The only frightening thing about “It Chapter Two” is its excessively long, three-hour run time and the lost opportunity to cast Amy Adams as the grown-up Beverly Marsh.

The film, directed by Andy Muschietti, takes place 27 years after the first film and reunites the “Losers Club” as they try to kill Pennywise, the murderous and shapeshifting clown.

Unfortunately, “It Chapter Two” is nothing like its predecessor. The first film was scary and unpredictable. This film, however, was filled with empty and cheap jump scares that had little to no effect on the audience.

The special effects and monsters were especially disappointing. At one point, a giant, nude zombie chases after Beverly(Jessica Chastain). Instead of making the audience’s stomach sink from anxiety and fear, their stomachs were hurting from laughing so hard.

Besides the unintentional hilarity that came from the alternate forms of Pennywise, this film was not nearly as funny as the first one. The first film had a great balance of comedy and horror in but the charm is lost without the foul-mouthed children. There were some minor laughs but as adults, their antics were more annoying than they were funny.

The film was perfectly cast and the entire ensemble gave solid performances and perfectly captured what the kids would be like as adults. Although, it will always be disappointing that they were unable to cast Sophia Lillis’ (young Beverly) doppelgänger, Amy Adams.

However, the standout performance in this film, without a doubt, was Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise. He brought depth to an otherwise one-dimensional character. He is not just a hungry clown, he is an angry and vengeful manipulator that yearns and relishes in people’s pain and misery.

While Skarsgard tries his hardest to breathe new life into a character that has been around for over 30 years, he was unable to bring any new facets to the character that were not already seen in the first film.

The film, overall, was fine, but it dragged on past an appropriate run-time. Some story arcs were completely unnecessary to move the plot forward. Many scenes were essentially the same, just with different specifics.

Also, the ending was incredibly underwhelming. There was nothing exhilarating, original, or breathtaking about it. When the credits rolled, there was an overwhelming hollow feeling that filled the theatre.

This sequel brought nothing new to the table. It felt like everything had already been seen in the first film or any other horror film for that matter, but done much better.

2.5/5