Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 169 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, TrueHD with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.39:1), 1080P HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Andy Muschietti
Cast: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustaf, Jay Ryan, Jack Dylan Grazer, Andy Bean
All begrudgingly agree to return to with the exception of Stanley , who tragically chose to slit his own wrists in the bathtub rather than face the killer clown again. The surviving Loser's arrive in Derry and gather at a Chinese restaurant where they catch up with each other and mourn the death of their friend Stan, slowly beginning to remember the events of the past, but as dinner is about to wrap they are tormented by nightmarish hallucinations courtesy of Pennywise.
The group are shaken by the encounter but undeterred, setting about figuring out how to defeat the demonic-clown courtesy of some local native American folklore told to them by Ben, with a cool flashback to "it's" arrival on Earth hundreds of years ago, assisted some mind-altering drugs slipped into Bill's drink. To that end each of the Loser's sets out to face their biggest fears and to reclaim an artifact from their pasts that is to be sacrificed during an ancient native American ritual, that will hopefully rid the world of the otherworldly clown.
As with the original TV mini-series I still hold that the second half of the story centered on the adult versions of the kids holds less appeal to me than that of the kids, the horror of it all is just more frightening experienced through the eyes of the youngsters than that of the adults. Add to that the over three-hour run time and the film feels unnecessarily bloated in spots, peppered with overly-long flashbacks to the kids back in the 80's and each of the adults having their own artifact-hunting trip. There's a weird vein of humor throughout that doesn't sit easily within the confines of film for me, including a very strange 80s music cue combined with a vomit sequence that still has me scratching my head, a scene that would not have been out of place in something like Sam Raimi's horror-comedy Drag Me To Hell, but here it just comes right out of nowhere.
That's not to say I didn't love this film, because I do, I just don't dig it as much as I did the first film. Bill Skarsgard is still phenomenal in the role of Pennywise, this is a character will probably be this younger generation's version of the bogeyman, the way that Freddy Kruger was to me in the 80's, he turns in a phenomenal performance, with the most effective being it's encounter under the bleachers at a local sporting event with a young girl with a birthmark on her face, it's an eerie scene that gave me the shivers. I do think that the film relies a bit much on digital effects for Pennywise this time around, a scene of his face slowly getting melty seemed unnecessary, and the image of an eight-legged arachnid version Pennywise still fails to impress in the final moments though Skarsgard's performance is still fantastic.
There are some cool special effects to see here, though none in my opinion are as startling effective as Pennywise's toothy maw chomping down on Georgie's arm at the start of the first film, but he does kill two more young kids violently in this film, the aforementioned young girl under the bleachers and another kid is bloodily dispatched at a carnival fun house. There's also a fun homage to the spider-head from John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), with someone even uttering the same punchline when it appears!
I thought the cast was uniformly excellent, the adult versions of the Loser's Club kids are very well cast, it's almost uncanny, with my favorite being the always excellent and often under-valued Bill Hader as foul-mouthed Richie Tozier who stole the whole film. Jessica Chastain is also quite good as the traumatized Beverly, she being the only character with real character development, and I thought Jack Dylan Grazer was spot-on as the hypochondriac Eddie. The adult version of the local teen psychopath Henry Bowers played by Grant Teach also really taps into the demented mindset of the lunatic killer.
Audio/Video: It: Chapter Two (2019) arrives on three-disc Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD plus Digital combo in 2160p Ultra HD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen. The 4K Ultra HD presentation is sharp and three-dimensional throughout with deep blacks with the UHD showcasing outstanding fine detail in facial close-ups, clothing and interiors. The HDR color-grading is wonderful, vibrant primaries bathe the image with deep saturated hues, the shadow detail in the darker scenes looking phenomenal throughout. The accompanying 1080p Blu-ray disc looks impressive as well, lacking the HDR color-punch but dazzling in it's own crisp and finely detailed way.
