IT: Chapter Two

In these days, i barely read any books. But there was a time in my youth, when i did read some books. Since i had no interest in reading Swedish authours, i usually turned to legendary author Stephen King. I may not have read many books of his, but the ones i did read i enjoyed. One of the books i do remember from author Stephen King, is his novel Misery. This novel tells the story of popular writer Paul Sheldon, who is seriously injured in a car accident. Former Nurse Annie, who is a big fan of Pauls Misery novels, takes him to her home to help him. But it turns out that Annis is more than a fan, she wants Paul to ressurect her favourite character back from the dead in the Misery series. This book really shows why some fans take things too personal, and loose control of their own reality and believe they can cross any line they want, as long as they are pleased. This novel was first released in 1987, and i believe i read the novel the first time around 1990, the same year when the film adaptation of this novel was released from director Rob Reiner. The film adaptation follows the novel pretty good, except for a few changes. And i have to say that the film Misery is still really good, and one of my favourite performances from actress Kathy Bates. She did the character Annie Wilkes in her own unique way, so if you have not seen Misery yet, you should check it out on Netflix, VOD, DVD or Blu Ray. Speaking of 1990, i remember how terrified i was when i first saw TV mini series Stephen King´s IT, based on the novel of the same name by author Stephen King. What made IT so special on the TV mini series was the character Pennywise The Dancing Clown, played by legendary actor Tim Curry. Many years ahead i heard the news of a remake of the TV mini series, made into a new film with Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. The 2017 film IT turned out to be much better than i expected. So here we have the sequel IT: Chapter Two, that is supposed to end the story from the previous film. Is this a really good ending in the IT franchise, or should they have skipped this sequel from being made ?

In 1989 a group of young friends throught that they killed Pennywise The Dancing Clown ( Bill Skarsgård ) for good, until Mike Hanlon ( Isaiha Mustafa ) call up his old friends in 2016. Mike is still living in Derry, Maine, and after some brutal murders he realise that Pennywise is back. He calls Beverly Marsh ( Jessica Chastain ), Bill Denbrough ( James McAvoy ), Richie Tozier ( Bill Hader ) and the rest of The Losers Club. They all need to come back to Derry, to make sure Pennywise does not take any more victims. 

I honestly did not go into this film with too high expectations, after hearing a lot of different opinions about this sequel. Even if this film is not as scary as the IT film from 2017, there are some details i think that this film manage to do in a positive way. To see the main character from the previous film as adults, is of course interesting to see. Since i enjoyed the performances from the teenages in IT, we now get to see how they developed after so many years. One thing becomes clear, no matter how many years go by, the loser club stays united. Since the previous film had pretty unknown young actors ( except for a few ), this sequel have some heavier actors included that i am sure most of you will recognize. James McAvoy ( who i especially love in the British black comedy Filth, a must see ) plays the adult version of Bill. There is no doubt that McAvoy knows how to develope a character, and he proves this once more in this film. I have seen McAvoy do stronger performances than in this film, such as in Split, but he is a good choice for this character. My favourite performance in this film comes from actor Bill Hader ( who did a wonderful performance in The Skeleton Twins ), who plays the adult version of Richie. Bill has that vulgar language that fits him so well, and he comes across as an asshole sometimes, but you can´t help to like him. There are some other characters that works as well, including Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise of course. But this sequel have some problems that we must talk about. This film is way too long, over 2 hours and 49 minutes long. For a horror film that is way too long, and it feels like some scenes are just filling in for the parts that feel pretty dull. Some of the CGI effects are not very effective, where some of the scary scenes feel too predictable and less scary. I will say that there is at least one good scene, where Pennywise turns into a spider, and that is actually a good idea. Overall, IT: Chapter Two is a sequel that will divide fans of the previous film. This is not a bad film, there are enjoyable scenes to be found. But this sequel is not as good from a horror standard, compared to the first film. Director Andy Muschietti ( who directed the previous IT film ) may not have made the sequel i was hoping for, but i can sense he as a passion for telling the story of Pennywise in a simple but effective way. If you love clowns and horror, then this film will probably be a good choice for the New Years Eve party.

Rating: DDD