IT Chapter 2 Should Have Broken From Stephen King & Killed [SPOILER]

IT Chapter 2 wasn’t without its notable casualties, but the film should’ve deviated with Stephen King in killing off one particular character. With director Andy Muschietti’s blockbuster horror sequel now just over six months old, it seems safe to admit that it disappointed quite a few people. That’s not to say IT Chapter 2 is a bad film, because it’s not. Instead, it’s a “pretty good” movie that doesn’t manage to emerge from the shadow of its 2017 predecessor, which many consider outright great.

IT Chapter 2 suffers from a few major issues, namely being too long for its own good, undercutting its scarier moments with unneeded jokes, and not quite succeeding in overcoming the recurring problem Stephen King has with writing endings, despite turning that very thing into a running gag. Sure, Pennywise’s spider form no longer looks like it stepped out of a Ray Harryhausen ripoff, but the overall conclusion still leaves much to be desired, especially the final battle against IT.

One major thing IT Chapter 2 definitely has going for it though is its cast, with Pennywise himself once again being excellently portrayed by Bill Skarsgard, and all seven adult Losers’ Club members taking to their roles well, despite Chapter 1‘s kids leaving them big shoes to fill. Just as in King’s book, IT Chapter 2 ends up choosing to kill off Stan by suicide and Eddie via Pennywise, but one Loser fails to meet his end that probably ended up deserving it most of all, Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa).

IT Chapter 2 Should Have Broken From Stephen King & Killed Mike

For fans asking why Mike, in some ways the backbone of the Losers’ Club and the one who reassembles them in Derry, deserves to die, there’s a very simple reason: he lied. And he didn’t just lie about something small, or something personal. He told an enormous lie designed to convince the other Losers that the Ritual of Chud would be enough to defeat Pennywise, and it was on the strength of that lie that they all went back into the labyrinthine sewer system of Derry that IT calls home.

Of course, once they perform the ritual, it quickly becomes clear that it didn’t really accomplish anything but making Pennywise even angrier. It’s revealed that Mike purposefully hid from the others that the Native Americans who originally attempted to defeat IT with the ritual were slaughtered when it failed. That’s a hell of a point to leave out, and due to the grave situation they’re in, his friends don’t really have much time to express just how immensely terrible the thing he did he was. To top it off, while they do eventually manage to defeat Pennywise, no thanks to the ritual, Eddie is killed, completely devastating Richie. But Mike survives IT Chapter 2, and actually gets to leave Derry for a better life in the end, seemingly free of consequences for his insanely selfish choice. That’s not fair. Mike needed to die, and he needed to do it saving the lives of the other Losers.

About The Author