Even though it may not be as successful as the first instalment, IT Chapter Two has been quite the success for Warner Bros. In fact, until IT hit theatres in September, 2019 was a year Warner’s beancounters and stock holders would love to forget.
I have made no secret of how much I loved the book growing up, and it may stand as my favourite novel of all time (though not the scariest-that honour goes to George Orwell’s 1984). But my affection for the book prevented me from genuinely enjoying the first movie (and with all due respect to Tim Curry, don’t even get me started on that horrible ABC mini-series from the 1990’s).
But having said that, I’m still willing to give Chapter Two a shot. While the first movie depicted the Loser’s Club during their days as kids-meeting each other, discovering Pennywise and fighting it for the first time-the second chapter tells the tale of their return to Derry as adults and their second battle against the demonic entity haunting and feeding on an entire town. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it makes up for some of the first film’s squandered potential and manages to find some of that original magic.
On that note, here are four things movie makers will need to preserve from the original story for that to happen, even if it means walking back a thing or two from the first chapter. But be warned, while I have tried to keep spoilers to a minimum, one or two plot points from both the book and the the first movie do see the light of day.
So if you haven’t read the book or seen Chapter One but plan to, turn back now.
Keep That Scene Out: One particular scene from the book got a lot of attention when Chapter One hit theatres in 2018 (even though it never appeared in the movie.) But with news that the kids will appear in Chapter Two as well, there has been genuine concern the scene in question make still make its way on screen. The scene that had everyone talking was basically an orgy by the seven pre-teen heroes.
After being chased into the sewers by a homicidal Henry Bowers (and suspecting they were going to come face to face with a waiting Pennywise), the Losers begin to break down. They get lost in the dark tunnels beneath Derry, they start to doubt themselves and it isn’t long before panic threatens to set in. At that point Beverley (the only girl of the group) announces she knows how to bring them closer together and takes off her pants. And one by one her six male friends take turns having sex with her (which somehow brings them closer together and fixes their collective GPS?).
Even as a fifteen year old at the mercy of puberty, that scene made me uneasy at the very least. It cheapened the rest of the story at the expense of . . . well not to sound like a prude but at the expense of decency. There was no need for it. It didn’t further the plot at all or develop any of the characters. Every time I look back on reading the book, that one scene casts a shadow over an otherwise happy memory. It’s like enjoying a fantastic, once in-a-lifetime seven course meal, only to find a cockroach in the desert. It was a spot of unforgettable ugliness that ruined an otherwise brilliant experience.
Bev and Ben: Chapter One didn’t explore this nearly as much as the book did, though it was still difficult to miss. The painfully lonely Ben, the Loser tormented and tortured for his weight, fell heads over heels in love with Beverly Marsh the moment he saw her. And it wasn’t any mere school boy crush or hormonal infatuation. Ben was in genuine love with Bev, who in turn really only had eyes for Bill (the nice guy’s dilemma).
It was something just about everyone who read the book could relate to. Nearly everyone has been a lonely outsider at some point in their life, and watched as the person they craved, the person they ached for, seemed completely obvious to their existence despite no matter how often they saw you on a regular basis
In the end the two star crossed lovers come together (and have the best odds of ending the infertility curse that plagues the Losers into their adult years), but Chapter One played up the Bev and Bill angle hard. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think some producer or executive would change things up and have Bev and Bill wind up together when all was said and done. Which would be an unnecessary change to the book and an insult to every genuine loser who made good and got the girl/guy in the end.
The Ritual of Chud: The first movie really didn’t offer any clues into what Pennywise truly was. And while the book doesn’t exactly spell it out either, it does let you know that the being the Loser’s Club would come to call Pennywise was far more than a shapeshifting ghost that liked to eat little children (though that’s plenty terrifying all on its own).
Shortly after the Loser’s decided that they would have to oppose Pennywise, they participated in the Ritual of Chud, a ceremony that allowed them to see into the distant past. The ritual peeled back countless millennia-to a time when the world was still primal-to witness the arrival of Pennywise.
Pennywise was far more than a mere ghost or matinee movie monster. It was a cosmic force of unimaginable power that lay dormant for millions of years after arriving on Earth. When it awoke it fed on the human beings that had rose to dominion while it slept. But it also developed a taste for human fear, a rare delicacy it had never experienced during its near infinite existence. And it soon learned that the fear of children was sweeter and much more succulent. So every few decades it would awaken and feed on Derry, feasting on the nearly addictive fear of its children (though it never hesitated to take an adult or two when the opportunity presented itself).
The ritual was never touched upon in Chapter One, never revealing that Pennywise The Dancing Clown was merely the most popular face of an eternal Anti-God that fed on human fear. An omission that prevented the audience from learning the secret of the Losers Club, the true power behind them that granted them victory. Which brings us to . . .
The Turtle: Chapter One tells the story of seven adolescent misfits coming together to kill a powerful demonic clown that had terrified and fed on their hometown for well over a century. Seven kids who ended generations of torture and murder by an otherworldly nightmare armed with nothing more than a baseball bat, a bolt gun and some good old fashioned American monster-killing elbow grease!
Except . . .
Even without revealing the true power of Pennywise (one of the oldest and most powerful beings in existence), Chapter One failed to answer how seven unremarkable kids survived a supernatural killing machine, let alone defeat it. In the book they had one very big thumb tipping the scale in their favour. They had the Turtle.
Not a literal turtle of course, but it was a name the Losers gave the mysterious force that seemed to be guiding and protecting them (likely adapted from the Egyptian creation myth where the world hurtles through the cosmos on the back of a giant turtle). The Turtle is one of the few beings in Creation as old and as powerful as Pennywise (the Turtle created the universe by vomiting it up, something it apparently regretted) and it invested just enough power into the Losers to give them a chance of defeating it’s ancient adversary. The Turtle and it’s divine assistance was the only reason any of the Losers survived their solo encounters with Pennywise and the only reason they defeated it, as both children and adults. Without the Turtle they would have merely been statistics in a town that was little more than a buffet.
There were a few easter eggs scattered in Chapter One (the lego turtle in Georgie’s room, the turtle that brushes against Eddie’s leg when they’re swimming in the reservoir) but ignoring the Turtle ignored a crucial part of the story’s very foundation. The Turtle’s presence doesn’t detract from the bravery and the resourcefulness of the Losers, but explains how seven discarded and dismissed young souls embedded themselves into an ancient conversation between Gods, between the very forces of Chaos and Order.
Otherwise Pennywise would have been the most inept monster in movie history. And if that’s the way they choose to make him in the movie, well the second chapter will be just as big a letdown as the first.
Image Warner Bros. Pictures
