It was directed by Andy Muschietti and is the second adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. It stars Bill Skarsgård as the demonic entity that primarily takes form of a clown known as Pennywise, while he haunts and torments a young group of teens known as "The Losers Club" made up of Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Grazer and Wyatt Oleff. I was pretty excited to see It, I had heard good things, I enjoyed the novel and I was a fan of the first part of the 1990's mini series. I can remember sneaking downstairs with my friends one night to watch Tim Curry as Pennywise in the original rendition of It, I thought it was pretty creepy and it definitely left a mark on my childhood. So I had pretty high expectations when it came to this remake. In a way Muschietti did a pretty good job at meeting those expectations, I found It to be a pretty enjoyable movie that I had a lot of fun seeing. The entire time I had a pretty big smile on my face out of enjoyment. I found myself really engage throughout the run time of this film. It was really easy for me to get swept away and just have a lot of fun.
Let's take a look at some of the best parts:
1. Acting- I was genuinely surprised at just how good the performances in this movie were. Especially from Skarsgård, Wolfhard, Grazer and Lieberher. It was really easy to buy into every one as characters and to start to see them for who they were portraying. Lieberher played Bill Denbrough, a young teenage boy who has a stutter, when watching this movie it is immediately one of the first things you will notice but as time goes on it began to feel natural and it wasn't noticed anymore. That is due to excellent acting both by Lieberher and those around him. Skarsgard did an amazing job as well, he was intense and creepy. His voice was haunting and his mannerisms sent chills down my spine. In my eyes, he out performed Tim Curry in creating a truly intimidating and terrifying presence.
2. Comedic Relief- So this movie has quite a bit of comedic relief, and a large part of it was from the interactions with the kids. Finn Wolfhard really delivered a solid performance, and was a huge standout in the comedic area. Any time a movie has a comedic relief aspect to it, it has the potential to go horribly wrong. It handled itself really well it was smart and strategic about the timing of it's comedy. Muschietti did a really impressive job with making a huge part of the comedy physical as well. There were scenes when the kid's were in scary situations and one of them would use their inhaler during a suspenseful moment. It all worked and felt seamless to the movie, while really developing the nature of the characters and provided a strong underdog feel.
3. Tone- I was really impressed with how Muschietti created a pretty unique tone for the movie. He did a good job with his color grading and his editing to help create this almost realistic feel. His shots felt natural and grounded, so when stuff was going crazy on screen, I felt like I was there. He used a lot of simple camera tricks to pull off big moments. A lot of the time in modern film, things don't feel natural. Most lighting in movies can almost give off a glossy feeling and give off the "I'm watching a movie" vibe. It didn't feel that way. It was small and it felt like I was a part of the kid's group, experiencing all of this with them.
4. CGI use- CGI in any film can either help it quite a bit or it can distract in a lot of ways. The CGI with Pennywise the clown felt real. It didn't look cheap or feel that way at all. It just felt like it was all happening. This is because of the amazing practical effects in the movie. Muschietti and Skarsgård worked hard to make Pennywise scary on his own, and then brought in the CGI to really sell the full thing.
Now this movie was not perfect. Let's look at what could've been better:
1. Scariness- Now, this might be an unrealistic expectation I had from watching the original It back in my childhood. I just was not scared throughout the run time of It. I never felt the same sense of urgency I do in other horror films. Don't get me wrong, the scares in this movie worked. It was fun to get startled, they took their time setting up some really good moments. There was just no sense of tension from scene to scene. It all felt deflated after the big moments. This is also due to the marketing of the movie. I think the marketing made it out to be this terrifying horror movie. Before the screening of Annabelle Creation, they showed a clip of It. This was prefaced with Stephen King talking about how scary this movie was and to only watch "If you dare." This made me feel like It was going to knock me out of my seat, when in reality it was only kind of creepy.
2. Underused Characters- One of the biggest issues I had with It was the feeling that some of the characters weren't used to their full potential. The 1st act of the movie did a beautiful job introducing us to each character, and allowing us to kind of get to know them through their fears and who they are. Toward the 3rd act it felt like some of the characters were tossed to the back. Namely Stan (Wyatt Oleff,), Mike (Chosen Jacobs) and Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor). While the characters of Bill (Jaeden Lieberger) Richie (Finn Wolfhard) and Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) really were prominent. We didn't see as much with Stan, Ben or Mike. The whole premise of the 3rd act was to be together and to stand together against Pennywise. But the team aspect didn't feel inclusive of the others. There is a moment toward the end of the movie when the losers have to come back together. We see Bill go find Richie to bring him in. We then see him call Eddie. But it cuts to a wide of all of the boys riding together. It just felt like the characters were left out.
Overall, I had a great time with It. I thought it was one of the best remakes and adaptations I have seen. It had terrific performances, really entertaining comedic moments with some beautiful looking shots and CGI. It did fall a little toward the 3rd act with the failure to include all of the characters they introduced throughout the first act. I also thought that the marketing for it to be horrifying was a little misleading. It was a perfectly fine scary movie, but it was, in my opinion more of a fantasy type of film with some horror aspects. I am going to give It a B+.
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