SEPTEMBER 12, 2017
“It” is a phenomenon, at least at the box office.
The horror film, based on the first half of Stephen King’s novel, smashed all box-office records for the month of September this past weekend. “It” was projected to do well, with experts estimating it could even open with a $60 million weekend, which would have been hugely impressive. That fact that the film brought in more than $123 million from Friday through Sunday, even with closed theaters in Florida and a hard “R” rating so that kids around whom the movie is centered couldn’t get in to see it, should make Hollywood sit up and take notice.
But is it any good?
After the film’s first hour (“It” runs 135 minutes), I had just about given up on it. The film takes place in 1989 in yet another picturesque Maine town (don’t forget that Stephen King wrote “it”),
One year earlier, high schooler Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) fashions a paper boat, which he gives to his younger brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) to play with in the rain outside. The boat floats down into a sewer, and when Georgie tries to retrieve it, he comes face to face with Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgård) (pictured above), who toys with Georgie and eventually leads him to his doom in the sewers. (If you’ve been to the movies the past few months you’ve seen almost this entire scene in the “It” trailers.) It’s beautifully shot and raises hopes for a special film, which are dashed over the next hour.
We jump forward a year, and Bill still refuses to believe that his brother is dead. Bill, who has a pronounced stutter, is part of the so-called “Losers Club,” which brings together every cliche outsider type that you’ve seen in movies for the past 30 years. There’s Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), the chubby kid; Richie (Finn Wolfhard), the bespectacled motormouth; Stan (Wyatt Oleff), the Jewish kid; Mike (Chosen Jacobs), the black home-schooled kid; Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), the hypochondriac; and Beverly (Sophia Lillis), the girl.
And of course, there’s a Mean Girl (Megan Charpentier), who serves no other purpose except be mean, and the usual bunch of high school bullies, played by actors who look well into their 20s. You can easily tell who’s good and who’s bad — the good kid ride their bikes, while the bad kids drive cars.
I thought that, except for the clown, I’ve seen a hundred of these kinds of high school movies before. Then as Hour 2 began, something kicked in, and the movie that Hour 1 should have been, came to fruition in Act 2. I don’t know whether it was the acting or the writing, but the kids begin to become differentiated, with changing dynamics within the group.
Most importantly, the film makes it clear that the theme of “It” is fear — not just any fear, but the particular fear of each individual member of the Losers Club. For some, it’s Pennywise as he is — a clown — but for others, Pennywise can morph into any fear that truly terrorizes each one. At this moment, “It” veers from being “Stand By Me” and morphs into the territory of Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” (Appropriate because Finn Wolfhard is a member of both casts.)
The kids’ realization that children are killed in large numbers in their town every 27 years provides a chilling moment and that Pennywise is simply the latest manifestation of that curse. One opportunity missed is exploring what the parents of these kids did in the town 27 years ago when they were kids? Did they hide their heads in the sand or hope they wouldn’t be the next victim? Instead the adult characterizations in “It” are lazy — men are either violent or lecherous, and the women are either overbearing or prisses.
Argentine director Andy Muschietti has made “It” into a film that’s not really scary but much more disturbing. Like his mentor, Guillermo del Toro, Muschietti deals in imagery, and some of the images that he has devised are haunting, particularly in the film’s climactic scenes. You come away from “It” less with nervous laughter they way that a “Boo!” kind of scary movie could prompt, but much more unsettled, which stays with you longer.
As I mentioned, “It” only covers the first half of King’s book, with the second half devoted to the Losers Club, 27 years later, banding together to fight It’s possible return. Do you think they will? With $123 million in the bank for “It” Chapter One in only three days, I’d say count on it.
GRADE: B
