THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Stephen King’s novel It has been deemed one of his finest pieces of work. With such popularity, a film adaptation felt inevitable like the rest of his bibliography. There was a limited series in 1990, but it was quickly again compared to 1994’s The Stand. Thankfully, Andy Muschietti directed the novel into two halves which made the wait worthwhile.
PLOT
2017’s Chapter One takes place in the summer of 1989, following 12 year old Bill Denbrough who suffers from stuttering. He has been grieving over the loss of younger brother George who went missing in October ‘88 playing with his paper boat on a rainy day and he wasn’t with him that day because he was apparently sick that day. What he doesn’t know that his brother was swept away in the sewers by a ferocious entity disguised as a clown dubbed ‘Pennywise’. So in the said summer, he spends the time to search for his body that can possibly be in the Barrens. His friends include: Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, & Stanley Uris. With their first clue being a shoe of another missing child, they do befriend Ben Hanscom who's been getting bullied by Henry Bowers just as much as they have. They also befriend teenager Beverly Marsh who has been falsely accused of being sexually active, when she is in fact being sexually abused by her father Alvin (Stephen Bogaert) in secret. When all six go out swimming together in a lake, Ben shares how the town has through an array of tragedies every 27 years. One night, Bev experiences a terrifying phenomenon where a sink spews blood and only children can see, whereas her dad did not. When the boys help her clean up the mess with Alvin absent, Bill shares that he encountered a phantom of Georgie before being chased by Pennywise. Eddie shares a similar experience where he saw the clown take the form of a leper. Ben recollects seeing it take the form of a headless person and Stan recalls encountering it take the form of a figure from a painting. Richie does not understand what they're talking about due to not having an encounter yet and before they could debunk its motive, they befriend African teen MIchael Hanlon who has not only seen the creature as well, forcing him to remember the death of his parents dying in a fire, but has also been bullied by Bowers. Together, all seven kids form 'The Losers Club'. With Mike, they deduce the entity hibernates every 27 years, hence the gap of severe tragedies. When looking at a sewer map, Bill suspects It to be hiding in an abandoned well house connected to the sewers. Not wanting to wait, he leads the group to the house to stop it before another kid can be killed. it doesn't go as planned though, due to the creature being able to separate them and terrorize them simultaneously. As it severely injures Eddie & Ben, Pennywise gloats to Bill of being responsible for Georgie before Bev fends it off by stabbing its face with a metal rod, causing it to retreat into the well. Although Bill & Bev want to press on, the others are too scared to follow, resulting in them to disband. A month after this, Bev would defend herself from Alvin who would get aggressive over a boy writing a poem to her. Only after this does Pennywise abduct her. When Bill finds out what happened, he alerts the boys and they follow him to the well house. However, Bowers follows them after being driven by It to kill his father Oscar/Butch (Stuart Hughes). Mike is able to be rid of him after pushing him down the well. When the boys choose to keep going, they find It's lair filled bodies of children in mid air and their belongings piled up on the ground. They find Bev in a catatonic state until Ben kisses her to wake her up, also revealing he wrote the poem when reciting it. The group then encounters what appears to be Georgie, until Bill sees through the deception and confirms to be It when shooting it with MIke's bolt gun. Pennywise tries to compromise in allowing the other kids to be spared if they allow it to hibernate and feast on Bill. They predictably refuse to sacrifice their friend as they gang up on it, while overcoming their fears. Defeated with the fact they're not afraid anymore, it retreats deeper into the sewers to starve. Bill officially comes to terms with Georgie's death when finding his raincoat. By the end of the summer, he also convinces the Losers Club to make a blood pact on returning to Derry and defeating It for good should it ever return by the next 27 years. After they do so, they go their separate ways. The film ends with Bill sharing a kiss goodbye to Bev before she goes to live with her aunt in Portland after the fallout with her dad.
