IT (2017)
2.5/4
Starring: Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgaard
Rated R for Violence/Horror, Bloody Images, and for Language
With the help of clever marketing, brand recognition, and beloved source material (two, actually), Andy Muschietti's newest iteration of Stephen King's "IT" has finally found its way into theaters. It's been a long time coming; while the beloved miniseries was released in 1990, the film adaptation has been in preproduction for five years. So how is it? The truth is that it's a mixed bag.
The setting has been updated to 1989, although little else has changed. The core characters and themes still appear. In the quaint town of Derry, Maine, little children have gone missing. One unlucky victim is Georgie Denbrogh (Jackson Robert Scott), who went missing while sailing a paper boat down the street. Now Georgie's older brother Bill (Lieberher) and six other friends, who dub themselves as "The Loser's Club," realize that not only are all these disappearances connected, they're being done by a monster who takes the form of Pennywise, the Dancing Clown (Skarsgaard). And the only way to defeat him is by sticking together.
What holds the film back is its pacing. This new iteration of the Stephen King classic moves with lightning fast speed, taking little time to establish the characters or more importantly, the bond between them. Despite being only an hour shorter than the two-part miniseries, it feels frantic. But "IT" is not "Aliens" or "The Descent." It's as much a coming of age story as a horror flick.
Interestingly enough, I was having a discussion with my personal trainer about the movie "Sinister," a truly terrifying movie. What set that movie apart is that the monster was almost an afterthought. The real meat of the story was solving a mystery and an author's last desperate attempt for a hit. Bughuul came later; he was slowly revealed, an omnipresent threat that lurked just off screen yet never strayed far from our minds. If you think about it, the same was true for the original miniseries. Everyone remembers Tim Curry's Pennywise, but it's the heroes and the bond between them that gave the film its power. That doesn't happen here. It uses each kid's interaction with Pennywise as an introduction to the audience. Such a mistake costs the film a lot of involvement.
The performances, mostly by unknowns and first-timers, doesn't impress. Few of them leave much of an impression, and only Sophia Lillis, who plays Beverly Marsh, has any screen presence. Bill Skarsgaard manages the difficult task of bringing Pennywise to the screen without coming across as a poser. Tim Curry's performance was a creepy/funny clown. Skarsgaard's is a bad to the bone monster. It takes a few seconds to see accept the character that Curry seemingly made definitive, but it happens fairly quickly.
It could be argued that the 1990 miniseries is a great horror movie for kids; it's neither too scary or violent, and the themes of friendship and adolescence ring true. It's a great sleepover movie. The same cannot be said of this iteration, which takes full advantage of the R rating. This is quite intense and at times very bloody. Don't bring the kids.
So this new "IT" doesn't match up to the miniseries. Nor is it an example of especially good filmmaking. In fact, it resembles a lot of remakes in the sense that it knows the beats and the obligatory scenes, but the heart and soul of the movie has been lost. I cant recommend seeing it, but at the same time, why wouldn't I? It's far from a train wreck, has some legitimate scares and cool special effects. In the end of summer dump month, you can't ask for much more.
Starring: Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgaard
Rated R for Violence/Horror, Bloody Images, and for Language
With the help of clever marketing, brand recognition, and beloved source material (two, actually), Andy Muschietti's newest iteration of Stephen King's "IT" has finally found its way into theaters. It's been a long time coming; while the beloved miniseries was released in 1990, the film adaptation has been in preproduction for five years. So how is it? The truth is that it's a mixed bag.
The setting has been updated to 1989, although little else has changed. The core characters and themes still appear. In the quaint town of Derry, Maine, little children have gone missing. One unlucky victim is Georgie Denbrogh (Jackson Robert Scott), who went missing while sailing a paper boat down the street. Now Georgie's older brother Bill (Lieberher) and six other friends, who dub themselves as "The Loser's Club," realize that not only are all these disappearances connected, they're being done by a monster who takes the form of Pennywise, the Dancing Clown (Skarsgaard). And the only way to defeat him is by sticking together.
What holds the film back is its pacing. This new iteration of the Stephen King classic moves with lightning fast speed, taking little time to establish the characters or more importantly, the bond between them. Despite being only an hour shorter than the two-part miniseries, it feels frantic. But "IT" is not "Aliens" or "The Descent." It's as much a coming of age story as a horror flick.
Interestingly enough, I was having a discussion with my personal trainer about the movie "Sinister," a truly terrifying movie. What set that movie apart is that the monster was almost an afterthought. The real meat of the story was solving a mystery and an author's last desperate attempt for a hit. Bughuul came later; he was slowly revealed, an omnipresent threat that lurked just off screen yet never strayed far from our minds. If you think about it, the same was true for the original miniseries. Everyone remembers Tim Curry's Pennywise, but it's the heroes and the bond between them that gave the film its power. That doesn't happen here. It uses each kid's interaction with Pennywise as an introduction to the audience. Such a mistake costs the film a lot of involvement.
The performances, mostly by unknowns and first-timers, doesn't impress. Few of them leave much of an impression, and only Sophia Lillis, who plays Beverly Marsh, has any screen presence. Bill Skarsgaard manages the difficult task of bringing Pennywise to the screen without coming across as a poser. Tim Curry's performance was a creepy/funny clown. Skarsgaard's is a bad to the bone monster. It takes a few seconds to see accept the character that Curry seemingly made definitive, but it happens fairly quickly.
It could be argued that the 1990 miniseries is a great horror movie for kids; it's neither too scary or violent, and the themes of friendship and adolescence ring true. It's a great sleepover movie. The same cannot be said of this iteration, which takes full advantage of the R rating. This is quite intense and at times very bloody. Don't bring the kids.
So this new "IT" doesn't match up to the miniseries. Nor is it an example of especially good filmmaking. In fact, it resembles a lot of remakes in the sense that it knows the beats and the obligatory scenes, but the heart and soul of the movie has been lost. I cant recommend seeing it, but at the same time, why wouldn't I? It's far from a train wreck, has some legitimate scares and cool special effects. In the end of summer dump month, you can't ask for much more.
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