Defeated by members of the Losers’ Club, the evil clown Pennywise returns 27 years later to terrorize the town of Derry, Maine, once again. 

IT was easily my favorite movie of 2017, is still one of my favorite movies today, and that’s funny coming from someone who was scared of Tim Curry’s Pennywise for many years.

You can read my review for IT here.

Side note: I realize the book and miniseries have been out for many years, but I’ll still keep this review spoiler-free. I also want to mention some trigger warnings such as domestic abuse, suicide, and homophobia for the movie.

Hazy Memories 

Twenty-seven years after the events of the first movie, all of the Loser’s Club have moved on with their lives…except Mike. Mike’s still living in Derry, trying to find a way to defeat Pennywise, and keeping track of the recent deaths. When a pretty brutal one occurs and you actually get to see Pennywise chomp down on this person, Mike knows it’s time to make some calls.

No one remembers what happened, but they all made a promise to go back and that’s what they do.

After reuniting and catching up, Mike drops the ball on them and no one is ready to stay and risk their lives. Of course, they do and follow Mike’s instructions to prepare for a ritual that could kill Pennywise for good.

It’s Brutality & Creepy Imagery

I think I made a comment about the first movie that Pennywise doesn’t take it easy on the kids, but this time around, the notch is turned up by a hundred. There are much more gore and blood and death and all around creepy imagery. If you didn’t get enough child death in the first one, this one makes up for that.

The first one wasn’t “scary” and I didn’t get scared here, but there were moments when Pennywise changed into something to scare them that made me cringe a bit (in a good way.)

The Loser’s Club 27 Years Later 

The casting is great. I’ll be honest and say there were a few I wasn’t on board with (Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy as examples) but there were moments when Bill said something or his mouth moved in a way that reminded me of younger Bill, so, I take back my thoughts on that.

And if you haven’t heard it enough, I love Bill Hader as older Richie. He’s kind of like Richie in real life and you get to see more of his acting diversity (if you haven’t watched his other projects.)

Everyone is a believable older version of their younger selves. The only disappointment I have is Ben and it’s nothing to do with the actor but I feel Ben doesn’t get enough to do. His crush on Beverly is in full force, but I wish they did more with how he feels about himself and how going back to Derry makes him feel like the “fat kid” again.

Quibbles 

There is a Youtuber known as the Nostalgia Critic who did a review on the IT miniseries a while ago. He came up with the “Stephen King Drinking Game” that you can use for his other movies like if it’s set in Maine, take a shot. He made a joke about flashbacks and that if you took a shot for one of those, you’d be dead in the first ten minutes.

This reminded me of that. When they announced they were doing CG on the kid’s to make them appear younger for flashbacks, I thought it would only be a few, but they are in the movie way more than I thought.

I shouldn’t complain because they always do a great job, but I also wanted to focus on the adults more and see them rebuilding their friendships.

The CG on specific kids such as Richie is also a bit obvious as well.

That takes me to another point, which is it feels like there’s a lot missing from the movie. Certain characters come back but don’t do much, again it doesn’t feel like the adults got to bond or talk as much as they should’ve, and since the director has said the movie could’ve been four hours long, it makes sense.

Overall 

As a rating, I would give it a B+. I would watch it again but would pick the first one first.

Compared to the first, it’s still funny and you care about the characters. I just wish the adults interacted more. The scene when they first reunite is one of my favorites, as you can see they still have that chemistry, but then they split up and that’s when it dwindles down a bit.

That was the only time I felt the three-hours.

If you enjoyed the first one, definitely go see this. Even if you know what happens, you’ll want to see how the story ends.

If not, it’s still worth the time.

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