Hola Dannie aqui!
Recieved this review via an eerie floating red balloon, tied to the balloon was Precious_Roy's take on this super horror box office hit, never to late for an IT review :)
Precious Roy misses the magic of IT!
SPOILERS!
Last night, I finally got myself to a theater to catch a showing of It, Chapter One. I love It, both in the novel and the miniseries from the 1990’s, despite its acting/directing problems and a very weak climax. I was originally going to wait until Chapter 2 and see them for the first time together-- but I kept hearing really good things, and wanted to see it for myself.
The novel It is both a very personal story and very important to horror writing. There are two stories Stephen King has told about the inspiration for what I still feel is his best novel ever and his magnum opus.
The first is the most referenced online: a tale of crossing a footbridge in Bangor, Maine, where King lives, and thinking about a troll being under it, as in The Billy Goats Gruff, and then basically adding and expanding on the tribe from The Body, which would become Stand By Me, to be the protagonists.
The second one, and most important to the focus of It for me, is about a child at play that King encountered in Bangor. The kid poked a crack in the sidewalk with a long stick and shouted huffily at an imaginary monster, “You stay there! You can’t come out until I say the magic word!”
Which brings me to my primary complaint about Andy Muschietti’s It: that it lacks the necessary magic. This isn’t about “it’s different than the novel”, or “It’s different from the miniseries”; it’s that it lacks something fundamental to both that was very important to why I loved It.
I can’t say It is a waste of your time. I did enjoy the film. I particularly liked the climax. But I'm genuinely surprised that King has such a high opinion of it. Here’s the things I didn’t like:
•The lack of invented magic. I don’t just mean the Ritual of Chüd; I mean how kids use magic themselves, like that kid King encountered on the sidewalk. The most important thing about It isn’t kids facing their fear of adults; it’s kids inventing the magic to face their fear of adults. It’s part of the reason that the mindfog It uses to control Derry doesn’t affect the Losers; their raw faith is unwavering. When kids believe in something, they make it so. Boogeymen have power, but when kids band together, they are clever and creative. Think of kids playing out scenes from a Star Wars movie, slightly changing those scenes to allow the story to continue perpetually, as if they expect to play until they’re in their thirties.
•The change of time period. King set the story in the middle of his childhood, but it was also a very important time: mid-Civil Rights, pre-lunar landing. The heroes are baby boomers who will go on to pioneer free love and resist their own government, that have their paranoia about Nixon confirmed with Watergate. That time is important to understanding Derry, and why it’s an America people might call ‘great’. It is important that the story starts there.
•The way that era change affected the characters. I love Finn Wolfhard. Mikey on Stranger Things is one of my favorite current characters on television, film, or novels. I even liked some of the things that Wolfhard added to Richie. But they gutted the best parts of Richie Tozier to make him someone else’s memory of the class clown. I was an 1985 Richie Tozier, and I was not the class clown. I just had a mouth to overcompensate for my lack of brawn. 1957 Tozier is the Critic, the one who sees, and he’s also the bard of the party, keeping spirits up.
•The gathering of heroes. Like Richie's Critic, all of the Losers have a power, something that brings them together and makes them useful. Bill is the Leader, the one who gives the others courage. Ben is literally the Architect, and he invents things, like the smokehole. Mike should be the Lighthouse, the knowledge and record. The movie completely sidelines this aspect of him, giving his relevance to Ben, instead, which is just dumb and perhaps a little racist, too. Stan is the Skeptic, who at first hinders their battle with Pennywise, but it’s his obstinance that lead them to realize that it isn’t Pennywise they’re fighting. Eddie is the Believer, who’s faith in others is absolute.
•The complete misfire of Bev. Bev is the Warrior of the Losers, the most savage of their tribe. How can they relegate her to Pennywise’s kidnap victim? All to make some kind of bookend moment with Audra in the second movie? It was a tacky disservice. I think they cast someone too old to play her. She was the standout acting performance, definitely, but she seemed out of place with the Losers, with little chemistry. And, is the creepy incest stuff really necessary? Does it really improve the story, or just add a weird fetish layer? Speaking of which, that drugstore encounter with the pervy pharmacist: ugh. And, will she run away with Bill in the sequel? Because that fairy-tale kiss Ben gave her did not build the chemistry needed to suggest a romantic underpinning to their relationship that is reawakened in 2017.
•The reliance on Pennywise all the way through the film. Please understand: Pennywise is not It. Pennywise is an avatar who can only hurt you if you believe in him. Take your mind back to playing cops and robbers as a kid, and one kid refuses to acknowledge getting shot. Now imagine a version of that game where, if you believe flying slugs are destroying you, you’re gonna die. That’s how Pennywise kills. The clown doesn’t need to eat; it's a projection of the real entity. “It” is just an illusion that becomes real when you accept it. This is something the kids are supposed to figure out during their time period; the clown trying to scare them into its lair is just a stand-in for something extra-dimensional that feeds on their fear and needs them close to do it.
•The million-and-one Jump Scares. King horror is about rising dread and those nightmares you have where the monster approaches and you are too paralyzed to move, not pop-up false scares.
There was lots to love, though.
•Richie and the bat. I'm not a fan of 'face your fears' as opposed to 'believe in the magic', but the ending sold this well, and I was able to quickly let go of just how toxic and annoying Richie had been up until then.
•That ending. Watching the Losers take down Pennywise was very satisfying.
•Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. Okay, I don't like that they made him so prominent, but he was fantastic as Pennywise, and I want to see the sequel based on Bill Skarsgård alone.
•The opening scenes were so well done. Gone is that weird "Be careful" dread that Bill had in the miniseries. Instead, it's just a kid and his older brother, and they have great chemistry together-- you can buy into them being brothers.
That's my take on it. I am really hoping there's a chance John Krasinski will play the grown-up Bill in chapter 2, and Bev will be played by Bryce Dallas Howard, which would have a kind of symmetry to it...
Floating off to the next movie!
Precious_Roy
Dannie back with a thanks to Precious_Roy for taking the time to share his outlook on this killer clown flick!
Stay Strong, Live Good, Love Movies!
Dannie aka Pekosa Peligrosa
