‘It: Chapter 2’ doesn’t float well

By George Haerle

For Grays Harbor News Group

Don’t let the headline totally turn you away. “It: Chapter 2” isn’t a dud by any means, and if you plan to see it anyway, don’t change your plans because of this critic’s opinion.

That being said, if you loved the excellent storytelling as well as the far better scares of 2017’s “It,” you should be warned that you aren’t going to get that in “Chapter 2.”

This film is overlong and convoluted. It just doesn’t pack nearly the punch of its predecessor. However, the performances by the dual casts of the story’s characters are top-notch, as well as the dialogue — and a few fantastic pin-drop moments.

With twists and turns throughout, the basic premise is the return of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and the now grown-up children returning to their hometown of Derry to fight him once more. There are all kinds of other themes about childhood and growing up, several unnecessary subplots and sequences, and not a lot of Pennywise.

In fact, it seems as if director Andy Muschietti suddenly had no idea what to do with the central antagonist this time around. Though there are definitely a few genuinely creepy moments of fright, there are many scares in “It: Chapter 2” that either fall flat as disposable jump-scares pulled out of lesser horror movies, or come off as laughably bad computer-generated effects. The frights, scares and creep-outs just have far less creative setup and delivery than they did the first time around. This makes them come off as manufactured when compared to all of the plot and character development the film contains, as moments that are there simply because they have to be.

This might also be attributed to the first film’s script being helmed partially by Cary Joji Fukunaga (writer of “True Detective,” season one) who exited that film due to creative differences. Behind the scenes it had been rumored Fukunaga was responsible for writing some of the first movie’s better storytelling moments and genuinely thrilling horror set pieces. If this is true, it is apparent here.

On top of that, it’s a three-hour horror film, a feat that isn’t accomplished very often at all. Ever wonder why most horror films range from 90 minutes to not much over two hours? Because tension is hard to maintain in that big of a package, especially when it is supposed to be constantly escalating. Because there is so much time spent on plot development and adherence to the original novel, the few moments of dread feel incredibly thin with not much of a payoff.

And while adherence to source material can be a good thing, here it clearly doesn’t work. There is some really bizarre stuff that could have been cut out, including the amount of time and depth spent on Pennywise’s origin, very drawn-out flashbacks to the child cast, and a half-baked subplot involving the adult Henry Bowers (the violent bully of the first film).

The even bigger irony is that the film has a running joke about how the adult Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy,) a novelist, is terrible at writing endings for his books — a jokey reference to some people’s feelings on some of Stephen King’s novels. This makes the filmmakers look particularly smug and inept, as they have chosen to adapt the same ending and then present it with terribly fake CGI effects and zero scares.

Most of the enjoyment comes from the interaction of the cast, both young and old. Within the adult Losers Club, James McAvoy, James Ransone and Bill Hader stand out — especially the show-stealing Hader as the hilarious Richie Tozier. Jessica Chastain and Jay Ryan are perfectly fine, and Isaiah Mustafa is sort of flat as Mike Hanlon. All of the original child cast returns and is as fun as ever, though unfortunately their moments feel a lot more dragged out and unnecessary at times. This isn’t to say the film would be better without them; they just could have been used far more effectively and efficiently.

Bill Skarsgaard returns of course as Pennywise, and does a great job once again, but the writing and film structure fail him. Skarsgaard is perfectly capable of delivering a terrifying portrayal, but when only given maybe 15 minutes out of a three-hour film, and then turned into a laughably awful giant CGI monster that looks like it was pulled right out of a video game, it takes away a lot of his menace.

Bigger budget, more money and larger scale don’t make a horror film better. The first “It” worked so well because it was personal and effective in its storytelling. But the filmmakers tried to turn “Chapter 2” into some epic movie event of the year, and as a result it loses a lot of the charm and goodwill the first movie garnered.

Loaded with shiny computer-generated effects and ineffectively packed with a convoluted story long enough to fit into an HBO miniseries, “It: Chapter 2” isn’t a bad movie. It just doesn’t float well.

George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.

Bill Skarsgard returns as Pennywise in “It: Chapter Two.”

From left, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon, Bill Hader as Richie Tozier, James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh and Jay Ryan as Ben Hascomb star in “It: Chapter Two.”