It: Chapter 2 (Muschetti, September 2019) Movie • Page 20

i'm sad now

 

Is it more jumpy than the first one?

 

we do get a Pennywise origin story, I'm confused by what that other poster said? it's not the full sequence Muschietti teased but we get all the info we need

anyway this had plenty of problems yea. but McAvoy says "hiyo Silver, away!" And Chastain says "beep beep Richie" so it's literally perfect and better than Chapter One imo

 

prolly about the same but the scares themselves are way more potent this time around

 

Almost all of the reviews I have read have made me more excited to see this, even the 'negative' ones. I absolutely cannot wait.

 

there's definitely a cynic in me which wonders if a lot of these critics didn't see one lukewarm review and decided to hop on the bandwagon. like there are legitimate critiques to be made for sure, most of them are covered in the better reviews; it's just hard for me to believe anyone who loved the first film could consider this one an irredeemable mess

 

Anyone who's seen it, can you tell me if there is suicide in it? Whether it's Stan or anyone else? No need to get into spoilers, just yes/no.

 

I can’t imagine they’d leave that part of the story out, and doesthedogdie says yes as well.

Less than five hours until my showing! Can’t wait to cry in IMAX. I really really hope they nailed it again.

 

Yeah, I figured as much, but maybe thought since they changed up the kids' characters and storylines so much (Ben/Mike/Henry) in pt. 1 that they'd have given him a different end. Not sure I can handle this one, then!

 

They’re giving out really nice collectible tickets for the IMAX showing, and I also definitely bought the giant popcorn bucket and reusable cup because I am super lame.

 

Going at 6:40 but need to show up a bit early to see if my Alamo has any more of of the IT Mondo glass.

 

Here now. Low expectations.

 

Everybody’s going to have to get ready because I have a lot of feelings and no idea how they shake out into a coherent opinion. I have WAY more major issues than with the first part, but there are some things that were perfect too.

 

I want to read those thoughts, but I'm not seeing this 'til Monday

 

I am greatly looking forward to your thoughts on this whenever you are ready.

 

Tons of spoilers and rambling ahead, so beware.

I feel like overall this one got the small moments dialed in perfectly, but really dropped the ball on a ton of the big stuff and characters compared to the first part.

The good first:
Bill Hader is hands down the best part of the movie and it isn’t even close. He’s the only one of the Losers that feels entirely accurate and lived in and he made me laugh out loud and cry more than anything else.

The cameos killed me. Seeing Peter Bogdanovich come down as the director almost made me squeal, and I spent the entirety of Ben’s introduction confused because I kept thinking they aged up the child actor until I realized DUH, it’s Brandon Crane and I forgot how time works. And of course King himself was hilarious, especially with all the jabs about the endings sucking. Those were all lovely little moments.

The beginning with Adrian was PERFECT and absolutely destroyed me. The part where Don sees It bite him and the balloons come down was exactly as I pictured it in the book. And having him come back into Richie’s story was gutwrenching.

I still can’t believe my pet fan theory of Richie being gay and in love with Eddie is canon now. That did me in.

The Paul Bunyan scene was also outstanding.

Henry cracked me up and having the car and Patrick was great, I only wish there was more of it.

The final scene in the lake was powerful and also did me in. That’s when the group feels the most alive and complete and it’s so joyful/loving.

Overall the visuals and effects were amazing, especially in the final battle. Some really gorgeous stuff.


The bad:

Mike was a complete and utter botch job. Like it was all I could do to not scream and ruin everyone’s time. They made him a racing nutbag and a liar and had him DRUG BILL. And as if his backstory wasn’t already ruined enough from part one, they had to put in that his parents were drug addicts and that’s why they died. Isaiah did his best but wow was it poorly written.

Bill also sucked big time. He’s just an unrelenting jerk for most of the film, and there’s never a sense that he’s the leader or is truly invested in the others as a whole. Him finding and riding Silver is his best scene and practically the only time he feels right.

The changes to Chud and introduction of “artifacts” and Native American rituals was atrocious and only made the already bad stuff with Mike even worse. I was so stoked that the smoke hole might make an appearance but when that came up the way it did I was just angry instead. Their innocence and willingness to take inspiration and help from anywhere they could get it worked in the book, but here it was just a baffling choice.

