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Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated It: Chapter Two (2019) in Movies
Jul 7, 2020
Pennywise Returns - Not As Scary As Chapter 1, But Still Great
It Chapter 2 is a 2019 supernatural/horror movie directed by Andy Muschietti from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman. It was produced by New Line Cinema, Double Dream, Vertigo Entertainment, and Rideback, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film stars Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, and Bill Skarsgard.
The evil clown Pennywise returns to terrorize the town of Derry, Maine after being defeated by the members of the Losers' Club 27 years ago. The childhood friends have long since gone their separate ways but are called home to keep their promise by Mike Harlon who never moved away. Not quite remembering everything from their past but each traumatized by their own scars, the Loser must conquer their fears and destroy Pennywise for good.
This movie was great. Personally, I think chapter 1 was better, but this film definitely didn't disappoint. Right from the beginning it set the tone with a opening scene of a gay couple being severely beaten. I really liked the casting and who they chose to portray the children of the Losers club, they did a great job. The acting from everyone was good, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader's performances were superb. I enjoyed how this movie expanded on the lore of Pennywise and his origin. Even with a long run time, it didn't feel like a super long movie. To me some of the most enjoyable parts were the flashbacks where you got to see the younger cast. It was good that they had a big part in this movie too. I give this movie an 8/10 and it also gets my "Must See Seal Of Approval".
The evil clown Pennywise returns to terrorize the town of Derry, Maine after being defeated by the members of the Losers' Club 27 years ago. The childhood friends have long since gone their separate ways but are called home to keep their promise by Mike Harlon who never moved away. Not quite remembering everything from their past but each traumatized by their own scars, the Loser must conquer their fears and destroy Pennywise for good.
This movie was great. Personally, I think chapter 1 was better, but this film definitely didn't disappoint. Right from the beginning it set the tone with a opening scene of a gay couple being severely beaten. I really liked the casting and who they chose to portray the children of the Losers club, they did a great job. The acting from everyone was good, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader's performances were superb. I enjoyed how this movie expanded on the lore of Pennywise and his origin. Even with a long run time, it didn't feel like a super long movie. To me some of the most enjoyable parts were the flashbacks where you got to see the younger cast. It was good that they had a big part in this movie too. I give this movie an 8/10 and it also gets my "Must See Seal Of Approval".
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Swamp Thing in TV
Jul 7, 2020
One of DC's Current Bests
Swamp Thing is a 2019 superhero horror/drama tv series developed by Gary Dauberman and Mark Verheiden with Executive Producers James Wan, Len Wiseman and Michael Clear. It was produced by Big Shoe Productions, Inc., Atomic Monster Productions, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television and distributed by Warner Bros. Entertainment. The show stars Crystal Reed, Virginia Madsen, Andy Bean, Derek Mears, Jessica Beals, and Will Patton.
Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) returns to her hometown of Marais, Louisiana investigating a deadly swamp-borne virus for the CDC . She develops a bond with Alec Holland (Andy Bean), a disgraced scientist who dies tragically soon after, but Holland may not be dead after all, as Abby discovers the mysteries of the swamp transform him into Swamp Thing.
This show is really cool. It makes me want to go back and watch the old movies to compare how they hold up. I was amazed with how dark they kept the story with the rating being TV-MA and there being so much blood and gore. The actors are great and there are some amazing performances but I also feel that some characters are not introduced well and just kind of come out of nowhere. They feel kind of unnecessary or just extra but I love the tone and horror vibe the show has going and what feels like a bigger story arc they are trying to setup with "the Green" and "the darkness" in the swamp of Marais. The visual effects are really top notch and Swamp Thing himself looks impressive. I give this show a 9/10 and it also gets my "Must See Seal of Approval".
I just really hope it doesn't stay cancelled and that they get another season, it really deserves it.
Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) returns to her hometown of Marais, Louisiana investigating a deadly swamp-borne virus for the CDC . She develops a bond with Alec Holland (Andy Bean), a disgraced scientist who dies tragically soon after, but Holland may not be dead after all, as Abby discovers the mysteries of the swamp transform him into Swamp Thing.
This show is really cool. It makes me want to go back and watch the old movies to compare how they hold up. I was amazed with how dark they kept the story with the rating being TV-MA and there being so much blood and gore. The actors are great and there are some amazing performances but I also feel that some characters are not introduced well and just kind of come out of nowhere. They feel kind of unnecessary or just extra but I love the tone and horror vibe the show has going and what feels like a bigger story arc they are trying to setup with "the Green" and "the darkness" in the swamp of Marais. The visual effects are really top notch and Swamp Thing himself looks impressive. I give this show a 9/10 and it also gets my "Must See Seal of Approval".
I just really hope it doesn't stay cancelled and that they get another season, it really deserves it.
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Annabelle Comes Home (2019) in Movies
Jul 7, 2020
Annabelle's Horror Doesn't Live Up To The Hype In Her Homecoming
Annabelle is a 2019 supernatural/horror movie written and directed by Gary Dauberman and from screenplay co-written by James Wan. The film was alos produced by James Wan and Peter Safran and by New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster Productions and The Safran Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The movie stars Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Patrick Wilson, and Vera Farmiga.
Four years after Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmigia) brought the Annabelle doll into their home, they leave Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), a babysitter, in charge of their daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace) while they investigate a case overnight. Mary Ellen's friend Daniela (Katie Sarife), sneaks into the artifact when she comes over uninvited and accidentally leaves Annabelle's glass case unlocked causing the terror that ensues.
This movie was pretty good. I liked it and thought that it was genuinely scary in certain parts for a PG-13 movie, but then afterwards I looked it up and saw that it was rated R. I don't feel that this movie lived up to its potential, it being rated R and also being in The Conjuring franchise. The plot felt very loose and not very put together and instead of being about the couple, it centered on their daughter. This I felt definitely made it feel a little scarier since she has none of the experience and knowledge of her parents when it comes to fighting these evil forces but I felt the audience was robbed of a better story the franchise could have told with the parents not really being involved at all. Also I felt that they tried to add too many ghosts/characters for one movie, which was kind of cool in certain ways but also seemed less because of it. All in all, if you like The Conjuring franchise you'll like this movie and I give it a 6/10.
Four years after Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmigia) brought the Annabelle doll into their home, they leave Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), a babysitter, in charge of their daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace) while they investigate a case overnight. Mary Ellen's friend Daniela (Katie Sarife), sneaks into the artifact when she comes over uninvited and accidentally leaves Annabelle's glass case unlocked causing the terror that ensues.
This movie was pretty good. I liked it and thought that it was genuinely scary in certain parts for a PG-13 movie, but then afterwards I looked it up and saw that it was rated R. I don't feel that this movie lived up to its potential, it being rated R and also being in The Conjuring franchise. The plot felt very loose and not very put together and instead of being about the couple, it centered on their daughter. This I felt definitely made it feel a little scarier since she has none of the experience and knowledge of her parents when it comes to fighting these evil forces but I felt the audience was robbed of a better story the franchise could have told with the parents not really being involved at all. Also I felt that they tried to add too many ghosts/characters for one movie, which was kind of cool in certain ways but also seemed less because of it. All in all, if you like The Conjuring franchise you'll like this movie and I give it a 6/10.
BackToTheMovies (56 KP) rated Annabelle Comes Home (2019) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
The third instalment of the Annabelle franchise as Annabelle Comes Home delivers where the previous two did not.
Demonologists Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) return back to their home with the cursed Annabelle doll. Safely locked away in their occult museum of the paranormal they leave for another case and leave their babysitter Mary (Madison Iseman) and her best friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) in charge of looking after their daughter Judy (McKenna Grace). One curious friend breaks into the paranormal museum situated in the Warren’s basement and all hell breaks loose.
