Movie Reviews: It Chapter Two

It Chapter Two is a 2019 American supernatural horror film and the sequel to the 2017 film It, both based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The film is directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Gary Dauberman. Set in 2016, 27 years after the events depicted in the first film, it stars Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, and Andy Bean as the adult versions of the Losers’ Club. Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff reprise their roles as the younger Losers, while Bill Skarsgård also returns as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

In 2016 Derry, Maine, Adrian Mellon is beaten and thrown from a bridge, then killed by Pennywise. Mike Hanlon overhears the incident on a police scanner and rushes to the scene. Upon realizing that It has resurfaced, he calls the other members of the Losers—Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, and Stan—back to Derry. All are amnesiac about their childhoods and disturbed by the calls, but agree to return. Stan, however, commits suicide. The remaining members reunite at a local restaurant, but the night goes horrifically wrong when monstrous conjurings and taunts emerge by It. The group is then informed of Stan’s suicide. Richie and Eddie decide to leave while Mike reveals that he met with an American Indian tribe who showed him the Ritual of Chüd, a way of destroying It once and for all. Bill and Mike convince Richie and Eddie to stay and finish what was started. A flashback shows Henry Bowers escaping the sewers but getting arrested for the murder of his father. In the present, Bowers is in a mental hospital and escapes with It’s help.

For the ritual to work, each Loser must have an artifact from their past to place in a piece of ancient pottery. Beverly goes to her old home and finds the love letter Ben wrote for her, though she still believes Bill wrote it. Bill goes to the storm drain where Georgie was killed and recovers his paper boat before meeting a boy named Dean, who tells Bill that he lives in Bill’s old house and often hears voices. Ben goes to the town’s high school and finds his old yearbook page, which Beverly was the only person to sign. Eddie goes to a pharmacy and recovers an inhaler. Richie goes to an abandoned arcade where he finds a game token. After escaping individual encounters with It, the Losers use a shower cap from their childhood clubhouse for Stan and Mike finds a rock that started their fight against the Bowers gang. Bill realizes that Pennywise is going after Dean but is unable to save him from being devoured. Traumatized by his failure to save both Georgie and Dean, he returns to the Neibolt house to murder It. The rest of the Losers, after killing Bowers, arrive to help.

The ritual appears to be a success, but a giant version of Pennywise pressures Mike into revealing to the Losers that he never told them they all must die to complete the ritual. The Losers are then thrust into nightmarish scenarios. Eddie saves Richie, who gets caught by Pennywise’s hypnotic deadlights, but is impaled by Pennywise. The Losers regroup and realize Pennywise can be killed if they make him feel smaller than he really is; they insult him and make him physically grow smaller and weaker until they are able to tear out his heart and crush it, ultimately killing It. Eddie dies from his injuries despite Richie’s attempts to save him; the remaining Losers return to the quarry where they once swam together. Beverly, who has realized it was Ben who wrote the letter, shares a kiss with him, and the two start a romantic relationship. Richie returns to the bridge where he had once carved his initials and those of another person, now revealed to be Eddie. Mike decides to move out of Derry for a new life. The Losers all receive a postmortem letter from Stan, explaining that he believed he would’ve held them back, but knew they could defeat It if they were brave without him.