IT, Chapter 2. (movie review)

After a 2 year wait we finally get to see what happens to the LOSERS.

(source  fortniteinsider ) 

IT's been a long time coming, pun intended ... come on ... give me this one, I did a review of  CHAPTER 1 and gave it a ten out of ten. Read on to see how Chapter two does.

 

So for those who haven't read the book or seen the movie made in 1990 (HERE):

 

Chapter 1 covers the story of 7 young teens battling IT/Pennywise, a malevolent force that feeds off the fears of people, it has the power to appear as anyone or anything that person might fear. Cue ... the Worlds fear of clowns and or spiders. I bet Stephen King is responsible for at least half the cases of people that suffer from Coulrophobia.

 

(source - Bloody Disgusting)

At the end of Chapter 1 the seven friends make a pact to return if IT/Pennywise comes back, perfectly setting up Chapter 2. Only one of the seven friends stay in Derry and he studies and remembers everything, the rest of the friends scatter around the country and persue their careers - forgetting all about that summers activities. But Mike calls them all back to deal with Pennywise once and for all. They all have to go on a quest, to find a personal talisman that helps them to remember what happened.

 

What follows is a rather long drawn out hour of each character as an adult finding their talisman and facing/remembering something horrific that previously happened that they all feared (and fed Pennywise with). Whilst many will see this as an overindulgence I understand these long sequences. A lot of Stephen King movies have been butchered, either by

 

1. Too much material in his books that is difficult to translate to the screen

2. The movie producer/adaptation limiting the movie by their lack of imagination or ability to translate the imagery the mind can manage but the movie budget cannot or

3. An over excitable editor cutting out huge chunks of King's work to conform to a specific movie length.

 

So I can forgive these sections. What is stunning is the special effects and transitions from reality to the mindfuckery that Pennywise creates. These transitions could never have been created in 1990 and this is why I love seeing remakes. We finally have an opportunity to see more of King's amazing vision (and twisted dark soul). It's been many years since I read IT but it will be getting pulled off the shelf in a few weeks. From what I remember this movie adaptation is certainly a lot closer to the book but I can't say that definitively.

 

I have only one negative to say about the movie. All horror movies need a small bit of comic relief but this had too much. There was a quip or funny piece after nearly every big scary scene. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the need to lighten the mood every now and again but this is a horror movie people, not a comedy. Richie and Eddie had too many one-liners. Of course as the movie progresses we understand why Richie (in both chapters) relied on comedy to lighten the mood. He has been hiding a huge-ass secret. 

 

SPOILER ALERT

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

The start of Chapter 2 has a horrific murder of a gay character, he was beaten and thrown over a bridge (and Pennywise finished him off). AND don't even get me started about this lazy-ass movie trope, but, as chapter 2 progresses we learn that Richie is gay and is in fact in love with his best friend Eddie (who he never tells of course). It's Richie's biggest fear that the World finds out. There is a nice touching moment and the end where he acknowledges his love. 

As a lover of Stephen King I have to say I love this movie adaptation. The casting was perfect. Bill Skarsgard is a fantastic Pennywise - yes I still love Tim Curry's version but that's like comparing single malt whiskey and triple distilled vodka. The special effects and transitions from reality to the crazy/fear World were amazing. AND the ending was one million times better than the 1990 movie (although that wouldn't be difficult). I even like the couple of comments during the movie about people not liking the endings of Bill's stories (he was a successful writer) - I like to think this is a reference to the poor ending of Under The Dome (IMHO of course). Anyway, the final verdict. I give IT, Chapter 2 a solid 9 out of 10. (overall that's a 9.5 out of 10 for both parts)

John The Captain Ryan

 

 

IT - I Love Remakes.

We all float down here.

Firstly, let’s get rid of the notion that movies & TV series shouldn’t be remade, rebooted or re-imagined.  That’s just rubbish.  Since the dawning of man (and woman) over 200,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic period we have told and retold stories.  You know, sitting around the campfire, char grilling bison and “storytelling” about how you speared that bison to death and how you hoped to be chosen by the good looking woman in the next door cave. 