THOUGHTS
This film had the biggest expectations in the standard of Stephen King adaptations because there is so much fans want to see done right and thankfully through one half, Muschietti is able to show enough to satisfy the majority. The second this film opens up with poor Georgie losing his arm, this makes clear the graphic violence won’t be held back in comparison to the series. Despite the fictional threat being a shapeshifting entity, it feels pretty grounded for it to show things that make the most sense in the updated narrative and ignore the stuff that just won’t work, like Maturin the turtle. Apart from Bejamin Wallfisch’s score and Chung-hoon Chung’s cinematography, the fear is nonstop present due to Pennywise’s presence. Bill Skarsgard’s performance exceeds expectations in defining terror through this character alone. It is terrifying throughout because of how unpredictable it acts when intentionally tormenting its prey, knowing they are more delicious when afraid. Whether it is changing its dialect, crossing its eyes naturally or giving shocking forms when shapeshifting are all the more batshit scary. The clown makeup was already unsettling as expected, but the visual effects were a bonus on bringing life to its various forms to life like the painting or having spider like limbs. Whenever it opened its jaw to feast or put its prey in a trance to show off the deadlights, it’s hard to not be surprised of all the imagery. Even the details such as it hiding in a public mural or disguising itself as a librarian stalking Ben were subtle yet frightening nonetheless. The true scene stealing moment has to go to It emerging from the projector because it goes in a direction you weren’t sure it would take. All of these moments instantly make this singular film a thousand time better than the limited series because we get a better understanding on how monstrous society can be when we’re not pay attention unknowingly or intentionally ignoring it. Whether it is about misogyny, abuse and racism, they are the worst parts about humanity as we know it and because they’re all so common, that we’re not sure how to address the problem. Thanks to an intimidating performance by Nicholas Hamilton, Henry Bowers was the epitome example of generational trauma, due to how afraid or he is of his own fear and choose to pass on his fear & beliefs to others as a way to cope with his issues. Whether it is carving his initials on Ben, or being relentlessly racist towards Mike (or even killing his own friends due to Pennywise’s corruption as shown in a deleted scene), his presence as a sociopath was undoubtedly menacing from the get go. Even though you feel bad for his predicament, you don’t condone what he does at all which puts us in relief his actions get halted until his return in Chapter Two. When you see a child as brutal as Henry, you start to worry if this is how every kid will be if not raised right. Thankfully, we become inspired by seven kids who show it’s possible for anyone to overcome their fears no matter the scale. We all were stunned on all the innocence seeing Jackson Robert Scott bring when little Georgie is killed in the opening, but it only leads feeling genuine sympathy for Billy. Jaeden Martell accurately showed him to be a brother filled with regret since he felt he could have saved him had he went with him that rainy day. And his parents move on so quickly in comparison due to similar regret. His grief makes him so impulsive that he doesn’t stop until there’s a legit answer. He gets that and it becomes bigger than he imagined. Despite this, it only motivates him to avenge his loss which pays off thanks to his friends who were battling their own inner fears. Finn Wolfhard was already a delight in Stranger Things, which made me excited to see him play Richie. He’s just as loudmouthed as expected when bringing a stack of jokes to lighten the mood. He may do it more for himself instead of the others around him, but it’s pleasing either way because his deliveries feel priceless. It was honestly relatable for him being afraid of clowns because even though they’re human, you can’t guarantee how they look without the makeup. When he was the last of the group to see Pennywise, it made sense for him to be most scared to the point of wanting to avoid the problem until push come to shove. The fact that’s what it took for him to share similar motivation on being content once success is official. Jack Dylan Grazer was awesome as Eddie for being just as good hearted as the others around him, but the irony is that it comes from his own paranoia he has being a germophobe, which is also quite relatable if you’ve lived through a pandemic. But once he found out his mother Sonia (Molly Atkinson) took her overprotective methods too far by medicating him with placebos, he knew he had to break from restraints to be on the same page as his friends which he luckily does. Wyatt Oleff was great too as Stan because he feels the most mature in his age as in wanting to avoid what he doesn’t