Review of It (2017) by Nathan H — 07 Sep 2017

Hands down the best time I've had at the movies all year. It is a fucking blast!

Basically The Goonies with a demonic killer clown.

The kid from Stranger Things steals the entire movie. His one liners were absolute gold. My sides were acing. He says this one line after the rock fight and I was crying real tears.

All of the kids were exceptional. Every single kid knocks it out of the park. Everyone has their own distinct characteristics, quips, and quirks. The chemistry between the group was outstanding. There's so much great banter among the group. I haven't seen this type of chemistry between kids since The Goonies and Stand Bye Me. Mind you, those movies were made over 30 years ago...Not to mention I truly cared about every character (except the bullies, fuck those assholes). I felt for them and wanted them to get through all of this crazy shit.

I mentioned how Richie was my favorite kid of the group, but I can't stress enough how excellent everyone else is too. The girl who plays Beverly (Sophia Lillis) is someone to look out for. She truly has an amazing screen presence. Eddie was also hilarious as this paranoid germaphobe kid. I was BLOWN AWAY by the kids. I'm almost still in shock about how good they were.

Bill Skarsgard is masterful as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Skarsgard totally owned this role. He is one creepy son of a beach. As a comparison, Tim Curry's take on Pennywise reminded me of Jack Nicholson's Joker and Skarsgard's take on Pennywise reminded me of Heath Ledger's Joker. Both Skarsgard and Curry killed the role, but they both play a completely different Pennywise. The same goes for Nicholson and Ledger as The Joker.

What I loved most about It is the way this movie balances comedy and horror. This movie is simultaneously the funniest and the scariest movie I've seen in 2017. On top the laughs and scares this movie has a ton of heart and is very charming. I also loved how this movie didn't rely on too many jump scares; there are some. But the scares primarily come from the creepy imagery and the menacing performance of Bill Skarsgard. It clocks in at about 2 hours 15 minutes and it flies by. I was never bored and it never dragged. Everything worked for me. I was 100% engulfed in this movie from start to finish.