Runtime: An overlong 169
minutes
Directed by: Andy
Muschietti
Starring: The kids from
Chapter 1, plus adults that usually look and act a lot like their
child counterparts
From: Warner Bros./New
Line Cinema
Featuring the strangest needle drop I've ever experienced.
I finally had the chance to view this, and at a Dolby Cinema at AMC; it was one of those movies where the seats occasionally rumble, which does make for a memorable experience. The first film I saw and reviewed back two falls ago; while it did not frighten my pants off it was still a good time as it was cast quite well and Pennywise managed to be unforgettable in a different way than Tim Curry was. Speaking of the miniseries, that was my only other experience with the story... I've never read the novel.
I imagine everyone is familiar with the story of this so I do not need to dwell on how The Losers Club gets together after 27 years apart due to Pennywise making its return, and they all have to confront their past-no matter how difficult-in order to try and defeat that malevolent creature. Now, to start this off: the opening features a heinous hate crime against a homosexual male couple in Deery, Maine. I understand that this is taken from the novel, but it is different as in that the two timelines were explored at the same time so this came right after Georgie's death, and this proved a point about Pennywise. Here, it starts off the movie on a harsh note and fair or not, in this day and age I understand why some would be offended by it in the wrong way, as in “being turned off and wanting nothing else to do with the movie.” As I know other things were taken out (even a few moments that were in the miniseries) perhaps that was not needed.
Also, there is how this movie is almost 3 hours long; what a shock that was when the length was first announced. Me, I only started to feel that length in the final act, especially the climax that did seem too long; how it finally ends is... interesting and not exactly what I was expecting. The second act of the movie I know many took issue with; apparently it sort of relates to events in the novel and unless it be done in a completely different way, there really was no better alternative to present such plot points. I can admit that at times I guffawed instead of be frightened by what was on screen and that was unfortunate. So was some blatant allusions to famous 80's movies, which were usually better than this was. To be fair, there were some frightening moments and chilling imagery.
All that said, I don't want to be negative here; I was afraid this would be something that made me mad because it was far inferior to Chapter 1 and I've been let down too often by big 2019 releases. Even though I did allude to a few objectionable moments and a very odd needle drop during what was supposed to be a chilling scene, Chapter 2 had enough to where I can say this was at least fine overall. This was also well-cast in terms of choosing actors who resembled their young teen counterparts physically & w/ their attitudes; as many have said, Bill Hader was a great choice as the adult version of Finn Wolfhard's character Richie. At least the movie kept my attention throughout and like I said, it being 169 minutes was not an issue until the final act.
Chapter 1 has the edge in terms of “rewatchability factor” but I am at least not crestfallen and upset by the quality of this compared to the first film.
I finally had the chance to view this, and at a Dolby Cinema at AMC; it was one of those movies where the seats occasionally rumble, which does make for a memorable experience. The first film I saw and reviewed back two falls ago; while it did not frighten my pants off it was still a good time as it was cast quite well and Pennywise managed to be unforgettable in a different way than Tim Curry was. Speaking of the miniseries, that was my only other experience with the story... I've never read the novel.
I imagine everyone is familiar with the story of this so I do not need to dwell on how The Losers Club gets together after 27 years apart due to Pennywise making its return, and they all have to confront their past-no matter how difficult-in order to try and defeat that malevolent creature. Now, to start this off: the opening features a heinous hate crime against a homosexual male couple in Deery, Maine. I understand that this is taken from the novel, but it is different as in that the two timelines were explored at the same time so this came right after Georgie's death, and this proved a point about Pennywise. Here, it starts off the movie on a harsh note and fair or not, in this day and age I understand why some would be offended by it in the wrong way, as in “being turned off and wanting nothing else to do with the movie.” As I know other things were taken out (even a few moments that were in the miniseries) perhaps that was not needed.
Also, there is how this movie is almost 3 hours long; what a shock that was when the length was first announced. Me, I only started to feel that length in the final act, especially the climax that did seem too long; how it finally ends is... interesting and not exactly what I was expecting. The second act of the movie I know many took issue with; apparently it sort of relates to events in the novel and unless it be done in a completely different way, there really was no better alternative to present such plot points. I can admit that at times I guffawed instead of be frightened by what was on screen and that was unfortunate. So was some blatant allusions to famous 80's movies, which were usually better than this was. To be fair, there were some frightening moments and chilling imagery.
All that said, I don't want to be negative here; I was afraid this would be something that made me mad because it was far inferior to Chapter 1 and I've been let down too often by big 2019 releases. Even though I did allude to a few objectionable moments and a very odd needle drop during what was supposed to be a chilling scene, Chapter 2 had enough to where I can say this was at least fine overall. This was also well-cast in terms of choosing actors who resembled their young teen counterparts physically & w/ their attitudes; as many have said, Bill Hader was a great choice as the adult version of Finn Wolfhard's character Richie. At least the movie kept my attention throughout and like I said, it being 169 minutes was not an issue until the final act.
Chapter 1 has the edge in terms of “rewatchability factor” but I am at least not crestfallen and upset by the quality of this compared to the first film.
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