"Many children are natural fantasists, I think, perhaps because their imaginations have yet to be clobbered into submission by experience. When you’re 10, there is still an outside chance that you might find Narnia behind the wardrobe, that the fur coats could turn into fir trees." -David Mitchell
Below the cut is my review of the movie. I mostly talk a lot about the movie’s depiction of childhood trauma and LGBTQ representation. So even though I’ve tagged it, tons of SPOILERS ahead!
So my general reaction after seeing the movie was that it had some good moments but felt like a fantastic movie that largely went unrealized from story to screen. Considering the nearly three hour run time, I was surprised how little characterization we got beyond learning some additional facts about the Losers, now all grown up. I had really been hoping to get some meaty scenes where we not only learn what they’ve been up to since leaving Derry but who they became. The story leaves so much to mine into but the movie does a sort of shallow scrape of what’s available on a character level which felt like a real shame. Instead we get nearly three hours of repetitive jump scares so that by the time we get to the climax, I was almost too tired to enjoy the ultimate triumph of the Losers over Pennywise.
The biggest character arc seemed to be for Richie. Unlike the rest of the Losers, his main story was something that arguably began with this movie whereas everyone else had their story arcs begin in the first film (e.g. Bill’s guilt over Georgie, Bev being abused, etc.). I’ve seen some polarized reactions to the reveal that Richie is gay. A reviewer commented that him being so closeted felt like a relic of this story having first been written in the 80s when homosexuality was less accepted. The criticism being that a man living in 2019, likely living in a large city like LA, would have at some point come to better grips with his sexuality. But I call shenanigans on that. Richie lived his formative years in a tiny, ultra conservative town where he got threatened and shamed during what looked like the first time he tentatively tested out being attracted to another boy. And sure, if his life had been a little different, he could have moved on from this when he moved out of Derry. But Richie also had the misfortune of having most of his early sexual experiences (e.g. first crush, first attempt at exploring same sex attraction) wrapped up in a time that his mind buried mostly thanks to Pennywise and the Summer of Clown Fighting.
His inability to articulate what he wants and live the life he’s naturally drawn to follows in line with all the Losers being emotionally arrested at 13. But as believable to me as Richie’s story line was, I do wish the film had done a better job of telling it. Like the hate crime against Adrian Mellon, this story felt a little half finished or at least half told. We got the bare bones structure of Richie having been once in love with and possibly remaining in love with Eddie, but it kind of didn’t get off the ground fully. And it didn’t feel like it got half told in an intentionally tragic way but more of them having run out of time and space to tell the story.
Speaking of Adrian Mellon, his attack and subsequent death could have been better integrated into the larger story, making it have a point other than it just being a nasty scene to sit through. In the book, the scene makes more sense in that Pennywise always targeted the marginalized when it came to choosing his victims. But the movie-verse never really set that up so I was a little confused why Pennywise chose to kill Adrian. Was it because he was already half injured and easy prey? Because he was likely scared? Also, for the movie, was it the hate crime that fueled Pennywise’s return or was it just a coincidence? I wanted answers! Because without some thread, it just seems like the scene was in there more for shock value.
In general, the story’s strongest element is its telling of the long lasting effects of early trauma. Sure, as adults the Losers all forgot Derry because of Clown Magic, but it’s a nice allegory for how we forget things from our past in order to try and survive. And yet trauma has a way of seeping in anyway so that we end up living half lives, despite flourishing in other ways. I was sad that the movie left out the line Beverly says in the trailer that “it poisons us from the inside until we don’t have a choice anymore.” Because that so perfectly describes what unresolved trauma does. It poisons us until we are cornered with no options. The Losers returning to Derry and ultimately defeating Pennywise not through a weird ass ritual but by being able to control their own fears is about them realizing how much power they have over something that for the longest time felt completely destructive if they even looked at it. For me, I didn’t find it ridiculous that they could kill Pennywise by making him small with their minds because this story has always been about the power of will, belief, and determination. Except again, by the time we got there, I was so tired from all the jump scares that I kind of wanted it to be over.
Likes:
1) The actors - From the kids to the adults, the cast members all get an A+. Not all of them got good material but everyone worked 1000% to sell what they got. Do casting directors ever get awards? They really should. Whoever put the adult cast list together did a phenomenal job.