Drag your humanoid body along to more recent times of around 1600 and there was a famous Bill (not Clinton) writing poems and plays.  Somewhat impenetrable for the reader today without a dictionary and abridged notes (Just read the notes I say) William Shakespeare’s works have been reprinted, re-imagined and made into numerous movies and plays.  Every year there are hundreds of stage productions all across the globe.

Then drag your sorry cantankerous (The original is the best and everything else is rubbish) ass to the middle of the 20^th century.  Everyone has heard of Rogers & Hammerstein.   They were responsible for writing over a dozen musicals, over 300 songs, that spawned numerous movies and many stage productions (go on start humming “How do you solve a problem like Maria”).  To date there are over 480 Broadway musicals and this list is growing all the time.

So you see, remakes are not a modern phenomenon.  We hear or read a story. We then retell, embellish, add-to & sometimes take away.  Go back to old Willy Shakes (that’s his contemporary name for his new Rudai23 blog), he wrote fantastic stories but some would agree with me that they are bloody hard to read.  Now, if they were rewritten in today’s English I think that would make them more accessible and open them up to a whole new audience.  Throw in a 140 character description to tweet and you’re on to a winner.  You wouldn’t take away from the original, it would actually give the reader the motivation to check out the original work.  Ebooks have done something similar.  With a lot of old material readily available to download for free, it has opened up a whole new genre of books to people.  If you read Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time on your kindle I can bet you will download some more of his work. 

Stephen King’s IT is the perfect example, published in 1986 with a mini TV series in 1990, the remaking of the film has generated interest all over again.  Stephen King, The Master of Horror is responsible for many sleepless nights but some of the most amazing and unforgettable books (and subsequent movies).   And those are the titles and famous lines you associate with King... 

IT                                               The Shining                                            Misery

And then think about the stuff you don’t associate with Stephen King.  Shawshank Redemption (Get busy living, or get busy dying), Stand by Me (movie with River Pheonix), The Green Mile, The Running Man (Arnold Washyknickers), Under the Dome (yes, it was before the Simpsons).  

From a librarians point of view and picking up on a previous point about interest getting regenerated for an original book.  On 14th September 2017, 6 days after the release of IT across the Irish Public Libraries there were about 100 copies of IT available and more than 130 holds.  There were 10 new copies ordered to help meet the demand. This from a genre that was once viewed (and sometimes still is viewed) as “not proper literature” for a library.   

But let’s get back to the remake of IT and a little about movie adaptations.  So, you should now agree with me that we should embrace and welcome remakes.  If the recent version is great, brilliant, something new to watch.  If it’s crap, don’t worry because it will regenerate interest in the original.  Everyone wins and of course most importantly the author wins again with more royalties.  As to the remake of IT, go see it for yourself.  It's the best horror film for years breaking all previous box office records for a horror movie and the next chapter is already confirmed.  Whilst I loved Tim Curry in the original movie, Bill Skarsgard is amazing although unrecognisable in this remake.

The new movie is scarier and flows much better.  The previous version is told through a series of flashbacks which were quite jarring and just didn't work.  The newer version is the first half of the story, told through the kids with no flashbacks, altogether a much easier to follow premise. King's work has for decades translated very badly into movies due to the complex layering of the storyline, intertwining plots and memorable & monumental characters.  Unfortunately, both movies fall down in one area of the adaptation, Pennywise is the manifestation of fear and therefore should be different for everyone.  The character of the clown is developed too much in both movies rather than trying to show each person's fear.  However, this is the only negative I have for IT, it's not enough to lose a planet.  

Final Verdict:  A massive success that will instill a fear of clowns for generations to come.

Movie Review by The Captain. 

(Rating - 10 out of 10 planets)

#wexworlds #weallfloatdownhere #rudai23 #remakes #IT