Annabelle Comes Home is a well-rounded horror. It has a completely different feel than the films previous to it. It has a very goosebumps style goofiness about it with a more sinister tone. The Annabelle doll acts as a beacon for spirits. So when she is unleashed within the museum the other entities contained within that room escape. It really is a Goosebumps style injection of horror as various creatures and entities roam the house.
Whilst these horror movies have cut and paste jump scares and quite predictable outcomes Annabelle Comes Home just about keeps it somewhat fresh. The film is heavily held up high from strong performances by our three lead girls. The film has a lovely dark tone and the detail within the museum is incredible. If you’re a paranormal/haunted object junkie like me just seeing the attention to detail in the set dressing was impressive indeed.
Director Gary Dauberman takes Annabelle out of the one trick pony setting and allows this freedom of entities to run amok without convoluting the plot in any way shape or form. Each item is linked to a spirit and they’re carefully injected at spaced intervals through the story.
There’s nothing really new on display here. Horror movies just aren’t scary anymore. They rely on jump scares to provide a ‘scare’ which is actually a fabricated effect. A jump scare will never make a movie scary. I wish filmmakers wouldn’t over-saturated jumps every 10 minutes to make something ‘scary’. This movie isn’t bad whatsoever but my god is the horror genre becoming a little repetitive and boring in some aspects. It’s time to spice things up without pushing agendas! Yes, I’m talking to you Jordan Peele.
Demonologists Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) return back to their home with the cursed Annabelle doll. Safely locked away in their occult museum of the paranormal they leave for another case and leave their babysitter Mary (Madison Iseman) and her best friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) in charge of looking after their daughter Judy (McKenna Grace). One curious friend breaks into the paranormal museum situated in the Warren’s basement and all hell breaks loose.
Annabelle Comes Home is a well-rounded horror. It has a completely different feel than the films previous to it. It has a very goosebumps style goofiness about it with a more sinister tone. The Annabelle doll acts as a beacon for spirits. So when she is unleashed within the museum the other entities contained within that room escape. It really is a Goosebumps style injection of horror as various creatures and entities roam the house.
Whilst these horror movies have cut and paste jump scares and quite predictable outcomes Annabelle Comes Home just about keeps it somewhat fresh. The film is heavily held up high from strong performances by our three lead girls. The film has a lovely dark tone and the detail within the museum is incredible. If you’re a paranormal/haunted object junkie like me just seeing the attention to detail in the set dressing was impressive indeed.
Director Gary Dauberman takes Annabelle out of the one trick pony setting and allows this freedom of entities to run amok without convoluting the plot in any way shape or form. Each item is linked to a spirit and they’re carefully injected at spaced intervals through the story.
There’s nothing really new on display here. Horror movies just aren’t scary anymore. They rely on jump scares to provide a ‘scare’ which is actually a fabricated effect. A jump scare will never make a movie scary. I wish filmmakers wouldn’t over-saturated jumps every 10 minutes to make something ‘scary’. This movie isn’t bad whatsoever but my god is the horror genre becoming a little repetitive and boring in some aspects. It’s time to spice things up without pushing agendas! Yes, I’m talking to you Jordan Peele.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Annabelle Comes Home (2019) in Movies
Jul 10, 2019
Director: Gary Dauberman
Writer: Gary Dauberman (Screenplay) James Wan (Story)
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Michael Cimino, Samara Lee
Plot: While babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a teenager and her friend unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in a doll.
Tagline – The Next Chapter In The Conjuring Universe
Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Relentless Scares
Story: Annabelle Comes Home starts one year after the Warren’s Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine (Farmiga) bring the Annabelle doll home, knowing its power to control the other items inside their blessed room. With Ed and Lorraine going on a business trip, it leaves their daughter Judy (Grace) with girl next door babysitter Mary Ellen (Iseman), who has planned a little birthday surprise.
