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It (2017)
New adaptation of the Stephen King book is a terrific film and a great time at the theater. Gotta say first that Bill Skarsgård owns the movie as Pennywise the "Dancing Clown." He is a force of nature in his role as the demonic creature that kills people, especially children, whom he can usually easily lure in his clutches by his clown guise. The movie does not skimp on the violence as the
by the evil creature. Set in the late 80's, updated from the book, we are introduced to "The Losers," seven young kids around thirteen-to-fourteen years of age who are outsiders in the town's school social structure. But they are really the good kids who each suffer either from home trouble (Beverly's creepy dad who is more affectionate than is appropriate; asthmatic Eddie whose overly protective mother stifles him in his life; Stan, whose Rabbi dad rides him about not learning to read the Torah for his Bar Mitzvah) or some malady (again Eddie with his breathing problems; Bill with his stuttering; Ben with his obesity that makes him especially a target for bullies); Richie and Mike mainly just being outsiders and unpopular. They resist the evil of Pennywise, sometimes experiencing horrifying episodes when alone, but having strength in their magical number of seven.
All the young actors are fine, especially Finn Wolfhard as Richie, the loudmouthed joker, and Sophia Lillis as Beverly, the only girl in the group and maybe the bravest of the lot. But Bill (Jaeden Lieberheris) is the one who is more determined than any of them to investigate the sewers of their haunted town of Derry, partly in an attempt to find out what happened to his young brother, Georgie, whose disappearance he blames himself for. The kids have to work around the vicious bullies, the most evil of whom is Henry Bowers. There is a terrific scene where The Losers go up against the bullies while defending Mike from them. All the while, Pennywise lurks, sometimes seen in the background, sometimes coming right out in the open, oftentimes taking on the form of something that scares the Losers. You see, Pennywise "knows what scares you." Skarsgård is super as the evil, cackling clown who always seems to show up when things are at their worst for the kids. He can bend, twist, move quicker than lightning, and show an even more horrible side of himself. The effects are super and seamless, making the horrifying even more horrifying.
The direction is fine, keeping things moving quickly while seemingly taking its time to get to know everyone. The mostly-unknown cast works wonders for those who don't know the story, hopefully letting them get a real sense of fear for who will or won't survive. The music by Benjamin Wallfisch is excellent, especially the dirge-like piano played throughout that provides a creeping, ominous feeling. The make-up crew numbers in the 20s, with veteran Tom Woodruff Jr. being one of the most famous.
Although the violence, especially involving children, might be shocking at first, it becomes less so when
. I don't like violence aimed at children, but this is at the heart of the story and since it's "us against him" in this case, it is essential to portray these incidents as written in the script. The R-rating is also a must for a movie of this nature, and works better than the TV-version from 1990, although the kids' part of that film was good also. But this one works definitely better. And a Chapter 2 (and only a Chapter 2) is already in the works. Director Andy Muschietti says the young actors will return in Chapter 2, albeit in flashback because the main thrust of the movie will be
Unless he's already filmed them, Muschietti had better hurry and start filming because I'm sure the kids have already grown quite a bit since filming the first part and the next movie is slated for 2019. This is one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations, funnily enough because they didn't try to cram every single book episode into the movie, but rather pay tribute to or touch visually on certain things that they don't tackle in a huge way; for instance the Derry Standpipe, which is shown as a kid rides his bike by it, and on a postcard. Great movie.
New adaptation of the Stephen King book is a terrific film and a great time at the theater. Gotta say first that Bill Skarsgård owns the movie as Pennywise the "Dancing Clown." He is a force of nature in his role as the demonic creature that kills people, especially children, whom he can usually easily lure in his clutches by his clown guise. The movie does not skimp on the violence as the
WARNING: spoilers below
first child we see, Georgie, has his arm ripped off and is dragged bloodily into the sewer
All the young actors are fine, especially Finn Wolfhard as Richie, the loudmouthed joker, and Sophia Lillis as Beverly, the only girl in the group and maybe the bravest of the lot. But Bill (Jaeden Lieberheris) is the one who is more determined than any of them to investigate the sewers of their haunted town of Derry, partly in an attempt to find out what happened to his young brother, Georgie, whose disappearance he blames himself for. The kids have to work around the vicious bullies, the most evil of whom is Henry Bowers. There is a terrific scene where The Losers go up against the bullies while defending Mike from them. All the while, Pennywise lurks, sometimes seen in the background, sometimes coming right out in the open, oftentimes taking on the form of something that scares the Losers. You see, Pennywise "knows what scares you." Skarsgård is super as the evil, cackling clown who always seems to show up when things are at their worst for the kids. He can bend, twist, move quicker than lightning, and show an even more horrible side of himself. The effects are super and seamless, making the horrifying even more horrifying.
The direction is fine, keeping things moving quickly while seemingly taking its time to get to know everyone. The mostly-unknown cast works wonders for those who don't know the story, hopefully letting them get a real sense of fear for who will or won't survive. The music by Benjamin Wallfisch is excellent, especially the dirge-like piano played throughout that provides a creeping, ominous feeling. The make-up crew numbers in the 20s, with veteran Tom Woodruff Jr. being one of the most famous.
Although the violence, especially involving children, might be shocking at first, it becomes less so when