The Stream: The movie is definitely about 45 minutes too long.

The Big Screen: The comedy and scares keep you going the whole time.

The Final Bill: This movie is way too long but quite entertaining.

-S2S: Movie Review

Notable Movie Trailers: Hansel and Gretel, Tenet (July 2020), Birds of Prey (February 2020)
Runtime: 2 hours 44 minutes
Director: Andy Muschietti
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Rating: R

Welcome back to Derry… I mean welcome back to Stream to Big Screen. This week we have before you a review of Stephen King’s IT, Chapter 2. IT2 is the sequel/second part to It (2017). With a star-studded cast featuring James McAvoy as Bill, Bill Hader as Richie, Jessica Chastain as Bev, and Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, the movie is not lacking for acting talent to finish up the revamped horror classic. Speaking of revamped, I do recommend watching the original It (1990) and/or reading the best-selling novel (1986). Those of you that take that challenge, please comment and let us know how this version of It compares to those versions. For those of you living under a rock, we’ve included below the trailer to freak you out in preparation for the movie.

IT2 does some things very well. I really enjoyed how the story was told. I didn’t read the novel, but I’m sure it gave the movie crew a ton of material to expand upon and visualize. And boy did they take every liberty with those. Nonetheless, I often found myself glued to the movie and not taking my eyes off of the screen. The writer and director worked well together to really dive deep into the emotions and fears of each character. On top of that, the writing did a great job of keeping the comedy and comedic relief through the movie, just like the original. IT2 stayed true to the original in those facets, which I appreciated, but it found a way to be it’s own as well.

Next, the cast did a really good job channeling their younger selves and matching their adult selves in the original. The main cast that I mentioned above, fit so well. I couldn’t imagine the movie without them (If you’ve seen the movie, comment on a couple actors you think might have been good replacements).

BUT THE GLARING ISSUE WITH THIS MOVIE IS THE LENGTH. I mean the original movie was told in a marathon,3 hours and 7 minutes, but included both child and adults halves. IT2 alone was 2 hours and 44 minutes of only the adult portion of the novel/movie. I understand the producers grabbing at money by splitting the movie but can we think about the consumers/viewers at all. Nearly 3 hours for half of a story is unreal. The director definitely could’ve shortened this movie by 30 to 44 minutes. There seemed to be endless amounts of flashback scenes or hallucinations from the past. While they were all good to watch, I would’ve preferred them to just shorten the movie instead.

The only other issue for me dealt with the scares in the movie. There were a few really good jump scares in the movie. The problem for me is that I felt the movie didn’t give us anything new to be afraid of or fear. On one hand, I could praise the consistency and continuity to Part 1. On the other hand, I would’ve preferred a surprise or more originality. On top of that, I can think of at least 2 scare scenes that elongated the movie unnecessarily. Those could’ve been taken out and no one would’ve missed them AT ALL.

Lastly, it bothered me that the film didn’t dive into Mike’s mental state as a pre-teen like they did the others. They mention his issues in passing but it seemed like each character had a dedicated 10 minute deep dive but he was forgotten. It wasn’t a huge issue for me as it didn’t really occur in the original movie either but with all the liberties that were take, they could’ve done the same for his story.

Long story short, of course this is a movie you should see in the theaters and judging by the first 3 weekend sales (171 million), you already did. The issue is that this movie is way too long for no reason and a lot of the scares lack umph because they are too similar to Part One. Nevertheless, the cast, suspense and the laughs make It: Chapter 2 the perfect matinee movie, if you have free time and a must see Halloween season stream.