Friday, 6 September 2019

REVIEW: IT CHAPTER 2

4/5

You'll Float Two.

169 Mins. Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransome, Andy Bean, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, & Bill Skarsgard. Director: Andy Muschietti.

Scary. Pennywise for your terrified thoughts? A month before Joaquin Phoenix's 'Joker' shows you his magic trick on another dark night it's time to send the clown back in. Even if the Harley Quinn hammer-time of a 'Birds Of Prey' teaser trailer wants to emancipate from all that Warner Bros circus act. Doot-doot-doodle-oodle oot doot do do! 'IT Chapter 2' follows the first part two years back, or 27 if you're talking about the 'Goonie' like bicycle riding characters on a Finn Wolfhard, 'Stranger Things' "One Summer Can Change Everything" tip as they make good and come back to their 'Stand By Me' oath. Because be wise to this. You can bet your bottom penny this is going to be an amusement arcade carnival of a fun but f##### up fright fest. From a window licking, head banging hall of claustrophobic mirrors. To flooding toilet cubicles that look like Carrie was in there before you ("Plug it up! Plug it up!"). And after a warm welcome back that makes this movie something you'll blood brothers glass cut an oath for, some fortune cookie, Pennywise wisdom misfortune were you'll really wish you opened the 'Stick With Your Wife' barrel. It's back to scare the shIT out of you again. And back home in Derry this is the Maine event. Reflection in the glass concluding the mega movie like the 90's back-to-back T.V. miniseries one adapted from the ship sinking anchor that is Stephen King's '86 legendary, magnum opus of an 1,100 plus page novel which could sink anything as everybody will float too. And in three hours this is so long in itself, yet it moves along at a fast paced clip. Watch out for those 99 red balloons like kids who didn't hold on to them tight enough (they probably only had one arm to do so they way everyone's been wearing yellow slickers as a fashion accessory since the first film came out the gutter ("YOU BUY AND I DIE')) as this one's about to pop. 'IT' ends now with 'Chapter 2'. You ready to read on? Are you ready for IT?

Very Scary. Returning dark director Andy Muschietti knows how to bring the entertaining scares and honour the human horrors that were really was Stephen King's terrifying page turner's were all about. But let's not forget the touching humanity too. And after years of reader references from 'The Dark Tower' movie to Netflix's 'Geralds Game' this renaissance of King in the rejuvenated genre of horror brings the ultimate Easter Egg sharing a Neil Young 'Harvest' with the headphones, head to head farmland of 'A Quiet Place'. And the director brings the 'Mama' of horror films back in his gothic, grungy star and regular day redhead Jessica Chastain. So who better than to play an adult Beverley Marsh for the first film scene stealer Sophia Lillis back for seconds in a movie which captures it's characters in older form look and act alike perfectly? Many may forget 'The Help' and 'Zero Dark Thirty' actress did horror (in the year of 'IT' the best actress could have been nominated for three Academy Awards with her big-three of 'The Zookeepers Wife', 'Miss Sloane' and 'Molly's Game'), but they won't after this and her darker, yet albino alien like turn in the X-Men 'Dark Phoenix' conclusion as a classic villain. And did they forget her raven in Guillermo del Toro's 'Crimson Peak' too? She's a blood red revelation in crimson. As his her month after years second reunion with 'The Disappearence Of Eleanor Rigby' and 'Dark Phoenix' co-star James McAvoy on the form of his career. As the older leader Jaeden Lieberher matching the stutter and giving it even more stammering affection than he did to the speech impediment of one of his 'Split' personalities in this year's 'Glass' crossover sequel breaker. And the great Scot has an amazing American accented performance too. But for all the most famous faces making good on their child stars and their promise, it's 'Barry' T.V. star and 'SNL' legend who can impersonate everyone from Al Pacino to Lindsey Buckingham like 'What's That Name', Bill Hader who steals the show. Being passed the bifocal frames of the most famous young Loser in 'Stranger Things'' Finn Wolfhard, showing fans again what it was like before he went through puberty this Summer again (one Summer really can change everything... especially the depth of your voice). Even if Bill brilliantly refused a gift from Finn of a framed picture of him. He's a card, especially with his opening stand up act which is so spot on we only wish he finished the joke. One of the most funniest people on the planet, Hader is hilarious here whilst also showing a more emotional side we've never seen before in character and actor for a horror film with heart, showing us soul behind the scares.

Not Scary At All. Open the door on this one. As former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa is still at home in Derry, playing quarterback on this one. The right choice for the older Chosen Jacobs. And with scene setting maturity and duty the 'Old Spice' commercial favourite not named Terry gives you everything you could ask for...although he's not on a horse. New Zealand 'Neighbours', 'Top Of The Lake' and 'Beauty and The Beast' actor Jay Ryan is so good at this he looks exactly like Jeremy Ray Taylor or someone you've seen so many times before on film, even if he's in a different weight class and industry unless you spend your days watching Aussie dramas and soaps. Whilst 'Sinister' actor Jay Ransome acts exactly like his Jack Dylan Grazer character counterpart inhaler in all-just like he's married someone exactly like his mother-he may aswell look exactly like him. Whilst 'Swamp Thing' actor Andy Bean writes more depth to the legacy of young Wyatt Oleff. Old and new. Young and old these Losers are a winning combination across the generations. But the real star of this big too show is the man pulling scares out his sleeves like handkerchiefs. 'Castle Rock' star Bill Skarsgård from the famous family but in one moment looking like a young Hugo Weaving Mr. Anderson is the dancing clown king. The clown in Joker make-up about to show you how he got those scars, Skarsgård is pencil trick perfect. Why so serious? It's not like their going to get Jared Leto to replace him in the next movie before a Phoenix rises again. These clown feet fit for Bill for a clown worse than Krusty. And just wait until you hear that iconic laugh. Keep those arms together like you hold on to your butts, unless you want to end up like Samuel L. Jackson in 'Jurassic Park'. And like Speilberg to Crichton this series of 'IT' honours King's version even more than the miniseries. Staying loyal to the great American novel writers word like Tabitha. Even brutally beginning by including the horrific assault on a gay man that the show left out. But again in these times King was and is showing what the real horrors of this world are all about. And in building bridges with an emotional end that turns it all around in an indelible message of togetherness carved into you like a glass cut palm, burning like January embers, you have to hand it to him and his directing partner Muschietti. And this is what makes 'IT' really something. Something for us all. For The Losers. Losers forever. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'IT', 'Pet Semetary', 'Stranger Things 3'.

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