Here's the runtime for IT: Chapter 2, and why it should have been cut tighter. Stephen King's 1986 novel IT is one of his chunkiest tomes, coming in at well over a 1000 pages. It tells the epic story of childhood friends who are reunited 27 years later in their hometown Derry to confront an ancient, shape-shifting creature that mostly goes by the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. George A. Romero was the first to attempt an adaptation, but his planned ten-episode miniseries fell apart over budget concerns.

Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III: Season Of The Witch) took over, shrinking the story down to a three-hour, two-parter instead. The IT miniseries terrified a generation thanks to Tim Curry's fantastic performance as Pennywise, though the first half - which focused on the young Loser's Club - is generally considered far superior to the second. The ending was considered especially messy, with Pennywise turning into an unconvincing spider creature. After years spent in development hell, a movie remake finally arrived - rather eeriely - 27 years after the miniseries in 2017.

Related: IT: Chapter 2 Was Doomed To Be The Lesser Movie - Here's Why

Andy Muschietti helmed the first IT movie, which focused entirely on the struggles of the young Loser's Club. While it was always expected to be a success, the R-rated adaptation earned a very healthy $700 million worldwide. The movie also received mostly positive reviews but from the very beginning, there was concern about the second movie. The adult parts of both the novel and the miniseries were considered the weaker halves, and they had a lot of ground to cover storywise. IT: Chapter 2's runtime comes in at two hours and 49 minutes, though this length ends up working against the movie.

It Chapter 2 characters standing in street

While IT: Chapter 2 is an entertaining ride that features some great performances, especially from Bill Hader's Richie, it has numerous, in-built structural issues that bog it down. The one that's drawn the most criticism is the middle act where the group split up to find each of their personal totems, which they need for the ritual to defeat Pennywise. Bill's totem is Georgie's paper boat, Bev's is Ben's old love letter and so on. The issue with this section is how repetitive it is, with back to back scenes of The Loser's going to locations, having fakeout scares - such as the silly scene where the leper pukes on Eddie - before they reunite.

While some of these scenes have some good moments of character development, they're too episodic and rarely scary. If anything, they just highlight how toothless Pennywise is against the adult Loser's, since they're never really in danger. Richie's segment is important for his character development, but the entire flashback attack from the Paul Bunyan statue could have been removed. The bagginess of IT: Chapter 2's runtime often stems from trying to stay loyal to passages from the book that don't always feel organic to the movie's pace. The return of adult Henry Bowers is a good example, which is a critical part of the novel and miniseries, but in IT: Chapter 2 his appearance has little to no impact on the overall plot.

If IT: Chapter 2 lost around a half hour and tightened certain narrative problems, it could have made for a stronger final product. The endless totem search could have been condensed, and the focus given to it isn't helped by the fact the ritual itself ultimately doesn't work. The movie still works despite these flaws, but a little more time in editing could have worked wonders.

Next: What Does Pennywise Really Look Like In IT?