There are memorable moments here, the Mrs Kersh encounter, the Fortune Cookie scene and the very freaky beginning (am amazed they managed to film this scene) being standouts. The story is not just a horror story, but also blends humour (mostly from Ritchie), emotion and a 'Stand By Like' like nostalgia. The book is huge and both the child and adult time-lines need a quite long length to do it justice, having said that the middle act definitely could have done with a trim. Much has been said about the film being too long, am mixed on this consensus personally. Andy Muschietti directs with suspense, potent realism, confidence and affection, while the writing (which is also remarkably true to King's style) has a great balance of hilarious comedy, touching drama and affectionate nostalgia. The music is haunting without being over-scored, ever since the first film it has been impossible to hear "Oranges and Lemons" in the same way again and that opinion has not changed.
Epileptics be warned though, there is a scene towards the end of the middle act that is heavy in strobe lighting effects.
The production values mostly are terrific, not just the lighting but also the beautifully realised Derry setting, taut editing and cinematography that's both stunning and unnerving. However, as was said before there is a lot to like. Lets not get started on his very rushed, too easy and quite stupid defeat. Henry Bowers is also extremely underwritten, and both has little presence when having barely any screen time and quite badly overacted. The defeat of IT is beyond dumb and really undermines a final act that actually started off quite powerfully despite also being a bit too drawn out. IT's true form comes off worst and is as bad, am not kidding here, as that in the mini-series which is notoriously universally panned. The special effects are more variable this time round and suffer too from overuse. Some flashbacks being more interesting than others, with Ben's and Richie's being quite unnerving, Eddie's (the too long adult encounter not much better) was neither scary or memorable. Especially in the middle act, where it meanders due to being too flashback heavy. While there is a good deal to recommend, there are some glaring problems. Chapter 1 is the better film, but the second film is better than the second half of the mini-series on the whole and again it is a more than admirable and brave attempt at adapting an extremely difficult and near-unfilmable book. The mixed reception is more than understandable but it is not as terrible as the more negative reviews say in my view. Actually did find a lot to like about it, with a lot of what was great about the first film still here, and for me it is better than has been said. Absolutely loved the first 'IT' film from 2017 and consider it better than the mini-series personally. The 1990 mini-series is an uneven one, with a great first half and disappointing second half with the ending and IT's true form having notoriously poor reputations for good reasons. All rights reserved.Stephen King's novel is a masterpiece, didn't properly appreciate it on first read but with King's style being much more familiar to me (whereas it was a bit of a shock at first) it still stands as a genuinely scary, nostalgic, at times very funny and very powerful book and one of his best. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.