Audio on both he Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD comes by way of an impressive Dolby Atmos presentation that has plenty of surround activity that enhance the more atmospheric chills while punching up the action with some surprising aggressiveness. The low-end really shakes the room during the more bombastic and action-ier moments, optional English subtitles are provided.
The three-disc release arrives in a two-spindle black keepcase with single-sided sleeve of artwork with a slipcover featuring the same artwork. Inside there s a code for a 4K digital copy of the film for the Movie Anywhere app.
I thought the cast was uniformly excellent, the adult versions of the Loser's Club kids are very well cast, it's almost uncanny, with my favorite being the always excellent and often under-valued Bill Hader as foul-mouthed Richie Tozier who stole the whole film. Jessica Chastain is also quite good as the traumatized Beverly, she being the only character with real character development, and I thought Jack Dylan Grazer was spot-on as the hypochondriac Eddie. The adult version of the local teen psychopath Henry Bowers played by Grant Teach also really taps into the demented mindset of the lunatic killer.
Audio/Video: It: Chapter Two (2019) arrives on three-disc Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD plus Digital combo in 2160p Ultra HD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen. The 4K Ultra HD presentation is sharp and three-dimensional throughout with deep blacks with the UHD showcasing outstanding fine detail in facial close-ups, clothing and interiors. The HDR color-grading is wonderful, vibrant primaries bathe the image with deep saturated hues, the shadow detail in the darker scenes looking phenomenal throughout. The accompanying 1080p Blu-ray disc looks impressive as well, lacking the HDR color-punch but dazzling in it's own crisp and finely detailed way.
Audio on both he Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD comes by way of an impressive Dolby Atmos presentation that has plenty of surround activity that enhance the more atmospheric chills while punching up the action with some surprising aggressiveness. The low-end really shakes the room during the more bombastic and action-ier moments, optional English subtitles are provided.
The three-disc release arrives in a two-spindle black keepcase with single-sided sleeve of artwork with a slipcover featuring the same artwork. Inside there s a code for a 4K digital copy of the film for the Movie Anywhere app.
Special Features:
- Pennywise Lives Again! (10 min) HD
- This Meeting of the Losers Club Has Officially Begun (8 min) HD
- Finding the Deadlights (6 min) HD
- The Summers of IT: Chapter One, You’ll Float Too (36 min) HD
- The Summers of IT: Chapter Two, IT Ends (40 min) HD
- Audio Commentary with Director Andy Muschietti
It: Chapter Two (2019) is a worthy successor to the first film, this adaptation definitely improving upon the ending of the TV mini-series in a a lot of ways but still stumbling a little bit in the final stretch, still struggling to visualize the unknowable terror Stephen King brought to the page. That said the story and the characters are fantastic, the frights are still pretty damn good and Skarsgard is phenomenal as Pennywise the demonic clown as are the adult versions of The Loser's Club. The 4K presentation is a knock-out, a lush A/V presentation with over ninety-minutes worth of extras, including interview with Stephen King, make this a very desirable release.
- Pennywise Lives Again! (10 min) HD
- This Meeting of the Losers Club Has Officially Begun (8 min) HD
- Finding the Deadlights (6 min) HD
- The Summers of IT: Chapter One, You’ll Float Too (36 min) HD
- The Summers of IT: Chapter Two, IT Ends (40 min) HD
- Audio Commentary with Director Andy Muschietti
It: Chapter Two (2019) is a worthy successor to the first film, this adaptation definitely improving upon the ending of the TV mini-series in a a lot of ways but still stumbling a little bit in the final stretch, still struggling to visualize the unknowable terror Stephen King brought to the page. That said the story and the characters are fantastic, the frights are still pretty damn good and Skarsgard is phenomenal as Pennywise the demonic clown as are the adult versions of The Loser's Club. The 4K presentation is a knock-out, a lush A/V presentation with over ninety-minutes worth of extras, including interview with Stephen King, make this a very desirable release.
