Movie #862: It

It is, of course, based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, and stars Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Glazer, Chosen Jacobs, Wyatt Oleff, Jeremy Ray Taylor, and Nicholas Hamilton 

It's 1988 in the jolly little city of Derry, Maine. Young Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott) is sailing a paper boat in rainwater when he's dragged into the sewer and devoured by a horrific monster in the form of Pennywise the Clown (Skarsgård). So it's got kind of an intense opening scene.

Cut to a few months later. Georgie's older brother Bill (Lieberher) is coping with the grief and refuses to believe his brother is dead - after all, there are a lot of kids in Derry who go "missing." He talks his buddies Richie (Wolfhand), Ed (Glazer), and Stan (Oleff) to spend their days searching storm drains and sewers, and in the process pick up new kid in town Ben (Taylor) and outsider Mike (Jacobs) while they're being tortured by the local gang of bullies, led by Henry Bowers (Hamilton), who pretty violent even by movie bully standards. They also wind up pulling in Beverly Marsh (Lillis), a local girl with an undeserved reputation, and together the seven of them are the Loser's Club! They fight crime!

No, actually, they all have terrifying hallucinations as Pennywise brings their fears to life, "salting the meat" before eating them. He never gets around to that, however, because the Losers find strength in one another and eventually wind up going down into the sewers and beating the shit out of him, driving him back into the Unknown wherever he's from. They know from their research that the cycle seems to happen every 27 years, so they all agree to meet back in Derry when they're grown if Pennywise returns. (I haven't seen Chapter Two yet, but I assume it's a quick movie short that shows them all getting back together for drinks? Right?)

That's a very quick summary of a very long movie, but it's a very skillfully done movie because I didn't feel the length at all. I think what struck me most about it - apart from Skarsgård's amazing turn as Pennywise - is how well the movie takes its time. The Losers aren't all together at the stat of the story; we have to add in Ben, Beverly, and Mike, but (director) Andrew Muschetti doesn't rush that process. We get moments with all seven of the main characters and we learn about them, their histories and who's abusing them (I mean, pretty much all of them are enduring some kind of shit treatment from a parental figure; Bill's probably got it easiest and he's the one dealing with losing a little brother and his whole family grieving). The result is that the group feels organic and the characters don't feel interchangeable, but they're also not defined by a schtick (Richie comes the closest to that, and thinking about it we don't learn as much about his family or history). 

If I had a word to sum up the movie, I'd say "organic" is a pretty good start. The friendship between the characters is largely real; the actors spent a summer filming the movie and watching their interviews, they really do seem to be friends (I say "seem to" because I don't trust anything fully if it's made to promote). The effects are largely practical, the sets mostly real, and aside from a few anachronisms (the movie is set in 1988 but Batman is playing at the local theater and the kids listen to "Bust a Move" on a boom box, both of which are 1989 releases), the time period comes across, too. 

I haven't seen Chapter Two because I just missed it in theaters, and I didn't watch it on Netflix when I could have, and that's a bummer because now I'll have to pay to rent it, but I do want to see the continuation of the story. That said, Chapter One is interesting because it stands on its own as a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and I think that's another reason it works so well.

(I do, however, have to note Pennywise's portrayals here and here, which I quite enjoy.)

My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Medium-high

Next up: Paris, Je T'aime