Although Stephen King's IT novel is more of back and forth from adult to kid and back and forth from adult to kid and so on, IT : Chapter 2 should be looked at like it's the 2nd half of one big story, which is exactly what it is rather than a sequel. It's really not a sequel. Just like the 2nd half or "adult half" of the 1990 TV Miniseries/movie is not a sequel, it's just the 2nd half of one big story/movie. Let's face it, unless they're the Godfather Part 2, Aliens, Terminator 2 : Judgement Day, The Dark Knight, The Empire Strikes Back, and maybe a couple of other big time hit sequels, the sequel almost always gets hated on, critiqued to death, disregarded as "unoriginal", "same old same old", "not very creative", treated like the "intruder", etc etc....it's the same for 90% of remakes..but people need to realize and understand that IT : Chapter 2 is not a sequel and that IT : Chapter 1 and IT : Chapter aren't remakes to the 1990 TV minseries/movie either.
Secondly, almost every negative review on Rotten Tomatoes or YouTube or on the Internet somewhere (and I'm pretty sure they'll make their way onto here sooner or later as well) have complaints about the runtime of 2 hours and 49 minutes and that it's "too long" and blah blah blah. I don't see how you can make this whole story put to film not be at least 5+ hours long (Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 combined)..at the VERY least. The novel is over 1,100 pages long ! 1,138 pages to be exact. "IT" should have been a 10-15 1 hour episode series on Netflix to be done properly, to be honest..but if you go the cinema route with it (and they did, obviously), between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, it has to be, at the very least, 5 hours or so if the Director or Writers want to be even remotely faithful to King's novel and make fans of King and the novel at least somewhat satisfied. And you also have 7 protagonists..SEVEN..6 of which are main protagonists. That's A LOT character developing and character story arcs that have to be told and take place unless you want a lazily and poorly directed and written film with terrible story telling and bad or no/next to no character development.
This film delivers great character development and great character and story arcs for all of the main protagonists/characters of the film. This film is really entertaining overall. There are pacing issues but those really seem minor when you step back and look at this film as a whole. This film was really good on it's own and holds up very well on it's own. Yes, it relied on Chapter 1 some, obviously, because Chapter 1 is part of the overall story (Again, it's NOT a sequel. I'm really talking about how well Chapter 2 is made when saying "it's really good on it's own) but when you put Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 together and make it one big story/film like it should be, it's AWESOME. Pennywise is also at his most serious and gruesome in this one. This one doesn't cut away just as someone or a helpless kid is about to get bitten or eaten until after you see and hear plenty enough, if you know what I mean. More gore in this one. It definitely earns every bit of it's R rating. Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, Bill Skarsgard, and James Mcavoy are excellent, especially Hader and Skarsgard. Nobody was bad though..everyone was, at least, good. The CGI was also much better in this one..of course it would be though because it had a much bigger budget to work with than Chapter 1 did.
My biggest con..and it's the same as my biggest con for Chapter 1. Too many ill timed funny jokes. 2 or 3 jokes when it's the right time for them are great and it works. It lightens things up even if just for a few seconds and during the RIGHT times. And this film has a few well timed funny moments as well, don't get me wrong. But the funny/comedy/jokes at the wrong times, especially in a horror movie, just suck, to put it simply. It ruins scenes especially scenes that are supposed to be or should be horrifying and terrifying and scary and making you nervous and tense and scared and such. And unfortunately, this film has those ill timed/placed jokes as well.
Overall though, this film is great..especially when you look at as whole with Chapter 1.
Secondly, almost every negative review on Rotten Tomatoes or YouTube or on the Internet somewhere (and I'm pretty sure they'll make their way onto here sooner or later as well) have complaints about the runtime of 2 hours and 49 minutes and that it's "too long" and blah blah blah. I don't see how you can make this whole story put to film not be at least 5+ hours long (Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 combined)..at the VERY least. The novel is over 1,100 pages long ! 1,138 pages to be exact. "IT" should have been a 10-15 1 hour episode series on Netflix to be done properly, to be honest..but if you go the cinema route with it (and they did, obviously), between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, it has to be, at the very least, 5 hours or so if the Director or Writers want to be even remotely faithful to King's novel and make fans of King and the novel at least somewhat satisfied. And you also have 7 protagonists..SEVEN..6 of which are main protagonists. That's A LOT character developing and character story arcs that have to be told and take place unless you want a lazily and poorly directed and written film with terrible story telling and bad or no/next to no character development.
This film delivers great character development and great character and story arcs for all of the main protagonists/characters of the film. This film is really entertaining overall. There are pacing issues but those really seem minor when you step back and look at this film as a whole. This film was really good on it's own and holds up very well on it's own. Yes, it relied on Chapter 1 some, obviously, because Chapter 1 is part of the overall story (Again, it's NOT a sequel. I'm really talking about how well Chapter 2 is made when saying "it's really good on it's own) but when you put Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 together and make it one big story/film like it should be, it's AWESOME. Pennywise is also at his most serious and gruesome in this one. This one doesn't cut away just as someone or a helpless kid is about to get bitten or eaten until after you see and hear plenty enough, if you know what I mean. More gore in this one. It definitely earns every bit of it's R rating. Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, Bill Skarsgard, and James Mcavoy are excellent, especially Hader and Skarsgard. Nobody was bad though..everyone was, at least, good. The CGI was also much better in this one..of course it would be though because it had a much bigger budget to work with than Chapter 1 did.
My biggest con..and it's the same as my biggest con for Chapter 1. Too many ill timed funny jokes. 2 or 3 jokes when it's the right time for them are great and it works. It lightens things up even if just for a few seconds and during the RIGHT times. And this film has a few well timed funny moments as well, don't get me wrong. But the funny/comedy/jokes at the wrong times, especially in a horror movie, just suck, to put it simply. It ruins scenes especially scenes that are supposed to be or should be horrifying and terrifying and scary and making you nervous and tense and scared and such. And unfortunately, this film has those ill timed/placed jokes as well.
Overall though, this film is great..especially when you look at as whole with Chapter 1.