Avis des critiques

"Chapter Two" is so stuffed with the slam-dunk of past memories and visceral jump scares that the latter become a touch predictable. Thankfully, Bill Skarsgård’s terrifying performance as Pennywise is again the stuff of sleepless nights... Bill Hader, meanwhile, gives a career-best turn as chatterbox-turned-comedian Richie Tozier, who provides some welcome light relief amid grisly murders and copious blood.

In stretching its canvas so far, the film also bursts the balloon-like charm of its predecessor, throwing more at the audience while ultimately landing less of an engaging emotional punch.

In many ways, Chapter Two — and really Muschietti’s It duology overall — is a loving, carefully considered adaptation of Stephen King’s novel that reproduces most of the important stuff... But in its less successful moments, the problems often lie in the tension between past and present, between the appeal of King’s fantasy — with its timeless, visceral horror that feels directly piped to us from the Earth’s subconscious — and the hard-to-sidestep elements that feel mired in a 1986 worldview.

"It Chapter Two" absolutely brings the scares. Its peak moments rank among the most frightening seen in mainstream movies in recent memory... There are flaws, to be sure, but nothing you wouldn't expect going in. If you liked "It," then you definitely won't be disappointed.

“It Chapter Two” can be a sprawling, unwieldy mess—overlong, overstuffed and full of frustrating detours—but its casting is so spot-on, its actors have such great chemistry and its monster effects are so deliriously ghoulish that the film keeps you hooked. You won’t check out entirely, but you will check your watch several times.

Sure, "It Chapter Two" runs nearly three hours long (a full half-hour longer than its predecessor), but unless you suffer from sciatica or, God help you, coulrophobia, it’s a helluva ride and a fitting capstone (headstone?) to the best cinematic Stephen King adaptation in recent memory.

A psychologically merciless sequel, everything here is as it should be: deeper, scarier, funnier. Muschietti in particular has stepped up, skilfully guiding us through a rollicking funhouse. It is obscenely entertaining.

"It Chapter Two" moves with an almost too swift purpose, never feeling the weight of its nearly three-hour runtime; although it is long, the film feels frustratingly thin. Meanwhile, the film is aggressively sentimental, and moments of emotional catharsis or terror don’t often hit the way they need to. When they do, it is because of the dedication of the acting.

Overestimating the power of flashbacks and repetition to evince its theme of trauma as a cycle, the film clocks in at almost three hours, and in many stretches feels interminable. On the upside, the movie boasts an exceptional cast that nearly matches the chemistry of the young actors from the first film.

Muschietti’s first "It" felt like dutiful fan service, hitting the plot points without the time to let them resonate. But with "Chapter Two," the director seems to realize he can’t make a film as powerful as the book and opts instead for self-consciously campy, crowd-pleasing fun—fodder for future preteen sleepovers.

"It Chapter Two" still botches the ending, mostly by repeating the mistakes of the first chapter and taking too long to do it... By the time Muschietti gets to the grand guignol finale, he's exhausted the audience.

"Chapter Two" ranks, eventually, as a plateauing of the first part’s promise, rather than the escalation we may have wanted. But Hader’s wonderful ability to meld humour and horror, using each to animate the other, is the best special effect that money can buy.