It Chapter 2

Actors: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård

Rating: 7 out of 10, A very long movie but you almost don’t notice it as it careens from scare to scare. There’s plenty of that as the grown up versions of the kids from Chapter 1 return to battle Pennywise again. There’s some real texture as each must combat childhood issues that have been suppressed after leaving Derry, Steven King’s orifice of evil. The Master himself shows up for a very cool cameo as an antique dealer. I thought Chapter 1 was scarier because Pennywise wasn’t so omnipresent and when he did appear it packed a gut punch. The filmmakers went a little overboard with the CGI which cartoonized the evil clown a little too much. The final revelation that helps the Losers in their climatic battle is also garbled instead of highlighted. Maybe they realized just how long the film was at that point. Some great performances by both the young and grown up versions of the characters which kept me fully invested. I do wish they’d made more of a hero out of the lone Loser to remain in town to confront the evil when it reappeared. A fitting end to one of the Master’s best efforts.

MVP: Jessica Chastain as Beverley the soul of the losers club