IT (2017-2019)

I was originally going to do just a review of IT Chapter 2 which came out just a few days ago, but upon a re-watch of the 2017 film I realized that, more than any other similar part 1/part 2 movie, IT chapters 1&2 are intimately connected and support each other so well each makes the other better.

So if I'm going to do a review of these films justice it makes the most sense to review them as a single film. By the very nature of the structure of the book they're adapting each film basically tells the same story. As the adults return to Derry they remember the events from their childhood that parallel the events they are going through in the here and now. They even essentially go through the same character arcs. It's obvious, especially while watching Chapter 2, that these stories were meant to be told simultaneously so that the characters as children are going through the same arcs at the same time as the characters as adults. This is perhaps this most recent adaptation's biggest failing. Presenting this film in two separate chapters makes the two halves feel a bit repetitive. In both films: Bev has to discover which of her friends wrote her the love poem, Bill has to overcome his stutter, the losers club has to fight back against Henry Bowers etc... It's all the same narrative and character beats. Looking at the work as a whole this really works incredibly well to support a theme of overcoming childhood trauma, but dividing the work into two temporally distinct parts needlessly obscures the theme while also making for a predictable second half.

However, not all is doom and gloom in the second half. By leaving some flashbacks to the kids for the second half IT the movie does manage to effectively highlight that the characters as adults are confronting and overcoming childhood trauma and the resultant piece as a whole is supremely effective at creating these characters you really care about and root for. This is IT's greatest strength. Every one of the losers club is charismatic and lovable throughout the entirety of the film. Not one of them feels underdeveloped. Taking the halves as individual distinct parts, as they were presented, in the first half we have an underdeveloped Mike and in the second, an underdeveloped Stan. In the first part Mike only gets involved about halfway through, and aside from one or two flashbacks Stan is completely absent from the second half as he commits suicide early on. Also a bit troublesome is the change made to Richie's character in the second part (minor spoilers to plot points that weren't in the book). The flashbacks in the second part make explicit that Richie is gay and had a crush on Eddie. There is very little to nothing to support this from the first part and feels like a decision made after the completion of the first part. To expand upon the complex issue of reinterpreting a character's sexuality halfway through a film it feels like a decision made to more closely thematically tie the murder of a gay man that occurs early in the second part setting off the events of the rest of the film. This feels to me like a smart decision that highlights that the homophobia that is pervasive throughout the film's two parts is part of IT's influence over Derry. I just wish the filmmakers had take a little more care in planting the seeds earlier on instead of introducing the concept in the second part. This is one of the few benefits of the split presentation of this film. It's less jarring that Richie is suddenly gay of you're looking at the second part as it's own film.

IT is supposed to be a horror film of course so this begs the question: Is it scary? The best answer is kinda? I don't think I've ever seen a more inconsistent horror film. Usually a horror film works or it doesn't but IT, throughout both of it's parts, has an incredibly inconsistent tone almost verging on horror-comedy. There are quite a few scares that work: Georgie's death, the death of a little girl under the bleachers at a baseball game, and Bev getting attacked by the hair coming out of the sink are standouts. But then you get the slightly more than occasional silly image: Pennywise's dance at the end of the first part, the "not scary at all", "scary", and "very scary" doors from both films, and the goddamn clownspider. (I guess someone in pre-production thought the alien spider depicted in the miniseries wouldn't be taken seriously today so thought if they stuck creepy Pennywise bits on it it would be extra terrifying... It's not.) Not all of the comedy is unintentional though. There are obviously intentional moments of genuine comedy that really work woven throughout both parts. This makes for a very inconsistent tone where you're never quite sure if a scene is supposed to be funny or scary (though the movie, intentionally or not, winds up being funny more than scary), but miraculously it occasionally manages to pull off both at the same time. This is especially noticeable in the second part, and really offers the film a unique feel that doesn't always work in it's favor but creates a fun experience.

With more time I could go into a lot more detail, and when IT Chapter 2 is released on Blu-ray and streaming I probably will, but for now IT (2017-2019) is an absolutely fascinating, fun and even occasionally scary adaptation of King's famed horror novel. I highly recommend both parts. You may not be frightened throughout, but the film works well as a dramatic dark story of characters accepting their past and overcoming their trauma. This is best adaptation of King's work that I've seen, and really shouldn't be missed.