It (2017)
Time: 2h 26mins
Director: Andrés Muschietti
Quick Summary: In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town.
I watched this once when I was 17 and said Pennywise wasn't scary. I take It back. That mf is creepy as hell, I was just trying to be cool.
Unlike the original one, this is split into two films and focuses on the events of both them as kids and adults separately. This one is entirely them as kids, and props to the kid actors because they're excellent. You do really feel for them and want them to get through it, unlike usually I want the annoying brats to go, but this time they're so likeable and actually a little bit relatable. Especially if you were considered one of the "Loser" types of kids. There are a lot of themes of friendship, bonding through trauma and facing fears together, the normal sort of stuff for kids making long-term friendships. Even if it's through fighting a shape-shifting monster.
Honestly, I loved Ritchie the most, he was hilarious and truthfully he was me as a kid spouting the most vulgar crap all the time. He brought a lot of comedy to the film which balanced out the creepy stuff. That said there were lots of little subtle bits of comedy, aside from Ritchie of course, that didn't distract away from the story.
There were some really impressive scenes. I'm not even mad that half of this was CGI either. The bathroom being covered in blood is something I've always remembered from this because of two things. Rooms being ceiling to floor covered in blood is never not cool to me, but also because of the metaphor of her father not seeing what was wrong (AKA the abuse he was doing to her). In the opening scene too, we quickly get introduced to our creepy clown which immediately sets the tone as he rips the arm clean off someone which is another thing that sits with me. Solid opening, really knew how to grab your attention. There is always something in the background too which you probably wouldn't notice until a few more watches, but usually Pennywise is lurking in the background either as himself or in some sort of disguise.
I did think the film could have been creepier at times though. Don't get me wrong Pennywise creepes the hell out of me, but his jumpscares could have been better. See this falls into the trope that a lot of 2017 films did and that was to use really loud noises as jumpscares. Of course, they're going to make you jump if they blast your eardrums out. The stuff with Pennywise is creepy, but it's not really scary as a viewer. Being a kid seeing this stuff would scare me so I do see it there, but every so often Pennywise would come across as more goofy. There's this one bit near the end where he's doing a little dance, the camera is shaking and zooming into him frantically. This was actually so funny it became a meme for a little while.
Comments
Post a Comment