Reviews Film / It 2017

Amblin but with an R rating

A rip roaringly good time at the movies. Gorgeous, funny and genuinely heartfelt despite the murder and mayhem that's on screen. Andrés Muschietti did such a bang up job with the material that I feel like that the loss of Cary Joji Fukunaga's version seems like a very minor casualty (Some of Fukunaga's ideas sound interesting on paper but veer way too much from the source, among other things) by comparison. As you've heard, Skarsgård is as wonderful you'd hope he'd be, with his demonically goofy laughter and janky, uncanny valley movements. But the real highlight of the movie is the kid actors. It's almost absurd at how good their chemistry is. Hell, I could have just watched a movie about these kids growing up sans the clown and I would have been satisfied.

There are some flaws, mainly in regards to some balancing issues of character development for some of the losers (primarily Mike and Stan) which also leads pacing issues for a film that regularly keeps a good beat and it's a little reliant on the scare chord for effect (though some moments, like the projector scene, are HIGHLY effective). Outside of those quibbles, however, this is easily one of the best horror films of the year and quite possibly just one of the straight best, or at the very least a personal favorite. Believe the hype on this one, boys and gals.