‘It Chapter Two:’ Not As Good As The First, But Still Fun

Some filmmakers are brave.

Not because they tackle sensitive subjects, but because of the extensive story they’re trying to convey. A tale like “It,” that took more than 1,000 pages for Stephen King to bear initially. A story about a clown, a few bullies, and several beloved Losers.

Losers like Big Ben, Haystack, Trashmouth, Bev, and Mike. Figures that tattoo our minds with their behavior and mannerisms. Incredibly well-developed personalities we see in a particular light, and often refuse to see them any other way.

That’s what makes “It” such a challenge to tell, and director Andres Muchietti, so brave for attempting to tell it. There’s simply so much already written about its characters that any detour is especially noticeable. And therefore, judged mercilessly.

But let’s be honest, many who see the film haven’t read the book. And even if they had, you have to give Muchietti credit for pruning thirty-some hours of reading into six or so hours of fun screen time.

Some choices, however, just didn’t work. Especially when paired with the things that did.

Pennywise and The Adult Losers

As usual, Bill Skarsgård crushed it.

He’s the entire reason I was willing to sit through three long hours in the theatre without a bathroom break. I love clowns, and I love the way Skarsgård portrays Pennywise. And even though he had a decent amount of screen time, I wanted more.

Same for James McAvoy; the dude’s got chops. “That’s Big Bill,” I said, watching. His expressions, quirks, stutter, and tone are on point. The rest of The Losers, however, were, well, losers.

Especially Ben, the formerly fat kid turned hunk. It felt like ninety-percent of the movie’s budget went to McAvoy and CGI, and whatever was left was paid to the only actors willing to accept the check.

What’s worse is that we got to fall in love with these characters in the first film, when they were young, only to be confronted with a hollow version of them as grown-ups. But, like King said in the book, “adults are monsters.” And these adults, while they didn’t do anything awful, we’re monsters simply because they didn’t do anything, weren’t anything, and lost everything we loved about them as children.

But I suppose it was by design. “It” the book, after all, tells of generations of Derry children who grow up under the horrific umbrella that is Pennywise, only to become adults who’ve lost everything it means to be a child. And for the most part, The Adult Losers were precisely that; monstrous grown-ups who couldn’t remember what it was to be delightful children.

Pennywise and The Young Losers

Pennywise is rich with mythology, whatever you need him to be, unsettling and inviting at the same time. He’s everything you imagine evil to be.

He’s also consistent, and that’s big.

Pennywise is the same. From the first time we meet him to the second, twenty-seven years have passed, and he’s still hungry, driven, maniacal and intriguing. The Losers, though, not so much. Everything that made them who they are is gone. Everything that made us care has disappeared.

Admittedly, that’s sort of the point. When we’re kids, we’re imaginative and inventive and worthy. And when we grow up, we suck. Simple as that. But with the way both movies are designed, we’re more punched in the face with this information. Gone is the slow burn, the festering infection we come to despise over time.

The issue is telling a story chronologically that wasn’t told that way initially. In “It” the book, King jumps from the past to the present at will. The effects, while disconcerting at times, work well if you have the endurance to reach the ending. Because by then, you’ve gotten to experience the evolution of a personality from child to adult, and at least if you’re like me, it just makes you hate adults even more. But not all at once. More like a kettle slowly heating on the burner, by the end of the book, you’re simply done with the weakness of adults and crave the strength of children. You actually understand the clown and why he targets children to satisfy his appetite. Kids are simple. Kids are honest. Compared to adults, kids are alive.

Going from a movie about children to a movie about adults with a few flashbacks is simply too much. I cared about the kids. I didn’t care about the adults. And while it may have been infinitely more challenging to film, and equally as testing to consume, at least more time with The Losers when they were young would’ve made any time with them while they’re older tolerable. Maybe even enjoyable.

Bowers The Bully

In the book, Henry Bowers is to Big Bill as the Joker is too Batman.

Bowers is Bill’s antithesis. There are extreme lengths taken to describe this. In fact, Bill and Bowers are so similar that Bill begins to understand Bowers. His actions, like Bill’s, aren’t really his own. Both creations are governed by something entirely supernatural, and their friends are just caught in the crossfire.

In the book, Bowers is intense. A plague. He’s always there, being influenced and used, and therefore influencing and creating havoc. In the movies, Bowers is excellent as a bully. But as an adult, he’s an unnecessary afterthought that’s much less supervillain and much more minor annoyance. He shows up a few times for no more than a couple minutes and gets dealt with quickly. Either use him or lose him, like you did with Tom and Audra.

To a kid, a bully is infinitely worse than the dark or burglars or even death. Nothing inspires more fear and hatred. To grow that bully into something that has the same impact on an adult, however, would take time the movie doesn’t have.

Cut your loses and focus on Pennywise and The Losers, and leave Bowers back in the book where he’s more terrifying than the clown.

Pennywise In The Flesh

We’ve established that it’s nearly impossible to compete with a book as meticulous as “It.” Yet, when it comes to Pennywise in the flesh, the film does just that.

Pennywise is captivating, calculating, and intriguing. Sometimes he’s hushed, ingenious and diabolical, and sometimes he’s outlandish. And it all works; his interaction with the Losers as kids, as adults, the devilish hold he has over Derry; Pennywise is the entire reason the movie works. When the acting falters, the cast is dull, and you miss the kids, Pennywise is there. He’s always there.