The highly anticipated sequel to Andrés Muschietti movie adaptation of Stephen King’s IT series was released on Sept. 6, 2019. The film did well in the box office, earning $91 million domestic and $185 million worldwide wide. It did not do as well as the first movie in the series but passed the $35 million budget, nonetheless. Many reviews and critics have mixed feelings about it. Overall, “IT Chapter Two” had an equal amount of pros and cons which made the movie very average for the finale to the “IT” series. 

The premise of the movie is that the murderous clown, Pennywise, returns to the town of Derry, Maine, to wreak havoc on the people of the city after being defeated by the Losers Club, a group of 6 kids, 27 years prior. Scattered throughout the country living their lives, the once inseparable group of losers have slowly forgotten their haunting past the longer they have been away from their hometown. Mike, played by actor Isaiah Mustafa, is the only one out of the six to remain in Derry, making him responsible for initiating the homecoming of the Losers Club so they could ultimately stop the clown from terrorizing the town. Together, the group faces their deepest fears in order to destroy the clown once and for all.

Although the film did well in the box office, there have been a lot of mixed feelings about it, as shown by the  63 percent score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 80 percent score in overall satisfaction from movie-goers. On their website, Rotten Tomatoes comments that “Chapter Two proves bigger doesn’t always mean scarier for horror sequels.” showing that even when a movie is highly anticipated, there’s still room for disappointment. 

For one thing, the length of the movie is honestly absurd. The movie’s run-time is 2 hours and 50 minutes, which is a 30 minute increase from the first movie. In my opinion, there were many scenes that were a) unnecessary overall and b) slowed the movie down to the point that a simple scene had a run time of five minutes. I understand that usually movies that are final in a series tend to be lengthier films: for example, “Avengers Endgame” had a run time of almost three hours because it had a lot to cover, but “IT Chapter Two” could have been shorter without losing understanding of the story.

Another con was that there were too many grotesque scenes, and it showed a little TOO much. I loved the gore and blood, but did I really have to see a grown man vomit twice in the movie? Especially from a low angle shot where there was no room for avoidance? Did I really have to see the amount of bodily fluids that I did? The number of times I had to look away because I was about to vomit was pitiful.

Although there are multiple cons, the movie also has pros that very much level them out and sometimes even outweigh them. The movie was very humorous to watch. Richie Tozier, played by actor Bill Hader, grew up to be a stand up comedian in the film, so his character in the movie was hilarious.

 The flashback scenes that showed the Loser Club 27 years ago (the age they were in the first film) evoked a nostalgia in me even though I hadn’t actually aged. This was mainly because the film was shot beautifully. The cinematography was breathtaking because it morphed the mood of the scenes at certain times. The camera angles and lighting in the flashback scenes brought it all together and really evoked emotion out of the audience. 

The ending of the film — no spoilers — was very organized and tied up all the loose ends that could have been hanging in the air after the last movie. The movie had every aspect to a well- rounded film. Although categorized as a horror movie, it had humor, romance, adventure, childhood nostalgia AND horror.