“It: Chapter Two” smashed its way into theaters at the beginning of September, receiving mixed to positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. It currently has a 62 percent critic score and a 79 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. One of its major criticisms is its supposed decrease in quality from its critically acclaimed predecessor.
“It: Chapter Two” was a very well-developed and enjoyable film overall. It really does a great job of picking up the story from the first film with the previous emotion and suspense intact. Though a lengthy film, it does a great job at maintaining the viewer’s attention.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Santangelo
“I had a really good time with it actually,” Gaspare Interrante, a film media arts major at Temple University, said. “It’s not as good as the first one, but I think it is a worthy sequel. The casting is amazing, probably the best casting of an adult cast evolved from a young cast that I’ve seen. The only real issue I felt was the structure. I think the second act kind of dragged on a bit with how they handled the characters. They kind of did the same thing with each individual character on their own and it just took up a lot of time.”
This installment in the “It” film series was, in this reporter’s opinion, a home run, but just not out of the park like the first was. Mr. Interrente was absolutely correct when he said that the casting in this film was excellent. James Ransone was a stand-out simply because of the way he was able to maintain the character of Eddie so perfectly from the first film. His performance was so intricate that the subtle expressions on his face seemed to mimic those of Jack Dylan Grazer in the younger version of the role.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Santangelo.
“It focused a lot more on the kids than I expected it to and it threw me off guard…walking out the first time,” Will Martinko, owner of That’s Fantastic Films and film student at Temple University, said. “Seeing it the second time I understood a lot more of what they were going for. I thought the casting was incredible. I can’t think of a better male actor today than James McAvoy. And…the one who specifically stood out to me was Jen Ryan. He was probably the standout that impressed me the most.”
The majority of people seem to say that the original movie was better, but as many have also pointed out, even the adult portions of the original Stephen King novel are less interesting than their younger counterparts. It does inherently makes sense that any given story about a motley gang of children is bound to produce more excitement than one about a group of adults. In this regard it seems that they did the best with what they could. The movie really felt like the continuation of an epic, a worthy sequel.
Irrespective of the good or bad reviews, “It: Chapter Two” has had no issues rolling in the dough, gathering a total of over $320 million as of Sept. 18, 2019. Nicole Bydalek, a sophomore education major here at Cabrini University, said that the first film finished with a real cliffhanger that left her craving for the conclusion. It seems that if for no other reason, people came and will continue to come to see the grand finale of the epic story of The Losers’ Gang.
