kids. I care even less about them as adults. Pennywise's cruel henchman Bowers (Grant), who was the teenage town bully in the first film, is also sprung back into action to carry out Pennywise's terror. He's just one more person to account for in a movie that already has too many.
The setup drags. The payoff drags even longer. Once the matter with Pennywise is settled (in an unconvincing fashion considering the powers he possesses), then we are treated to ten to fifteen minutes more of whimsy and reflection. I guess we are supposed to be happy they all learned something from this ordeal which would likely scar each of them with PTSD for the rest of their lives. This is a nearly three hour movie which could hardly qualify as epic. I gave the original film one star and this sequel a half-star better. Why? Because Hader comes up with some pretty funny jokes and there is one moment which made me jump a little. To say IT: Chapter Two is better than its predecessor is the faintest praise I can imagine.
No comments:
Post a Comment