Although social media reactions have been online for a couple of weeks now, the full review embargo for Andy Muschietti's
IT Chapter Two only lifted today, and the horror sequel has received a (mostly) positive reception.
The film currently sits at 79% on RT with 71 reviews counted. The majority of critics praise the ensemble cast and ambition of the adaptation, but many also take issue with the run-time and muddled final act. From the sounds of things
Chapter Two is simply not as scary as its predecessor, either, despite a lot of brutal violence.
Check out some excerpts from the first wave of reviews below, and let us know if you plan on seeing
IT Chapter Two in theaters when it's released this weekend.
This is a solid, extremely well-crafted, great-looking and occasionally quite chilling film, with terrific performances by the grown-ups as well as the returning kids.
SOURCE: Chicago Sun Times
As its two hours, 49-minute run time marches on, “It Chapter Two” loses sight of the forest for the trees, even with Benjamin Wallfisch’s portentous score signaling the way. A particularly unwieldy and overstuffed third act lacks the elegance and dexterity that Muschietti builds into his best individual sequences. As a result, several of the characters’ psychological journeys feel abbreviated into repetitive, bite-sized vignettes in the rush to get to the end.
SOURCE: LA Times
It’s just a pity that this second chapter feels like a dull rehash of themes already well covered in the first. It is overindulgent of its characters, overextended in its duration, and by the time the sewer-set climax finally comes (and overstays its welcome), and is then followed by a lengthy Return of the King-style ‘long goodbye’ among the surviving characters, many viewers will have lost all patience.
SOURCE: Little White Lies
While it has some pacing issues, by and large, this concluding chapter in the IT saga is a scary, hilarious, emotionally charged, and satisfying adaptation of King's most ambitious novel ever. Despite a few minor flaws, I absolutely adored it.
SOURCE: Daily Dead
Bloody, surreal and at times confounding, It Chapter Two is an ambitious slice of cosmic horror bolstered by strong performances, enthusiastic direction and a fantastic (in all sense of the word) monster.
SOURCE: FILMINK
But the real problem, the real catch, is that the hijinks themselves, while spooky, feel larely out of touch and beside the point. The movie’s special effects have a doughy, rough clumsiness that’s both charming—like watching retro claymation ghouls tumble around onscreen—and shoddy.
SOURCE: Vanity Fair
Director Andy Muschietti and screenwriter Gary Dauberman have managed to masterfully illustrate that the most terrifying aspect of any horror story comes, not from its spine-chilling supernatural boogieman, but from the monsters we encounter in real life.
SOURCE: The JC
As dark as “It” can get — the “R” rating for “disturbing violent content and bloody images throughout” only hints at the raw violence within — the joy of putting all the Losers in one room provides levity and light. Suddenly reunited at a lacquered (and liquored) Chinese restaurant, the group falls into familiar patterns, old laughs, and key memories. Kudos to casting director Rich Delia; this ensemble is the real star of the film.
SOURCE: Indie Wire
While It Chapter 2's childhood sentiments come off less believably through an adult lens, the sequel recaptures the lovable heart and humor of its dark predecessor. A brilliant Hader is largely to thank, keeping this big, bulging beast afloat.
SOURCE: CNET
At two hours and forty five minutes, it’s also an impossibly long quest towards a mostly unsatisfying conclusion, punctuated with flashbacks that feel disconnected from the original. The entire plot hinges on a falling out between the group that was a minor point in the first film, and now turns out lasted for several days, conveniently enabling each kid to have a revelatory encounter with IT that they now have to unpack as adults. And while those scenes are arguably the scariest, they also have little to no stakes. We know they survived — they made it to adulthood, after all.
SOURCE: Refinery 29
Director Andy Muschietti returns for Chapter Two with a vision that is bigger and more ambitious in just about every way. The runtime is epic, the spectacle is more spectacular, the CGI is on full blast, the film bounces between timelines (meaning the cast is twice as big with both the adult and younger versions at play,) and the content is more mythological. The bold strides are admirable and some of them work like a charm, but often the massive scope makes Chapter Two feel too sprawling and, sometimes, disjointed and buckling under the weight of those ambitions.
SOURCE: Collider
It Chapter Two is in many ways a victim of its own success, a sequel virtually assured a vast audience that proceeds to undermine its virtues by conspicuously overplaying them and overstaying its welcome.
SOURCE: CNN
The film is an achievement in big-budget horror storytelling, and an excellent adaptation of King's work. It is weird and messy and ultimately uplifting, with a strong cast and some serious scares.
It's a pacey, if episodic, romp that never drags despite its epic runtime and feels true to the spirit of the book, while not sticking religiously to the letter of the text.
SOURCE: Den of Geek
Even if the film is mostly too lacking in narrative momentum to be truly suspenseful, it retains a disturbing quality which stems precisely from Muschietti's willingness to court the absurd.
SOURCE: The Age