IT CHAPTER TWO

Jessica Chastain     James McAvoy     Bill Hader     Bill Skarsgard

Isiah Mustafa     Jay Ryan     James Ransone     Andy Bean

     This reunion of childhood friends after 27 years isn’t going to be typical; for one thing, a fat kid is now trim and fit—rather than everyone being more portly—the usual reunion preoccupation.  But of course it will be out of the ordinary in so many other, more important, ways.  It’s important to know that this group of reunion members are from the “Losers Club”, and “losers they will always be”, BUT they have pledged as a group to defend against a dark force.

     These friends are called together based on a promise (sealed in blood) made at a time when they thought they had done away with Pennywise (Skarsgard) the wicked clown who preys on young children.  Now Mike (Mustafa) is sending them all urgent messages to come to Derry, Maine, at once.  This will be no easy feat, because they’ve all (except for Mike) left Derry to establish careers and, sometimes, families.  We see each of them attempt to disengage from their commitments to honor the childhood pledge.

     Only one (Stanley, played by Bean) chooses not to go, but the rest brave all kinds of obstacles to return to Mike in Derry, Maine.  He has brought them all together, of course, to tell them that Pennywise has resurfaced and is killing children.  He has done enough research to learn that an ancient Native Indian tribal ritual is called for.  Each of them must find his/her own distinctive “artifact” (from childhood) and bring it to resolution in a ritual.  It’s a bit Jungian in that each must discover his/her shadow and resolve the conflict, one of the stronger assets of the film.

     Beverly (Chastain) has issues with her father, Richie (Hader) has unresolved sexual identity issues, Bill (McAvoy) is carrying the weight of his brother Georgie’s death on his conscience, Ben (Ryan) is still suffering from his “fatness” and the rejection of his childhood flame, Eddie (Ransone) has Mommie issues, and Mike has to come to terms with prejudice against his race.

     Much of the movie covers each person’s struggle with the psychological issue significant for him/her, emphasizing the “losers” aspect (“and we will always be losers”) and the group sticking together to accomplish a noble goal.  I enjoyed these parts of the movie, directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Gary Dauberman based on a Stephen King novel. 

     Unfortunately, the film degenerates into a showcase for special effects, making it insufferable in its length (almost three hours), and completely unbelievable in plot.      Additional nonessential sequences were in the beginning about brutality against gays and toward the end in gay references, neither of which fit in with the main story. The filmmakers seem to be making a side point—which I sympathize with—but find the sequences “stuck into” the plot.

     It Chapter Two has A-list actors in the major roles, and they are superb in what they are given by the script, but their roles are limited.  Jessica Chastain has little to do other than react to the male actors. With her talent, she is wasted in this film.  James McAvoy’s character is a little more filled out, but fails to make him the forceful presence he should be.  Probably the standout is Bill Hader as Richie whose ambivalence and neurotic characteristics gives him more of a platform to exploit his range and ability.

     Most of all, Director Muschietti can be faulted for getting so caught up in special effects, he lost sight of the “meat” of Stephen King’s works having to do with friends sticking together, the drama in the growing-up years, and the influence of early traumas on adult life.  He addressed these, but then covered them up with showy special effects and extended final scenes with Pennywise to an almost unbearable length.

Pennywise and pound-foolish seems to fit this rendition of a Stephen King novel.

Grade:  C+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

IT

Jaeden Lieberher     Jeremy Ray Taylor     Sophia Lillis     Bill Skarsgard

Finn Wolfhard     Chosen Jacobs     Jack Dylan Grazer     Wyatt Oleff     Jackson Robert Scott

     Stephen King is particularly skillful in his portrayal of characters with dimension and flair, yet always plausible and believable.  He must study humans constantly and draw on a wealth of information about us that he has collected through the years.   For example, in this film, the main character has a keen sense of responsibility and fairness…and a stutter.  Another is chubby and socially awkward…but very bright and rather nerdy in a charming way.  He has acquired an impressive amount of information about the town of Derry, Maine, that will inform his newly found friends.  King goes against stereotyping his people, and always adds something unusual, some special quirk or talent that gets manifested during the story unfolding.  Girls can be sexy and fight well and keep up with the boys.  Boys can be leaders, but also show fear and tears.  These touches constitute little surprises for the viewer, enhancing interest, and fostering attachment to the characters.  It’s not long before we know the characters and have an investment in them.  Certainly the horror aspects of his stories do that as well, but for someone like this reviewer who is not a horror fan, the added dimensions are special treats.

     This story begins with two brothers, Bill (Lieberher) and Georgie (Scott), who have great affection for one another.  Bill the older makes a boat for Georgie to take out to “sea” in the rainy street.  After Georgie encounters a clown in a storm drain, he, like many others in a recurring cycle of 27 years, disappears.  He is not the first one this year, but typical of many communities, residents seem to be rather apathetic about what should be an alarming situation—at least that’s so of the adults; the kids express real fear about it as much as the local bullies.  And Bill is particularly motivated to do something because of his missing younger brother, as is Beverly (Lillis), who is deeply compassionate and has her own threat to deal with at home.  The others in the tight group friends are more ambivalent for various reasons, but can always be counted on to join crime-solving/prevention efforts.

