[Tony Montana]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Going to see this tonight, can't wait!

Hope you enjoy it!

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Tony Montana

Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks, I have no doubt that I will

[LaLaLand]

I cannot tell you how much I absolutely near soiled myself at

Spoiler:

That huge farmer statue coming to life and screaming at Richie. Oh my God! I just didn’t expect it and I actually screamed

[Tony Montana]

Originally Posted by LaLaLand

I cannot tell you how much I absolutely near soiled myself at

Spoiler:

That huge farmer statue coming to life and screaming at Richie. Oh my God! I just didn’t expect it and I actually screamed

Spoiler:

Same. I was pissing myself.

[Vanessa]

Me and my nephew watched the extended version. Highly recommend, it was brilliant!
Not too scary, but the story was amazing.

[montblanc]

i enjoyed this but it did feel a bit messy tbh

[JerseyWins]

Watching tomorrow night, hoping it’s good

[Niamh.]

Anyway :

Spoiler:

I loved it, I actually thought it was better than Chapter I. It was more scary definitely but also managed to keep it's humour. I thought the casting was amazing. Eventhough it was almost 3 hours long, it flew by and I was sad when it ended. Oh I never knew Stephen king was going to be in it either so that was a surprise 9.5/10

[Tom4784]

I loved it a lot but it was highly flawed in parts, that being said, I think these two films are actually better than the book for reasons I'll explain in the spoiler. The main non-spoilery problems I had with it was that it was far too long and poorly paced and a lot of the scenes with the younger versions of the characters didn't really add anything to it. The film also becomes really formulaic in the second act.

I think the film is well acted and casted though, it's remarkable how (apart from Ben) every adult counterpart looks almost exactly like what you'd imagine the kids to look like at 40.

As for the spoiler-y stuff.

Spoiler:

My other big issue with this film was the retcons to the first film, like it was a mistake to make it so that Ben basically took Mike's role from the book but the way they tried to retcon that by making Mike the history buff just felt strange. I also hated a lot of the kids' scenes since they really should have been in the first film, them suddenly having the clubhouse when it was never mentioned in the first film was problematic. I think the only flashbacks that were worth it (aside from the ending which actually choked me up quite a bit, and the start which was necessary.) were Richie's since they introduced an element to his character that put a whole different spin on how he interacted with others.

The whole Ritual of Chud thing in the book wasn't great but it kinda made sense that it was a thing they'd try since they did it as children so there's a history to it but the way it's introduced in this film is just bad and hackneyed. I liked that they didn't try to shoehorn too much of the cosmic stuff from the books though since I always thought those parts were badly written and pretentious, the way they defeat Pennywise in the film is much better than it was in the book. I also liked how they handled the spider and how they made it essentially just another form of fear instead of IT's true form like in the books, making it a literal spider Pennywise was pretty inspired too since I thought the book (and the miniseries) both suffered horribly in the second half since they didn't make enough use of Pennywise and the creators definitely learned from those mistakes here.

While FAR too much CGI was used, I've got to say that the Restaurant scene and the Spider-Stanley scenes were pretty great. That being said, the weird old woman didn't need to be CGI'd and they definitely could have done something practical with the Pomeranian although that bit was still pretty good as is.

I do think these films are better than the books because they jettisoned a lot of Stephen King being overly Stephen King-ish that ended up dragging down parts of the books. Keeping elements such as the turtle as background cameos works better than trying to explain the ins and outs of the multiverse and the films, despite a bloated second part, definitely felt lighter and better put together than the book. I love the book but it has it's issues.

I also wish that more time was devoted to developing the Losers as adults instead of rehashing the same scares for each Loser.

It sounds like I'm being really negative about the film but I did like it a lot despite it's problems. I'd give Part 2 a 7/10 but I think both films as a whole are easily a 9/10.

[Niamh.]

