It: Chapter Two (2019) review

The second and final part of the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's mammoth novel has the Losers Club in adult form - including Bill Hader as Richie, James McAvoy as Bill and Jessica Chastain as Bev - returning to their hometown of Derry, Maine to obliterate Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård), who's come back after 27 years of being dormant.  It doesn't start off right, with Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan's character being thrown off a bridge just for being gay, but eventually settles into its protracted series of jump scares (which admittedly got me twice - I nearly pole-vaulted out of my seat) and interminable scenes of the characters bonding together: I don't know that you need over a thousand pages (or five plus hours of running time) to talk about one has to confront lingering childhood trauma in order to become a more 'stable' adult (notice how Bev, abused as a child, has a husband who beats her) ... but King has never been known for brevity.  The effects are truly top-notch, and Skarsgård, despite being on-screen for a relatively short period of time, is undeniably menacing.  Missing from the movie (and with good reason): the part where the male Losers run a train on Bev.