Paul O’Rourke
A LOT of thought goes into the wording that appears on movie posters.
There usually isn’t a lot of it, so each word will be chosen for maximum impact and meaning.
With that in mind it’s strange that after only one successful clown horror offering, 2017’s ‘IT’, the second installment sets out to wrap everything up with the terminal words: ‘IT ENDS’.
In comparison, Marvel Studios produced three ‘Avenger’ movies and multiple spin offs before this year’s ‘Avengers:Endgame’, and after a worldwide box office of 700 million dollars for ‘IT’, you would assume that Hollywood producers would want to milk the jolly jester for a few more years to come.
And depending on how this film performs, they may yet be looking at future titles like: ‘Son of IT’, ‘IT the Early Years’ or ‘I.T. Department of Doom’.
But as the films are based on the famous 1986 Stephen King novel of the same name, a book, that like all other books, has an ending, so does this movie franchise. Taking up the story 27 years after the first film, the seven young kids of Derry (America, not Northern Ireland) whose journey we followed in the previous installment, have grown up and moved away.
But when one of them witnesses the deadly return of evil clown ‘Pennywise’, everyone realises they must band together and defeat this evil presence once and for all.
Director Andres Muschietti assembles an impressive cast that includes Jessica Chastain, James McEvoy, Bill Skaarsgard and Bill Hader.
And it’s the two Bills that play the most crucial roles, Skaarsgard providing the frights as the creepy clown, and Hader supplying the laughs and much needed comic relief.
There are plenty of scares to be had, including hearing that the runtime is almost three hours (a good hour longer than it needs to be), and if jumps are your thing, you’ll be rewarded here.
But ultimately the film falls flat and descends into blockbuster hell with yet another final battle against a giant robot monster.
We award ‘IT Chapter Two’ a review score of 2.5 underwhelming stars.
