IT Chapter Two

  • 21 Sep - 27 Sep, 2019
  • Mag The Weekly
  • Reviews

In 2016, 27 years after terrorising the town of Derry, big-headed clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) is back, a body count rising in his wake. Having researched the monster’s history, Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) tracks down the estranged members of The Losers’ Club, getting them to make good on their promise to fight once more.

IT Chapter One, or whatever we must call it since it made enough millions to birth a chapter two, had its crutches. IT Chapter Two is all about crutches. A quick recap of the first film’s epilogue is followed by some voiceover from the adult Mike (Mustafa). “Sometimes, we are what we wish we could forget,” he says. Mike has remained in Derry, but in the 27 years since, the rest of the Losers have split, none of them in touch with each other, all having moved on. In some ways, at least.

Before we reunite with the Losers, the film itself begins in Derry with a brutal, bone-crunching homophobic attack. More disturbing than anything in chapter one, it announces at once that Muschietti is not playing it safe at all. It is decidedly adult territory, enormously troubling to witness, let alone when it’s married to an even more gruesome, otherworldly coda. This opening does everything horror should do, leaving you shaken mere minutes after the film has begun. Muschietti more-or-less keeps this going throughout its near three-hour runtime.

Yet for all the darkness, the sweetness survives. The film has much affection for these Losers, and as an ode to friendship – or at least to age-old bonds – it does fine work. With so many leads, the emotion is handled economically, but sincerely. Muschietti walks a constant tightrope. He never falls off.

IT Chapter Two is a psychologically merciless sequel, everything here is as it should be: deeper, scarier, and funnier. Muschietti in particular has stepped up, skilfully guiding us through a rollicking funhouse. It is obscenely entertaining.

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