   Horror elements that the kids encounter include not only the hideous, fanged clown Pennywise, beautifully played by Skarsgard, but a leper, a headless man, and writhing tortured figures/heads as well that may cry out with advice like “Kill him”, “Kill them all.”  Blood is ubiquitous, and sometimes spells out, “You die if you try.”  There are supernatural events, identity switches, heartless town bullies, and gruesome bathroom scenes (which, one character points out, is the most dangerous room in the house).  Few adults are encountered, and when they do appear, they’re useless at best and abusive at worst.  Parents are so bad that when the kids rebel against them, one wants to cheer.

     Director Andy Muschietti and Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung artfully bring to life King’s well-told story of suspense, the supernatural, high drama, and repellant forces working against the good and innocent.  The clown’s showing something that looked like a shark’s mouth is off-putting in a mixed metaphor kind of way.  The children’s roles and the actors filling them give children credit where it is due.  Lieberher (St. Vincent, Midnight Special) as the star, Lillis as the “against-type” girl, and Skarsgard as Clown Pennywise use their considerable talents to embody their characters with powerful delivery.  Supporting cast should be acknowledged as well, particularly Taylor, as endearing and scholarly Ben, and Grazer, as asthmatic Eddie who wises up to a hypochondriacal mother.

     I applaud the messages implicit in It about overcoming fears and working together to achieve great things.  The movie is entertaining, suspenseful, wryly humorous, and uplifting.

Stephen King’s much scarier version of a Scooby Doo story where kids solve a mystery.  Pennywise the clown:  “…if it weren’t for those meddling kids!”

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE DARK TOWER

Idris Elba     Matthew McConaughey     Abbey Lee     Tom Taylor     Dennis Haysbert

     “There are other worlds than these”, says a character in The Dark Tower, based on a series of novels by Stephen King.  Apparently, this is a sequel that picks up where the novels end.  And during the film, which starts out in Keystone Earth, we’re transported to the Mid-World, another reality altogether.  First, we meet Jake (Taylor), a rather odd child who gets into trouble so frequently he’s in psychotherapy.  The reason he seems odd is that he has such realistic dreams he begins to think there is more to it.  He draws pictures of what he sees and tries to explain to his mother, his friend, and his therapist what he is sensing, but no one understands.  His mother and his friend just walk away mystified, and his therapist relates his fantasies to the father he has lost.

     In desperation, his mother considers sending him to a “clinic” for the weekend, but Jake is convinced there is nothing wrong with him, and that he is simply trying to understand what his experience is telling him.  When he sees that he’ll be forced to go, and that the driver looks like someone characteristic of people in his dreams, he bolts.

     Jake is clever and brave, managing to elude his pursuers, and follow clues to get to the source of his dreams.  What follows after that, is his being transported (not gently) to the Middle World, where he straightaway encounters Roland The Gunslinger (Elba) of his dreams.  Interestingly, Jake has made detailed drawings of his dreams, and Roland and Walter, the Man in Black (McConaughey), are accurately depicted.  Jake recognizes Roland immediately, but Roland has no idea who Jake is, does not want to be bothered, and really wants to get back to his business of revenge against Walter.  Jake, not willing to be thrust aside, gets drawn into the struggle, and to the film’s credit, a satisfying father-son bonding develops. 

     The film could have been a touching, meaningful (and sometimes it is) journey searching for a lost father.  Unfortunately, the filmmakers make it more a glorification of guns, revenge, and even sugar(!).  (Bad joke about sugar, which kids don’t need to hear.)  Jake is tutored carefully in shooting (which is not necessarily a bad thing) with mantras like, “I don’t kill with my gun; I kill with my mind.”  “I don’t kill with my gun; I kill with my heart.”  “He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.”  But the culmination of all this is a visually spectacular orgy of vengeful gunfire and killing that seems to go on forever (to me).  All this is done in such a way it made me think it was dreamed up by the NRA for an advertisement.

   Instead of the gunfire, I wish the filmmakers had made more of the mind control techniques used by Jake and Roland, which, in the end, were much more powerful.  The film wanted us to think that it was the final gun battle that was the decisive victory, but how much more helpful it would be for young people to see how much their self-discipline and mindfulness could be potent, decisive forces in actualizing events.

     Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey elevate any film they are in, and they are certainly topnotch here.  The cinematography (Rasmus Videbaek) and visual effects make it exciting.  But the problem with this film is in adapting Stephen King’s work to a successful film.  Somewhere along the way, the thrust of his powerful fiction gets diluted.  The director, Nikolaj Arcel, has a fine record (director, A Royal Affair, writer, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo); the producers are acclaimed (e.g., Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Stephen King), and yet it seems less than.  (Could it be that gun advocates like the NRA and sugar dispensers in soft drinks exerted an effect?  I don’t know.)

This is an intriguing story based on Stephen King’s work that misses the mark.

Grade:  D+                                    By Donna R. Copeland