When Mary Ellen’s best friend Daniela (Sarife) decides to visit, with questions about the house, getting a moment alone, she sneaks into the blessed room, only to unleash a host of evil upon the three for a night of terror, all thanks to the dreaded Annabelle doll.
Thoughts on Annabelle Comes Home
Characters – Judy Warren is the daughter of the famous paranormal investigators, she is treated differently at school because of this, with some students being scared, while others just bully her, she does see spirits too and is a shy little girl, she just wants to make friends like any young girl and is struggling with the fact nobody will be her friend except her babysitter Mary Ellen. She does know how to handle herself when hauntings start happening around her house though. Mary Ellen is the girl next door babysitter, she might well be worried about who will take her to homecoming, but she is a friend that Judy needs. Daniela Rios is the best friend of Mary Ellen, she invites herself over to look around, in hopes that she could find a way to connect with her deceased father, whose death was an accident, but she believes was her fault, she unleashes all the evil items on the household, which would make her truly horrible, until you add in the reason why she is trying to find forgiveness. Ed and Lorraine are the familiar faces, only they are basically extended cameos in the film. Bob is the love interest of Mary Ellen and he does through the generic awkward moments of trying to ask her out, he is good for a laugh too.
Performances – McKenna Grace takes over the role of the daughter, she does make us believe that her character has become distant from the world around her, makes us believe she is feeling lonely and isolated too. Madison Iseman makes for an easy pick for the babysitter, she comes off friendly and gives the scream level required to show the fear. Katie Sarife is strong as friend who unleashes everything, somehow making a character we could hate feel sympathy towards. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson do seem to be here as a draw, only they are barely even in the film.
Story – The story here follows a babysitter’s friend visiting the Warren’s house who unleashes all the evil from the safety, only for the three girls needing to put a halt to this before they can become the latest victims of the curses they have. This story does have a few positives and negatives, the first positive being see how the daughter of the Warren’s is struggling with making connections in life because of their work, we could have easily dived deeper with this, but it was nice to see a change in why somebody is isolated. The pure number of different evil figures we meet through the film is brilliant to see because this opens the doors to seemingly endless amounts of spin off movies now, which could be seen as a negative because, while this is an Annabelle movie, it does tend to focus on the other evil, instead of the main one attached to Annabelle. We could get into character decisions, which aren’t the smartest especially when it comes to knowing who the character of Judy is meant to be.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film, is an endless amounts of jump scares, this does work because each does have its own way of being effective, even if a lot if music goes silent and either a boom or something charging the screen. The mystery comes from each new evil that we get to see, we get glimpses into a few leading us to only want to know more.
Settings – The film is set in one singular location, the Warren house, this has all the evil set up within it, which means once it comes out and traps them, they don’t know what will come next.
Special Effects – The effect in the film are strong throughout, with each creation look different, with a couple of tricks for the Ferryman coming off nicely.
Scene of the Movie – The circular shot, I am a fan of this shot even if it was the same as the Nun.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – I can’t help but think one of the rules for babysitting at the Warren’s, would be, anything slightly strange happens, get out until we come home.
Final Thoughts – This is a nice jump scare filled horror, it has plenty of references to the previous films and does leave us wanting more from this universe.
Overall: Jump scares for everyone.
Rating
Writer: Gary Dauberman (Screenplay) James Wan (Story)
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Michael Cimino, Samara Lee
Plot: While babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a teenager and her friend unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in a doll.
Tagline – The Next Chapter In The Conjuring Universe
Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Relentless Scares
Story: Annabelle Comes Home starts one year after the Warren’s Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine (Farmiga) bring the Annabelle doll home, knowing its power to control the other items inside their blessed room. With Ed and Lorraine going on a business trip, it leaves their daughter Judy (Grace) with girl next door babysitter Mary Ellen (Iseman), who has planned a little birthday surprise.
When Mary Ellen’s best friend Daniela (Sarife) decides to visit, with questions about the house, getting a moment alone, she sneaks into the blessed room, only to unleash a host of evil upon the three for a night of terror, all thanks to the dreaded Annabelle doll.