And I actually thought even Ben looked like the younger version facially, if you imagined him having got in shape etc

[JerseyWins]

This was really solid actually, I enjoyed it a lot... I thought the IT remake was just kinda alright so I was pretty happy & pleasantly surprised with this

I will say I definitely preferred the first half to the second half though and I started getting some fatigue after a while (2 hours 50 mins! felt like 4 tbh)

[Amy Jade]

Spoiler:

Richie was 100% gay, it was heavily implied quite a few times but the most obvious part was in the arcade and then the R + E carving

Also...

Spoiler:

Did it annoy anyone that the homophobic bullies got away with the attack at the start of the movie? 3 hours and they didn't give us a scene of Pennywise killing them?

Did enjoy the movie, really liked how it managed to stay creepy yet funny at times too. The casting agent deserves so much praise for casting the adult version of the original child actors.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

Spoiler:

Richie was 100% gay, it was heavily implied quite a few times but the most obvious part was in the arcade and then the R + E carving

Also...

Spoiler:

Did it annoy anyone that the homophobic bullies got away with the attack at the start of the movie? 3 hours and they didn't give us a scene of Pennywise killing them?

Did enjoy the movie, really liked how it managed to stay creepy yet funny at times too. The casting agent deserves so much praise for casting the adult version of the original child actors.

Spoiler:

I think it would have felt out of place for Pennywise to kill the homophobes. There's an pattern for all the victims bar Patrick Hockstetter that they are ultimately innocent and good people. Their role in both the book and the film is to cement that Derry is a bit backwards.

[Daniel.]

I really enjoyed this film. It was far better than part 1.

[JerseyWins]

Spoiler:

The scene with the little girl under the bleachers

Also @ the bullies getting away without being attacked/killed by Pennywise, I think it was good to keep Pennywise villainous and that would’ve been a hero moment. Maybe the film should’ve had revenge on them in some other way tho

[Amy Jade]

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

Spoiler:

The scene with the little girl under the bleachers

Also @ the bullies getting away without being attacked/killed by Pennywise, I think it was good to keep Pennywise villainous and that would’ve been a hero moment. Maybe the film should’ve had revenge on them in some other way tho

Spoiler:

Yeah the bleachers scene was sad, she was so cute and her mom just ignored her and then when she said she gets bullied

One of the main criticisms I have seen of the movie is not enough Pennywise, they could have cut a few other scenes a little shorter and had him stalking the bullies. Just hated that nothing was said at all.

[Tony Montana]

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

Spoiler:

The scene with the little girl under the bleachers

Also @ the bullies getting away without being attacked/killed by Pennywise, I think it was good to keep Pennywise villainous and that would’ve been a hero moment. Maybe the film should’ve had revenge on them in some other way tho

Spoiler:

The way Pennywise stared at her for so long and the look in his eyes was terrifying.

Yeah, I think if he had killed those homophobic pricks, it would've made him look heroic which is the last thing he is.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Tony Montana

Spoiler:

The way Pennywise stared at her for so long and the look in his eyes was terrifying.

Yeah, I think if he had killed those homophobic pricks, it would've made him look heroic which is the last thing he is.

Spoiler:

For a second I thought she was going to leave and survive

[Tony Montana]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Spoiler:

For a second I thought she was going to leave and survive

Spoiler:

Same. I wish that happened.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Tony Montana

Spoiler:

Same. I wish that happened.

Spoiler:

It was an excellent scene, I liked how they wrote it to demonstrate how the times have changed to make kids less trusting and harder for him to kill. It was a horrific scene though.

'You're meant to say three' Although I knew it was coming it still made me jump.

[Tony Montana]

Spoiler:

I wonder what happened to Don at the beginning. After his boyfriend is killed, we don't see him again.

[Tom4784]

Spoiler:

There's been something I've thought about that really bother me actually and it's mostly to do with Bev. I disliked that they pretty much glazed over her backstory (and her success) and robbed her of a lot of the personality she had in the first film. I think Jessica Chastain did the best she could but it was sad that such a standout character in the first film was so underwritten here.

