IT: Chapter Two

Disturbing, gory and thrilling! - 8.5/10

by Francesco Bakhos - 365 Movies Lebanon

It fills my heart with such incredible joy when I declare that IT CHAPTER 2 is just as haunting and disturbing as it promised.

In the sleepy town of Derry, the evil clown Pennywise returns 27 years later to torment the grown-up members of the Losers' Club, who have long since drifted apart from one another.

The first component I want to address in my review is the story. After all IT is an adaptation of one of The most celebrated Pieces of Literature by The godfather of Horror, Stephen King. With that being said, King's signature was clearly visible from the very beginning, and that's something that we rarely see in big screen adaptations.

Just as in part 1, the story contained just the right amount of comedy (which never felt too forced and always inserted in the right moments), drama (a little bit of a love triangle and daddy issues here and there), thriller (you'll be standing at the edge of your seats the entire time), horror (yes technically the horror element was a bit tamed but it did provide a few jump scares that were beneficial for the storyline) and goriness (which also was a bit tamed but nevertheless I still enjoyed it immensely).

So you see this mixture of genres, some might find it extremely overwhelming, why not focus on one and excel it? But Director Andrés Muschietti, a cinematic genius, managed to combine all of these genres listed earlier in perfect harmony, each with its fair share of the story.

And akid, the story had some amazing and heartwarming messages concerning friendship, hardship, overcoming ones fears, working as a unity, dealing with past issues rather than neglecting them...

My only criticism regarding the story is that the first couple of acts were a bit slow next to the third and final act, but this minor issue surely didn't affect my experience.

The second component to address is the characters. Generally speaking, all of the characters had really well built background stories with intersting traits that sets them all apart. But what caught my attention the most, is the psychological residue (even though deeply hidden) that their past encounter with the notorious clown had left and how it, in one way or another, affected their decisions in life. This just shows how much important it is to speak and seek a professional when we encounter such hardship because if left neglected it will literally rotten you from the inside.

The third component is the acting. So first of all, this movie choices of actors is literally FLAWLESS. I personally can't think of a better cast to embody such diverse and complex characters. In general, the youngsters such Finn Wolfhard, Jaeden Lieberher and Wyatt Oleff were really impressive, they showed severe improvement from the first movie and managed to deliver very convincing performances even in the most complex of scenes. But, now its time for the adults, so without taking too much time, they also were absolutely remarkable. But man that Jessica Chastain is a freaking force of nature!!!!!!!!! And Bill Skarsgard is one hell of a Lunatic performer, his take on one of the most terrifying characters in modern cinema is highly applaudable.

Generally speaking, IT CHAPTER 2 is one hell of a cinematic roller-coaster that will either creep the shit out of you (excuse my language) or totally swoon you. Personally, I highly recommend this film even if you're not a horror films fan.

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