Looking back two years ago, I found the first part of “It” sort of a overrated, yet decent movie. The aspects that bothered me the most were some of the kid acting and how Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise came off at times. The problems kind of compare to how I thought of this year’s “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”. I kind of might consider the second installment of “It” to be better.

Mwahaha.

27 years after the Losers’ Club as kids fought Pennywise the Dancing Clown down in a rotten sewer, the club themselves have transformed as grown-ups working at high-profile jobs. We as an audience sympathize with an older Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa), whom is the only person of the club to stay at their childhood town, Derry, Maine. He starts to motivate the other Losers’ Club members to come back to Derry since Pennywise is on the loose again.

When seeing the other Losers’ Club kids grown-up (Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Jay Ryan), we see that they have no remembrance of defeating Pennywise when they were all young. They even feel like that they are connected to their own separate ways.

You know what might make them remember those events?

That’s right. This movie presents us flashbacks when they were as kids back in the first movie.

I of course will not give the movie away, but the Losers’ Club now have to face their childhood nightmares at Derry once again as they make their final last stand towards Pennywise. Doesn’t that sound much like this year’s “Avengers: Endgame”? And I am not saying in a bad way at all.

Director Andy Muschetti (Mama) makes us understand our problems from his first installment and heals them to a good enough degree. That means “It: Chapter Two” is definitely much more edgy and scary than the first installment.

The main problem with this installment is that it does contain so much flashbacks of the club’s childhood where it is mostly the entire movie. There are many times that Muschetti could have had a chance to cut them out.

During the third act, there are moments when Andy Muschetti tries so hard to be like “Avengers: Endgame” with the epic, grand-scale battle involving Pennywise and the Losers’ Club.

I have a lot more positives than negatives because obviously, this movie improved on many major aspects that the first installment had problems with.

The best aspect of this would easily be Bill Skarsgard as the clown Pennywise, whom improves in this one. He is a LOT more like a true childhood nightmare than the first where he came off more like a dark comedy of some sorts. Pennywise’s best scene takes place at a baseball stadium and that’s all I have to say.

Every single one of the adult Loser’s Club actors are perfectly cast. Bill Hader as Richie is very funny and can get some emotional sparks here and there. Jessica Chastain does a great transformation as Beverly leaving the quiet mood she was as a child. James McAvoy as Bill also is great in this, too.

I think one actor that needs to get a lot more credit in this movie is Isaiah Mustafa as adult Mike Hanlon. You can tell that he incorporates the traumatic childhood memories of his life with Pennywise because he still lives in Derry, Maine. His character establishes such an awareness of where his Losers’ Club is at that point of time.

“It: Chapter 2” does a fantastic job on transforming the kids into adults and addressing how much they have moved on from their lives. It delivers such a memorable and touching message about the Losers’ Club and how much it means to them in their childhood.

Not to lie, there are a lot more effective scares including one from the trailer when Beverly goes back to her childhood home to have a conversation with Mrs. Kersh, whom claims to be the daughter of his father whom soon became Pennywise.

Clocking in at 169 minutes long, you would think this would drag on forever, but it honestly felt like a two-hour movie where outrageously, I did not feel the third hour coming because I was really that invested.

Andy Muschetti does offer a flash back compilation at times, but what he does with “It: Chapter Two” is really something what the first film was far from great at; to evoke scares towards the audience. It (no pun intended) is truly a solid choice to go see during this fall season.

Grade: 7.5/10