Review: It Chapter 2 is a fun, heartfelt but overly long haunted house ride

It is one of the most iconic horror stories both from acclaimed author Stephen King and in the whole horror landscape. The book and original TV film defined a generation with a clown that caused your heart to sink at the mere prospect of him. It wasn’t exactly a surprise when the It remake did gangbusters in 2017 and captured a new crowd while pleasing longtime fans… but people wondered if they could stick the landing with It Chapter 2.

With It Chapter 2, we return to Derry, Maine 27 years after the events of the first film. The kids have grown up, they lead new lives (some better, some not), and have ultimately moved on from the trauma they left in Derry. When rumblings of Pennywise the Clown’s return make their way back to the Losers Club, they hesitantly return to try and defeat the evil that plagues the small town.

At 2 hours and 49 minutes, you’d think It Chapter 2 has a lot of ground to cover but it really doesn’t. We know the characters already and it does give us some slices of their new lives to show what’s changed with them but it’s kept relatively brief. We know the threat. We know the kind of town Derry is. We have all of the pieces already, the only new thing introduced is a plot to defeat Pennywise once and for all.

That’s established fairly quickly (and is also confusing as hell) and then after that, the movie drags substantially. There are a LOT more scares and set pieces in this film, they really went all out in trying to ensure that the film doesn’t feel like there’s actual downtime but in doing so, it makes the downtime all the more apparent. The second act of the film is very character-focused and the entire plot just comes to a complete and total halt, everyone splits off and go to explore memories of Derry.

During this time, every character gets a moment which results in them revisiting a traumatizing encounter with Pennywise seemingly weeks after the end of the first film. The thing about all these scenes is that there aren’t any stakes.

We also know they’re alive in the present day so them being chased around by a monster isn’t scary because we know they make it out. There’s no tension or fear for the characters in the flashbacks. It doesn’t help that most of these sequences are just characters being chased by a creepy monster too and it happens about 6 times. It oversaturates itself by feeling the need to throw in new monsters, scares, and ways to up the intensity that it makes it begin to feel dull.

The scares aren’t divided up enough or paced well to continuously scare you. There’s a clip from Spongebob Squarepants that accurately describes how you begin to feel about 2 hours into It Chapter 2. After being haunted by the Flying Dutchman for a long enough time, Spongebob becomes numb to the Flying Dutchman’s hijinks and is more or less bored by it all.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some really fun and incredibly disturbing moments in It Chapter 2. They continue to not pull any punches and don’t allow the heroes to win every single time, allowing for moments of pure shock. While not quite as graphic, there are moments that tonally reminded me of the opening of the first film when Bill’s little brother gets his arm ripped off and then eaten. They really go for it and it’s something that should be applauded because most movies wouldn’t have the guts to do what the It series has done.

Maybe it overindulges in those moments and that’s what can cause the fatigue but it takes risks. For the entire second act, you do begin to feel that the story isn’t moving but it helps you care more about these characters. Given these are new actors playing them, they had to find some way to reestablish that emotional connection with the audience and characters.

To their credit, it works really well. James McAvoy (adult Bill), James Ransone (adult Eddie), and Bill Hader (adult Richie) really give it their all and make themselves truly feel like the older versions of those characters. I thought it would be hard to picture some of these big actors in these roles but it feels incredibly organic and they even bring a new emotional weight to it all.

While the first It had a lot of heart in its story of innocence and friendship, It Chapter 2 finds an emotional anchor in all of the horror with a tale of rekindling forgotten friendships, growing up, dealing with trauma, and much more. They find an emotional and shockingly authentic human story in what is ultimately one of the last big blockbusters of the summer.

The Verdict

Despite really dragging itself out and making me look at the time on my phone a handful of times only to realize there were hours left in the film, It Chapter 2 is still very special. It has creative integrity and doesn’t shy away from being brutal or disturbing, it carries a story filled with a lot of heart, and is filled with a cast who had big shoes to fill yet manage to do so without skipping a beat.

It Chapter 2 may suffer in some areas to a pretty major degree but it doesn’t hold itself back from still being a solid finale to both a great horror saga and a summer of big blockbusters.