Honestly the biggest issue by far is that the Losers as adults never feel cohesive or that they HAVE to be the ones ending this because of their connection. They spend most of the film separated and not believing and angry for even having to be there, and it’s only after they win that there’s any sense of how much they matter to each other. That final scene shows that they do know how to write those relationships, so I have no idea why they decided to leave so much of it out and change SUCH an important part of the story.

Also I’m really disappointed that they completely dropped the message about how rotten Derry is and how much its success is only because of It being there. The scenes of everything being destroyed are so powerful and cathartic in the book, and there’s absolutely nothing of that here. The town is just pristine and lovely when they leave and it’s a letdown.


I have no idea where to put the changes to the ending. All the references to how much King’s usually suck made me expect something super different, and it was certainly sweet and heartwarming to have them not forget each other and make Stan matter more, but I feel like that’s such a huge departure from the main message and sacrifice of the book that I’m just torn. It very much felt like a completely different story they were telling. I always wanted the gang to stay friends but the fact that they lost that in the battle was so moving and this feels much “easier” in a lot of ways.

I guess deciding to take it in a different direction is something they’re allowed to do, but I just love THIS story so much that I wanted to see it play out as I knew it. The first part felt true to the heart of everything while making some aspects fresh, and I was hoping this would stick to that instead of changing quite SO much.
Uuuugh that’s a lot of words. Even after typing it out I still have no idea if I’m mostly fine with it or mostly disappointed. I will definitely watch it again and try to view it through a lens of it being a story I don’t know instead of one that means so much to me, and maybe that will help solidify some things.

 

It was even more rambly than I expected, but you got it! I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say after sitting on it a while too.

Also a fun one, but I swear Bill’s house is meant to look like The Writer’s in Stand By Me. I need to rewatch to compare but it looked super similar and I loved it.

 

So currently at 68 on rotten...pretty on the nose for plus or minus a few 2-3 points one way or another. Definitely preferred the first one. Loathed the horror/effects which really took me out of it but I knew I wouldn’t enjoy that because it was my least favorite part one as well. Felt super rushed, tropy, and goofy at times.

The adult losers also seemed...not nearly as connected or genuine as their youthful counterparts. For this reason, many of the emotional aspects of the film fell flat for me. It landed more in the final half but for a long movie it took them too long. Didn’t think it was too long (as a whole film) per se but I hated the first 15-20 minutes...so I’d find a way to get through the awkward exposition somehow. It was hard to gain a sense of a cohesive story because everything was so...vignett-y.

 

I liked a lot of the effects, but I was super upset that Mrs. Kersh ended up just being a goofy naked troll doll instead of a vision of Al getting to the heart of Bev’s fear. Can’t believe the miniseries is still the definitive version of that scene, but it’s not even close as of that ending.

 

I liked this a lot. Got what I wanted out of it pretty much. Cast was awesome

 

Not having seen the film yet, I think the most upsetting thing you bring up here for me is the treatment of Mike. I was really hoping against hope that maybe they would somewhat redeem his character in the second one somehow, even though I don't really see how they could have done that.

 

Just got out of this. Loved pretty much everything about it, aside from the fact that I hold an irrational grudge that they cut me out of it. Otherwise, thumbs up. Really good.

 

Hader was terrific and all but I'm not sure I fully agree with the people saying he stole the movie single-handedly. I mean James Ransone was very nearly as good and has gone ridiculously unmentioned in the reviews I've read, and Chastain, McAvoy and Skarsgard all bought their A-game as we knew they would.

only piece of casting I wasn't feeling was adult Ben, he did nothing for me at all

I agree about Mike but disagree about Bill - McAvoy nailed all that simmering guilt and self-loathing from blaming himself for Georgie's death which was a solid enough explanation for most of the dumb things he did in-movie (the part about him exaggerating being sick because he didn't want to play was a nice touch which accentuated this). I also liked that Bill was less central to this after being de facto protagonist in the kid's timeline - as in the book the adults segment feels a lot more like a true ensemble piece, minus Stan of course)

speaking of which... I'm all for the happier ending, I thought it landed great and tying the memory loss specifically to Pennywise was a fine enough justification for it, but the Stan letter to close things off... well to me it came off as slightly glorifying his suicide as a necessary thing to defeat IT? which is edging a bit on uncomfortable territory. I may be reading a bit much into it but I was definitely taken aback a bit by that choice

 

I thought this was great. Was worried about the reviews saying it was too long, but it didn't feel that way at all to me. The adult casting was perfect especially Hader and whoever played Eddie. Only minor complaint would be the CGI being a little cheesy as times, but as a story I really loved this.