Cat Gonzales
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Editor
After three attempts at the AMC to find a seat that is viewing It Chapter 2, my friends and I finally got to select the 10:45 p.m. movie. After already knowing the background of the first IT movie in 1990 and then the remake in 2017 and with it being a two hours and 50 minute movie, I had high hopes that this movie was going to exceed my standards.
Set 27 years later at a carnival in Derry, a queer couple enjoys their night until town bullies show up. They eventually send one man over the edge. At this point, IT (played by Bill Skarsgård) is revealed. As the movie progresses, the viewer sees how the Losers Club, consisting of Bevery Marsh (Jessica Chastain), Richie Tozier (Bill Hader), Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy), Ben Hanscom (Jay Ryan), Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransone), Mike Hanscom (Isaiah Mustafa) and Stanley Uris (Andy Bean) grow into their adult lives. With flashbacks throughout the movie of them before they all moved on, the film brings back little memories for reasons they left Derry. Leaving friends behind and spotty memories, they are convinced to return to Derry. As the first movie played out, one of the friends does not come back, finding out that IT got his weak side. As the friends go out and find why is IT coming after them, they see why this is needed to destroy IT for the last time.
I can honestly say the flashback scenes were my favorite thing about the movie. IT really did have a great plot with some jump scares. Sadly, after a while the scares did not remain scary; this made some even more predictable.
Henry Bowers (Teach Grant) makes another appearance, but this time we find him locked up behind bars after the first movie, which leaves off with the voices telling him to kill his father. In the 1990’s, he escaped by the moon talking to him and telling him to leave the jail. This time, he sees the red balloon and just laughs. As a balloon circles the jail, he is being put in his room under serious lock down and the balloon disappears. With a surprising shock the balloon ends up under the bed and as Henry tries to pull it out, it pops! The undead brings an offering to him. As the switchblade comes back to the story line, Henry makes a daring escape back into the real world after being let out and drove around by the undead as he tries to get back at the others.
Henry is a small part of the plot but brings a lot of characters to the movie. The director, Andres Muschietti, tied in other parts such as, after being in jail for 27 years for the death of his father, and then leaving the jail with that same switchblade.
The final scenes show the Ritual of Chüd, performed by taking a symbol of each of their childhoods and reciting a chant to make the deadlights go dark. They soon realize that one of the Loser Club’s members had already performed it once. Sadly, it had failed them before. The group then realized that they could not just kill Pennywise by the ritual, they had to find another way. They had to think of a way that belittles him, literally and figuratively.
This ending was stellar. The director did a nice job drawing the series to a close. This movie is one of those movies that you cannot miss. 8 red balloons out of 10.