Thoughts on Annabelle Comes Home
Characters – Judy Warren is the daughter of the famous paranormal investigators, she is treated differently at school because of this, with some students being scared, while others just bully her, she does see spirits too and is a shy little girl, she just wants to make friends like any young girl and is struggling with the fact nobody will be her friend except her babysitter Mary Ellen. She does know how to handle herself when hauntings start happening around her house though. Mary Ellen is the girl next door babysitter, she might well be worried about who will take her to homecoming, but she is a friend that Judy needs. Daniela Rios is the best friend of Mary Ellen, she invites herself over to look around, in hopes that she could find a way to connect with her deceased father, whose death was an accident, but she believes was her fault, she unleashes all the evil items on the household, which would make her truly horrible, until you add in the reason why she is trying to find forgiveness. Ed and Lorraine are the familiar faces, only they are basically extended cameos in the film. Bob is the love interest of Mary Ellen and he does through the generic awkward moments of trying to ask her out, he is good for a laugh too.
Performances – McKenna Grace takes over the role of the daughter, she does make us believe that her character has become distant from the world around her, makes us believe she is feeling lonely and isolated too. Madison Iseman makes for an easy pick for the babysitter, she comes off friendly and gives the scream level required to show the fear. Katie Sarife is strong as friend who unleashes everything, somehow making a character we could hate feel sympathy towards. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson do seem to be here as a draw, only they are barely even in the film.
Story – The story here follows a babysitter’s friend visiting the Warren’s house who unleashes all the evil from the safety, only for the three girls needing to put a halt to this before they can become the latest victims of the curses they have. This story does have a few positives and negatives, the first positive being see how the daughter of the Warren’s is struggling with making connections in life because of their work, we could have easily dived deeper with this, but it was nice to see a change in why somebody is isolated. The pure number of different evil figures we meet through the film is brilliant to see because this opens the doors to seemingly endless amounts of spin off movies now, which could be seen as a negative because, while this is an Annabelle movie, it does tend to focus on the other evil, instead of the main one attached to Annabelle. We could get into character decisions, which aren’t the smartest especially when it comes to knowing who the character of Judy is meant to be.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film, is an endless amounts of jump scares, this does work because each does have its own way of being effective, even if a lot if music goes silent and either a boom or something charging the screen. The mystery comes from each new evil that we get to see, we get glimpses into a few leading us to only want to know more.
Settings – The film is set in one singular location, the Warren house, this has all the evil set up within it, which means once it comes out and traps them, they don’t know what will come next.
Special Effects – The effect in the film are strong throughout, with each creation look different, with a couple of tricks for the Ferryman coming off nicely.
Scene of the Movie – The circular shot, I am a fan of this shot even if it was the same as the Nun.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – I can’t help but think one of the rules for babysitting at the Warren’s, would be, anything slightly strange happens, get out until we come home.
Final Thoughts – This is a nice jump scare filled horror, it has plenty of references to the previous films and does leave us wanting more from this universe.
Overall: Jump scares for everyone.
Rating
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated It: Chapter Two (2019) in Movies
Sep 7, 2019
Hader steals the film
The "secret sauce" of the first chapter of IT (based on the horror novel by Stephen King) was NOT the gore or scares that were thrown at the audience, it was the characters and the performances that made that first film work. The young members of the "Loser's Club" - and especially the young actors populating these characters - created people that you wanted to root and cheer for throughout their ordeal with Pennywise the Clown and the bullies of Derry.
So...it should have been a "no-brainer" for Director Andy Muschietti and the filmmakers to repeat that pattern - it worked very, very well. But, somewhere along the way they forgot what made the first film good and Muschietti and new screenwriter Gary Dauberman decided to focus on the horror, gore and frights and let their talented group of adult actors inhabit the characters with little (maybe no) help from the screenplay.
