Review of It (2017) by Billy V — 23 May 2018

It's been 27 years since we've seen him last, but Pennywise the Dancing Clown is back to scare a whole new generation of people who probably don't realize that this film is actually adapted from a bestselling novel. Being a big fan of the original IT movie/miniseries (and the book) I was really excited to go see this film when it was released in the fall of 2017. But as excited as I was I think my wife was even more so and I knew this was a movie I was going to go see in a theater. After experiencing the big screen experience I knew full well this film was going to get a nice 4K home release and I was really looking forward to see how good it would come out and what kind of extra goodies the studio would pile into the set. Did the 4K home release of IT live up to my expectations? Let's have a look-see and find out!

Let's start with the visuals. The picture quality presented on this disc is superb. The use of HDR was done really well here, especially in dark scenes such as when the kids go down into the sewer, or when Georgie goes down into the basement. The shadowing and lighting is just downright awesome and the visual wizards involved on this project did some fine tuning to the color gamut which helped to make colors bright and vibrant when they need to be, and dark when they don't. The viewing experience of this disc is pretty damn remarkable and I've got to give the studio some much deserved credit for churning out such a polished product. Even the included traditional Blu-ray version of this film looks leaps and bounds better than most 1080p content I've seen recently. Just an all around wonderful job by the good folks at New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers and I think you'll be very pleased with your viewing experience. And now on to the audio aspect of IT....

They really nailed the sound on this release and with an amazing soundbar, or surround sound setup, you'll really enjoy what you'll hear coming out of your speakers. Even on a 4K TV without anything connected to it this film still sounds remarkable and either which way you choose to watch your flicks I think you'll agree that there is a lot of good going on here. It's amazing all of the leaps and bounds they've made throughout the years as it pertains to sound quality in film, and it seems like it's going to just keep getting better thanks to awesome companies like Dolby and DTS hard at work to make the best experience possible. Take it from me that all you audio connoisseurs out there will be satiated by what this disc can produce. I know I was! Both Dolby Atmos-True HD and DTS HD-Master Audio are present and available in this set and regardless of which you decide to go with you will be greeted with a great audio experience. Personally, I went with Dolby when viewing this film as I felt it didn't have enough loud explosions or intense action to warrant the "boom" of DTS that you get with action flicks. I tend to notice that films with a lot of dialogue sound better with Dolby while movies with a lot of background noise sound nicer with DTS.

As far as extra content is concerned I think you'll be happy with what you get in this set. Interviews, commentaries, and more can be enjoyed as you dive deeper into the world of Stephen King's IT. There is even an interview with Stephen King himself as well as some interesting deleted scenes and some fun little documentaries. I wasn't blown away by the amount of extras here, but I was happy enough with what comes on this release. I'm one who believes that in this era of media there should be hours upon hours of extra content included on the home release of the blu-ray as there needs to be a hook to get people to choose physical media over streaming in this day and age. With that said there is no better way to do it than to cram these discs full of goodies and make the audio/video as good as is could possibly be. As for the extras on this disc, well, they're good.......just not great.

All in all I must say that I'm very impressed with what New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers have produced. The IT experience is a good one and with stellar audio/video quality, some decent bonus content, and slick packaging and I'd say that (as of this writing) this is the absolute best version of this film money can buy. Also, the fact that the studio included the traditional blu-ray release in this set, along with the digital HD code so you can watch it anywhere, goes a long way in my opinion and gives people some great options as it pertains to how they watch the movie. I see more and more studios eliminating the standard 1080p blu-ray from the home release thus keeping the blu-ray and the 4K as separate products, which upsets me, instead of future proofing the product and including every way possible to the consumer to watch the film. The idea of multiple releases for one film in 2018 should be long dead (in my opinion) and the studios should be including everything in one package for a decent price. IT nails it in that regard. At the end if the day this is a tremendous release and absolutely worth picking up either for yourself, or someone in your life who is a film aficionado. Buy with confidence, my friends.

Oh, what was that? How did I feel about the movie itself, you ask? Well, I thought it was pretty damn good! The cast of kids was unbelievable and the way they interacted among themselves, and with Pennywise, was incredible. The film had a Stranger Things vibe to it and reminded me a lot of other flicks based off of Stephen King's writing, such as Stand By Me, but it stood on its own and in many ways eclipsed the original film without eclipsing the original film. One thing that stood out to me is that Bill Skarsgard definitely left his stamp on the Pennywise character and brought some originality into the role instead of just playing off of what Tim Curry did prior. Bill's Pennywise was downright creepy and sadistic and really made me love the character as the story unfolded. All in all the movie was darn good and definitely worth checking out if you haven't done so already.

Billy Vegas.

Twitter - @bvfilmreview.