understand. Growing up to be a rabbi like his father, all he knows is facts and religion to help him get through life at this point. So when It started tormenting him, his only way to cope with his problem was ignoring it. Thanks to Bill’s encouragement though, he’s able to brave enough to help but you wish that’s still stuck by Chapter Two. Not much is done with Mike since he’s not depicted to have interested in history the way Ben does here. However, Chosen Jacobs is still convincing enough to relate to his loneliness. Growing up without his parents and now raised but his strict grandpa, he knows that he needs to build his own strength if he wants to live a much longer life. He gets this when joining the Losers Club who motivate each other to face their fears knowing they gotta do it themselves. The fact he’s the one who brings them together in Chapter Two proves how much he means to them, knowing he would’ve not made it so far without their connection. Jeremy Ray Taylor was his own delight as Ben because despite being sensitive of what interests him, he’s not that afraid willing to put an effort in befriending others once he joins the Losers Club. He would’ve not joined had it not been for one girl that chose love over hate. Sophia Lillis was breathtaking as Beverly because her own issues made her very insecure, yet still had enough morality to get through another day. It was easy of a decision for her to befriend Ben before the rest of the boys off of relating to the fear of loneliness. She ends up having a crush on Bill though solely off of admiring his confidence, hence suspecting him to write the poem originally. He likes her back, leading up to their kiss due to feeling similar admiration the way Ben did, appreciated that she looked past his flaws. Bev doesn’t make a decision it’s too soon for her age to pick between them because she loves them both and ain’t gonna destroy that for something so personal. At the very least, it’s good to know she decides as an adult who she loves more rather than not make one at all. I stand by my opinion on this film being the better half of the story, but there are some things that bothered me upon re-watching and I don't think Chapter Two can defend them. For example, how come Georgie didn't see the first barricade after seeing the first one he ducked for? I know kids his age don't know better, but he could've went around the first one if he wanted to catch up to his boat. Henry scared the crap out of me whenever I saw him and I would never root for him, but I don't understand why exactly would he give an 8 month grieving period for Bill? It's not like he has a brother so if his dad told him to, that should've been clarified especially since we find out things are between the two. Also, how did he know where to find Ben? He was focused on warning Bill in front of the school and Ben was in the back waiting it out before Bev meets him and gave him the clear. If he knew he goes to the library regularly, that should be implied as well. If we gotta get into continuity errors, I gotta say it was weird to see Bev have a clean backpack by the time she meets Ben when it was exposed to trash water by other bullies in the previous scene. You can't fool me and say she bought a new one after that. I've already said how Bill's parents accept the reality of Georgie's fate because they got their own regret not preventing what they couldn't have known, but would it really have been a bad idea to look into the Barrens? Even if they're sure he's dead, they deserve to have a body to bury no matter how traumatic that would be. We had a good setup when It scares Mike for the first time outside the meat market, but that could've been avoided had he went inside the market since he was trying to avoid Bowers. I'm even glad Bev meets up with the boys at the quarry to express friendship, but how did she know what time to go? Bill didn't tell her the time, so that is dumb luck for her to show up on cue when the boys were doubting on jumping so high. I then wonder how the hell did Bev clean herself up if the bathroom after that spew of blood went all over the said room. It doesn't look like there is another bathroom in her house, so we should've seen that to confirm otherwise. The craziest thing I couldn't digest is how Ben got severely slashed in the stomach by Pennywise and no repercussions happen as in going to the hospital or his unseen parents not even noticing. He doesn't even seem to have the scars in Chapter Two, so there is no point for him to get hurt if there's meaning to it. The mark by Bowers gets an excuse because the kids tend to him quickly. Ignore this, then you'll still love the movie for getting the majority done right. In short, 2017's It is one of the better Stephen King adaptations for knowing exactly what to show terrify us. If you're a fan of the book and/or just seek an improvement from the series, see this now. And if you love this, then I hope you enjoy the sequel as well.
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