And...the result is a "fine" film that wraps up the first film just "fine", but ultimately falls short of that first film and definitely falls short of what "could have been".
IT: CHAPTER TWO picks up 27 years later when Pennywise the Dancing Clown comes back (per his cycle) to terrorize the children of Derry once again. The Loser's Club from the first film band back together (per their pact at the end of the first film) to battle - and finally destroy - this dark threat.
The filmmakers pull a strong group of actors together to play the adult versions of the Loser's Club - headlined by Jessica Chastain (ZERO DARK THIRTY) as the adult Beverly Marsh and James McAvoy (Professor X in the recent run of X-MEN films) as the adult Bill Denborough. I find McAvoy to be (for the most part) a solid, if unspectacular, actor and he is true to from here. Solid, but unspectacular in a role that was written that way. Chastain, perhaps, is the biggest disappointment for me in this film as the young Beverly Marsh (as portrayed by Sophia Lillis) was the highlight of the first film but here this character is...bland and somewhat boring. I don't fault Chastain (an actress that I usually enjoy very, very much), I blame the screenplay which saddles these two characters with an underwritten "love triangle" with the adult Ben Hascombe (Jay Ryan - somewhat of a newcomer, who has smoldering good looks, but not much else going for him). It was rumored that Chris Pratt was circling this character (I would imagine he walked away when he saw the screenplay). That's too bad, for he might have brought some life to all 3 of these characters.
Faring better is the usually reliable Isiah Mustafa (TV's SHADOWHUNTERS) as the adult Mike Hanlon, the only one of the Loser's Club who stayed in Derry to keep a vigilant watch against Pennywise' return. He has a haunted air about him - certainly in keeping with the the past that only he remembers. And Andy Bean (SWAMP THING) has a nice couple of moments as the adult Stanley Uris.
The only truly interesting dynamic of the returning Loser's Club is the characters and love/hate relationship between the older Eddie Kaspbrak, the hypochondriac (played by James Ransome, TV's THE WIRE) and smart-mouth Richie Tolzier (inhabited by SNL vet Bill Hader). While Ransome's Eddie is quite a bit more interesting than he was as a youth (and that's no slight on Jack Dylan Grazer who played the younger Eddie, I just found Ransome's portrayal more nuanced and somewhat more interesting). But it is Hader who steals this film. His Richie is constantly using humor to cover his emotions building on the interesting characterization that Finn Wolfhard brought to the younger version and giving us more. Hader is a master comedian, so handles the comedy parts as deftly as you would think he would, but it is when the other emotions - fear, rage, love - come barreling out of him that Hader elevates this character (and the movie) to a higher level. I would be thrilled if Hader was nominated for an Oscar for this role - he is that good.
Also coming back are all of the "kids" from the first film to flesh out some scenes - and set up some other scenes/moments by the adults - they are a welcome addition and shine a spotlight at how weak - and underwritten - most of the adult characters are in this film.
Bill Skarsgard is seen quite a bit more as Pennywise - and that makes him less menacing and threatening (but still scary) and there are 2 fun cameos along the way by 2 prominent individuals, so that was fun.
There is a running gag throughout the film about author Bill Denborough (the surrogate for Stephen King) not being able to write a decent ending - a critique that King receives constantly - and they changed the ending of this film from the book. I am a big fan of the book, but would agree that the ending of the book was not that good, so was open to this trying a different way to end things...and...this new ending lands about as well as the original ending (oh well...).
But that's just a quibble, for by that time you've ridden with these characters for over 5 hours and while the first chapter is stronger than the first, the journey is good (enough) for an enjoyable (enough) time at the Cineplex.
Come for the Loser's Club and the scares - stay for Hader's Oscar worthy performance.
Letter Grade: B+
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
So...it should have been a "no-brainer" for Director Andy Muschietti and the filmmakers to repeat that pattern - it worked very, very well. But, somewhere along the way they forgot what made the first film good and Muschietti and new screenwriter Gary Dauberman decided to focus on the horror, gore and frights and let their talented group of adult actors inhabit the characters with little (maybe no) help from the screenplay.
