It’s the Booze Talkin’; We aren’t worried about a near 3 hour IT flick!

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It was the summer of 2017. Stephen King fans had two films coming to theatres that appeared to bring the author’s frightening vision to life on the big screen. One of the stories was about a deadly clown killing children. And frankly, many fans were already having doubts simply because Tim Curry perfected the role of Pennywise the Clown when he appeared as IT in a 1990 television mini-series. The other feature film brought the long awaited big screen adaptation of THE DARK TOWER to life. Not only were folks thrilled about seeing this adventure in the cinema, it was all the more exciting with the level of talent involved, namely Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba. Since this was the first time this tale presented itself in theatres, most folks assumed that the Tower would be the film that stood out between the two. And now, we all are very aware that the clown won the box office bonanza.

Not only did IT earn critical raves – it currently sits at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score of 84% – the film managed to earn a pretty penny in box office returns. In fact, this spooky tale about young teens terrorized by a malevolent force earned a whopping 700 million worldwide on a 35 million dollar budget. This take on a clown named Pennywise wasn’t playing around. This was a surprise for a number of reasons. First off, the cast of young unknowns wasn’t much of a guarantee. And even the film’s antagonist wasn’t played by a massive name in the business. Certainly Bill Skarsgård was ultimately a great choice, but many fans were so stricken from nightmares thanks to Curry in the 1990 take, that there was little hope that Bill could come close to the magic that Tim did. However, thanks to a solid directing choice of Andy Muschietti and an excellent script by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman, the new film exceeded all expectations.

Let’s be honest here, the upcoming IT CHAPTER 2 is looking to be one of the biggest hits of the summer. We already have terrifically high expectations thanks to the first film. And of course, Muschietti is back, as is Dauberman with the script. In addition to all this goodness, the fantastic young cast will be returning, and the older versions of these characters are also ridiculously impressive. Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, James Ransone, Isaiah Mustafa and Jay Ryan are all adding a bit of class to this feature flick. However, there is some news that has a few fans curious about just how effective the sequel will be. As we all know, horror movies tend to have a shorter run time which is generally between 90 minutes and a couple of hours. However, IT CHAPTER 2 appears to be quite a bit longer than that. In fact, we are looking at a 2 hour and 45 minute sequel! And while that may scare some fans as to how they will manage to keep the film interesting, I have a feeling that it won’t be a problem at all.

First off, as a fan of what Andy Muschietti did with the first film, the lengthy 2 hour and 15 minutes of scary clowns and red balloons didn’t phase me. Somehow, the filmmaker managed to create a story that is equal parts humor, horror and heart. To this viewer, IT never felt long or dull or slow. In fact, it was shocking how easily it was to get lost in this nightmare. Perhaps it was simply that they gave us teens that were interesting, ones that were worth spending a bit of extra time with. Not only did Finn Wolfhard, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Chosen Jacobs and Jack Dylan Grazer give us a group of young teens to root for, it was simply a pleasure watching them work together with these well written and well performed characters. When it came to a longer than regular run time, I  certainly didn’t notice during the numerous times I’ve revisited this terrific film.

Then there is the book. “It” is a novel of epic proportions. With over one thousand pages, this frightening story examines childhood fears brilliantly. In fact, it still holds up as a nightmarish journey for a group of kids with more than bullies to contend with. This may sound strange but I rarely get truly disturbed reading a novel. For some reason, it’s very easy for me to separate the horrors which I am reading about and not really feel any fear. Generally, I’m more moved by films when it comes to genre. However, “It” was different. Reading about these poor children “floating” in this frightening world and the vicious killer clown playing with his victims gave me chills. There is so much material available in this impressive book that I’m more than excited to see the new film take on as much of it as it possibly can. If it handles the material as well as the first film, I have no doubt the near three hours will fly by. And frankly, I cannot wait to experience it… or IT.

Maybe it’s the booze talkin’, but we aren’t worried about a nearly 3 hour IT flick. From the inventive and impressively rich first film, I fully believe that Andy Muschietti and Gary Dauberman have managed to offer a follow up that is truly spectacular. The footage I’ve seen so far is perfectly creepy, and the cast is about as good as you could possibly wish for – I love seeing the amazingly talented James Ransone get a chance to really shine in a major motion picture. As well, IT CHAPTER 2 appears to take everything great about the first film and build to what hopefully will be a satisfying final battle. It’s also probably a safe bet that the giant spider – or however they chose to end this – will be far better than what we saw in the 1990 mini-series. Either way, IT CHAPTER 2 is one of my most anticipated films of the year and I'm not worried about how damn long it is at all. What do you think? Are you worried about the length or any other concerns? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.