That being said, the more I think about the film's ending, the more I think it's a massive improvement over the book's. I did quite like how, in the book, IT's death results in the destruction of Derry since IT was Derry in effect but I always hated how the Losers forgot each other and how Bill essentially got away scot free with cheating on Audra. Like, I understand that it's a commentary on childhood friends growing apart and moving on but I thought the film handled it better in that just the house on Neibolt street collapsed instead.

I've also got mixed feelings on Stanley's letter in the end. I liked that he got a hero moment but it's unfortunate and quite wrong that it came at the expense of romanticising his suicide.

Ugh, I always feel like I'm talking **** about this film but I did really like it, I swear

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Spoiler:

There's been something I've thought about that really bother me actually and it's mostly to do with Bev. I disliked that they pretty much glazed over her backstory (and her success) and robbed her of a lot of the personality she had in the first film. I think Jessica Chastain did the best she could but it was sad that such a standout character in the first film was so underwritten here.

That being said, the more I think about the film's ending, the more I think it's a massive improvement over the book's. I did quite like how, in the book, IT's death results in the destruction of Derry since IT was Derry in effect but I always hated how the Losers forgot each other and how Bill essentially got away scot free with cheating on Audra. Like, I understand that it's a commentary on childhood friends growing apart and moving on but I thought the film handled it better in that just the house on Neibolt street collapsed instead.

I've also got mixed feelings on Stanley's letter in the end. I liked that he got a hero moment but it's unfortunate and quite wrong that it came at the expense of romanticising his suicide.

Ugh, I always feel like I'm talking **** about this film but I did really like it, I swear

Spoiler:

Just to pick up your point on Bev, as the only female character I have to admit that the fact that her only storyline was men, be that the love triangle, her husband and her abusive father, was slightly disappointing and annoying. It's something that female characters suffer from alot.

**although this is improving thankfully in film/TV in general

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Spoiler:

Just to pick up your point on Bev, as the only female character I have to admit that her only storyline was men, be that the love triangle, her husband and he abusive father, was slightly disappointing and annoying. It's something that female characters suffer from alot.

**although this is improving thankfully in film/TV in general

Spoiler:

I think that's also an issue in the book but I think I remember it being more about the cycle of abuse rather then her existence revolving around men. I do wish they did more to develop the characters as adults. Bev literally just got one scene with her husband and a line about her job and then the rest of the film her role consisted of making googly eyes with Ben and Bill. It's quite the disservice not only to the character but to Jessica Chastain and Sophia Lillis too.

I also disliked that Audra got sidelined in the film too, I could understand them cutting down the abusive husband's role since his presence in Derry in the book was basically just to be another threat and they already had Bowers for that but they could have really done with another major female character and Audra's a pretty good character in the books although Stephen King did end up fridging her in part.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Spoiler:

I think that's also an issue in the book but I think I remember it being more about the cycle of abuse rather then her existence revolving around men. I do wish they did more to develop the characters as adults. Bev literally just got one scene with her husband and a line about her job and then the rest of the film her role consisted of making googly eyes with Ben and Bill. It's quite the disservice not only to the character but to Jessica Chastain and Sophia Lillis too.

I also disliked that Audra got sidelined in the film too, I could understand them cutting down the abusive husband's role since his presence in Derry in the book was basically just to be another threat and they already had Bowers for that but they could have really done with another major female character and Audra's a pretty good character in the books although Stephen King did end up fridging her in part.

Spoiler:

Yeah i didn't read the book so I didn't have that to compare it with, I've only recently started reading Stephen Kings stuff, not sure I love how he deals with women characters in general. All I got from the film was that Audra was a bit annoying and looked kind of like Bev

Going back to Stephen King though and how he writes about women, have you read Sleeping Beauties? Not sure if he's had a bit of an ephiny or if it's his sons influence in that book but it's all about how men treat women and is not a bad reflection of r/l