And...the result is a "fine" film that wraps up the first film just "fine", but ultimately falls short of that first film and definitely falls short of what "could have been".
IT: CHAPTER TWO picks up 27 years later when Pennywise the Dancing Clown comes back (per his cycle) to terrorize the children of Derry once again. The Loser's Club from the first film band back together (per their pact at the end of the first film) to battle - and finally destroy - this dark threat.
The filmmakers pull a strong group of actors together to play the adult versions of the Loser's Club - headlined by Jessica Chastain (ZERO DARK THIRTY) as the adult Beverly Marsh and James McAvoy (Professor X in the recent run of X-MEN films) as the adult Bill Denborough. I find McAvoy to be (for the most part) a solid, if unspectacular, actor and he is true to from here. Solid, but unspectacular in a role that was written that way. Chastain, perhaps, is the biggest disappointment for me in this film as the young Beverly Marsh (as portrayed by Sophia Lillis) was the highlight of the first film but here this character is...bland and somewhat boring. I don't fault Chastain (an actress that I usually enjoy very, very much), I blame the screenplay which saddles these two characters with an underwritten "love triangle" with the adult Ben Hascombe (Jay Ryan - somewhat of a newcomer, who has smoldering good looks, but not much else going for him). It was rumored that Chris Pratt was circling this character (I would imagine he walked away when he saw the screenplay). That's too bad, for he might have brought some life to all 3 of these characters.
Faring better is the usually reliable Isiah Mustafa (TV's SHADOWHUNTERS) as the adult Mike Hanlon, the only one of the Loser's Club who stayed in Derry to keep a vigilant watch against Pennywise' return. He has a haunted air about him - certainly in keeping with the the past that only he remembers. And Andy Bean (SWAMP THING) has a nice couple of moments as the adult Stanley Uris.
The only truly interesting dynamic of the returning Loser's Club is the characters and love/hate relationship between the older Eddie Kaspbrak, the hypochondriac (played by James Ransome, TV's THE WIRE) and smart-mouth Richie Tolzier (inhabited by SNL vet Bill Hader). While Ransome's Eddie is quite a bit more interesting than he was as a youth (and that's no slight on Jack Dylan Grazer who played the younger Eddie, I just found Ransome's portrayal more nuanced and somewhat more interesting). But it is Hader who steals this film. His Richie is constantly using humor to cover his emotions building on the interesting characterization that Finn Wolfhard brought to the younger version and giving us more. Hader is a master comedian, so handles the comedy parts as deftly as you would think he would, but it is when the other emotions - fear, rage, love - come barreling out of him that Hader elevates this character (and the movie) to a higher level. I would be thrilled if Hader was nominated for an Oscar for this role - he is that good.
Also coming back are all of the "kids" from the first film to flesh out some scenes - and set up some other scenes/moments by the adults - they are a welcome addition and shine a spotlight at how weak - and underwritten - most of the adult characters are in this film.
Bill Skarsgard is seen quite a bit more as Pennywise - and that makes him less menacing and threatening (but still scary) and there are 2 fun cameos along the way by 2 prominent individuals, so that was fun.
There is a running gag throughout the film about author Bill Denborough (the surrogate for Stephen King) not being able to write a decent ending - a critique that King receives constantly - and they changed the ending of this film from the book. I am a big fan of the book, but would agree that the ending of the book was not that good, so was open to this trying a different way to end things...and...this new ending lands about as well as the original ending (oh well...).
But that's just a quibble, for by that time you've ridden with these characters for over 5 hours and while the first chapter is stronger than the first, the journey is good (enough) for an enjoyable (enough) time at the Cineplex.
Come for the Loser's Club and the scares - stay for Hader's Oscar worthy performance.
Letter Grade: B+
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)