2) Stan the Man Uris - While Andy Bean only got three scenes as adult!Stanley, I actually found him to be the most memorable in a lot of ways. He perfectly captured the quiet, somewhat timid seeming person Stanley grew up to be. And him remembering the day he made his oath was beautifully shot with the close up on Wyatt Oleff’s face. I have some mixed feelings about his reason for killing himself. On one hand it gives his character a strange kind of bravery, but it did draw a little away from the naked horror of what trauma can sometimes do to people.
3) The soundtrack - Benjamin Wallfisch may have reused a lot of tunes but I did not care. It was beautiful the first time and it was beautiful the second time.
4) Face Acting by James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain - The scene where Bill and Beverly kiss as they both remember their kiss as children is great for what immediately follows. When they part, you can actually see the exact moment they both realize they no longer have those kinds of feelings for each other anymore. It’s some amazing Face Acting by McAvoy and Chastain that I have to especially applaud.
5) The Jade of the Orient sequence - The whole thing is great. From the humor to the slow return of old dynamics and even the angst we all feel as an audience member when it becomes clear some of them could not remember Stanley when Ben mentions him.
Hard Middle
1) The humor - Honestly, the humor got shoved in some strange places. I liked some of it, particularly Richie’s attempts to use humor to cope with insanity coming their way. But other times the humor felt weird. Most of the weird moments involved Eddie so I’ll just go ahead and move to...
2) The uneven life of Eddie Kaspbrak - Eddie arguably could have had one of the stronger story lines except it all got weighed down by bizarre attempts at humor. He’s technically the first Loser to start getting a grip on his fear with his confrontation of the leper, but the importance of that moment got downplayed by a strange humor sequence of the leper vomiting on him with music playing in the background. I mean...why? He also stabbed Henry Bowers with a knife he took out of his own face and that whole sequence was strangely shot for again what felt like comedy. Although I did laugh at James Ransone’s delivery of “Bowers is in my room.” I do wish the film had taken Eddie more seriously overall though.
As an aside, I can’t really weigh in on whether or not Eddie returned Richie’s affections or was attracted to men himself. I know in the novel he’s more queer-coded but he’s also characteristically different in the novel. Book!Eddie as an adult is defeated and half ready to die when he decides to return to Derry. Movie!Eddie as an adult is angry. And considering how effing frightening Sonia Kaspbrak was as a mother, that’s not shocking. Poor Eddie’s entire relationship to sex, sexuality, attraction, and love is such a Freudian nightmare thanks to her.
3) Losers never forget - On one hand it’s a nice happy ending that the Losers will remember this time around. It fits with the idea of how overcoming trauma means you can now safely look back and recall the good times that were wrapped up with the bad. You can even look back at the bad times and still be okay. But there was something so tragically poignant about how the book ended with Mike realizing he was already forgetting. I kind of missed that.
Dislikes
1) Pennywise - I’m likely in the minority that I never liked Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of this character. I know people find his childlike take on the clown creepy and effective, but I found it more irritating. Instead of finding It scary, it always seemed like an asshole who was just picking on kids and couldn’t even do that right. This only got amplified with how it handled trying to kill the Losers as adults. Why does it NEVER kill them when they’re alone? DIdn’t it learn from the last time it fought them 27 years ago? This thing has been around millions of years but seemingly cannot strategize to safe its life. The only relatively smart thing it did was blast Richie with the deadlights straight away because it was 100% done listening to his shit.
2) Last minute poor plotting - Okay, this is a nitpick but I could not let it go. When the Losers realize they can make Pennywise smaller, they strategize that they should lead it to the tunnels where it has to shrink to get to them. But...they’re in a tight space already while plotting this and Pennywise isn’t choosing to shrink down. It’s just smashing at the cavern with its claw hands. So...that’s not going to work? Couldn’t they have just gone straight to the realization that they can control It’s form with their minds? That’s essentially what Eddie was telling them that he could feel the leper choking because he began to believe he could make it happen. I know it’s a small detail but it felt like an unnecessary additional five minutes (every minute counts at this stage, folks!) to an already long film for a plan of action that was clearly going to fail.
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