The Losers’ Club have reunited as they must once again take on the demonic Pennywise in this conclusion to the two-movie epic based on the iconic Stephen King novel.
It has been twenty-seven years since Bill, Beverly, Ben, Mike, Richie, Stanley, and Eddie defeated the demonic Pennywise. However, when a man and a girl have been discovered along with the appearance of a red balloon, Mike’s fears have come true. Pennywise has returned as promised. Mike makes the frantic calls to the rest of his childhood friends. However, their memories have been somewhat hazed with the exception of Stanley, who decides it’s too much for him and does the unthinkable.
When the group returns to town to meet up with Mike, their memories slowly begin to come back. They soon discover that in order to ultimately kill It, they must each find some childhood artifacts and perform the Ritual of Chüd. However, as each member looks for their artifact, Pennywise does whatever it can to prevent his former adversaries from getting them to get their artifacts and perform the ritual. Who will succeed? The Losers’ Club or the demonic Pennywise?
2017’s It was an amazing adaptation of the Stephen King novel that takes the first half of the novel and focused on a group of teenagers who are faced with taking on a demon in the form of a clown. The original 1990 made-for-TV movie was good in its own right, but this film took the take thanks to the performances of the young cast and the breakout of the film, Bill Skarsgård, in the role of Pennywise. Now, two years later and twenty-seven years set, Pennywise is back but a new cast of the now adult Losers Club revive the rivalry.
What’s great about this film is that the film is more than an old rivalry returning, but also redemption in each of the now Losers’ Club as they are all flawed much like their childhood selves. James McAvoy’s Bill is a married author whose latest book gets the running gag of the film. Jessica Chastain’s Beverly is in an abusive relationship and finds her way out. Jay Ryan’s Ben goes from geek to chic as a successful businessman. Bill Hader, who totally can be seen as the breakout here due to his performance, plays Richie with the same wit as Finn Wolfhard had in the original but even more amped up due to a certain secret. As for James Ransone, he perfects Eddie the way his kid counterpart, Jack Dylan Grazer, does with a few crazy twists mixed in. Isaiah Mustafa basically goes from one of the new kids to the new leader of the Losers’ Club as Mike, the one who rallies the troops and even finds the way to once and for all destroy It.
Bill Skarsgård once again delivers the thrills in the role of Pennywise. We get to see much more of him this time around as he is back to doing what he does best. And that’s murdering innocent people or in the case of the Losers’ Club, bring back their fears, which is his lifeforce. In a pivotal scene involving one of the characters, we get to see briefly see Skarsgård sans make-up as he haunts the character and slowly transitions into the demonic clown. The final act, which represents the final battle between the Losers’ Club and Pennywise, really amps up some unexpected scares including when Richie and Eddie are faced with what they think is a little thing only to be really scared and this scene even put a jump scare to this reviewer.
It Chapter Two is an exciting conclusion to the Stephen King saga. Bill Skarsgård once again delivers the terror and even amps it up a notch or two when necessary with the adult Losers’ Club giving it their all.
WFG RATING: A
New Line Cinema presents a KatzSmith Productions/Lin Pictures film in association with Rideback and Vertigo Entertainment. Director: Andy Muschietti. Producers: Barbara Muschietti, Roy Lee, and Dan Lin. Writer: Gary Dauberman; based on the novel by Stephen King. Cinematography: Checco Varese. Editing: Jason Ballantine.
Cast: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Isaiah Mustafa, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Chosen Jacobs, Wyatt Oleff, Luke Roessler, Joan Gregson.
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