Wonder Woman (2017)

Wonder Woman is a 2017 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film is directed by Patty Jenkins, with a screenplay by Allan Heinberg, from a story by Heinberg, Zack Snyder, and Jason Fuchs, and stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, and Elena Anaya. Wonder Woman is the second live action theatrical film featuring the titular character, following her debut in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Jenkins's role as director makes her the first female director of a studio superhero comic book live-action theatrical release film.The film tells the story of Princess Diana, who grows up on the Amazon island of Themyscira. After American pilot Steve Trevor crashes offshore of the island and is rescued by her, he tells the Amazons about the ongoing World War. Diana then leaves her home in order to end the conflict, becoming Wonder Woman in the process.

While development for the film began in 1996, Jenkins signed on to direct in 2015. Principal photography began on November 21, 2015, with filming taking place in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy before wrapping up on May 9, 2016, the 123rd anniversary of the birth of the creator, William Moulton Marston. Additional filming took place in November 2016.

Wonder Woman premiered in Shanghai on May 15, 2017, and was released in the United States on June 2, 2017, in 2D, 3D and IMAX3D. It received largely positive reviews from critics, being praised for the direction, performances, action sequences and musical score.^[7] The film set numerous box office records, including becoming the highest-grossing film directed by a woman, the biggest domestic opening for a film directed by a woman, the highest-grossing superhero origin film domestically, and the largest opening for a female-led comic book film. Wonder Woman is also the fifth highest-grossing superhero film domestically and 20th highest-grossing film in the United States. It has grossed over $820 million worldwide, making it the seventh highest-grossing film of 2017. It also helped the DCEU to push past $3 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the seventeenth highest-grossing film franchise of all time. A sequel, Wonder Woman 2, is set to be released on December 13, 2019.

In present-day Paris, Diana Prince receives a photographic plate of herself during World War I, which prompts her to recall her past. The daughter of Queen Hippolyta, Diana was raised on the hidden island of Themyscira, home to the Amazonian race of warrior women created by Zeus to protect mankind. Hippolyta shares the Amazonian history with Diana, including how Ares, Zeus's son, became jealous of humanity and worked to orchestrate its destruction. When the other gods of Mount Olympus attempted to stop him, Ares killed all but Zeus, who managed to hurt Ares enough to force a retreat. Zeus left the Amazons a weapon, the "Godkiller", to prepare them for Ares' return.

Hippolyta forbids Diana to train, then relents by having her sister Antiope train Diana, but so long as her training is more difficult than that received by any other warrior in the army. As a young woman in 1918, Diana rescues American pilot Captain Steve Trevor when his plane crashes off the Themyscira coast. He is pursued by a German cruiser. The Amazons kill the crew and Antiope sacrifices herself to save Diana. Steve is interrogated with the Lasso of Hestia. He reveals that a war is consuming the outside world, and that he is an Alliedspy. He has stolen a notebook of the Spanish chief chemist Isabel Maru, who is attempting to engineer a deadlier form of mustard gas, under the orders of General Erich Ludendorff. Diana believes Ares is responsible for the war. She arms herself with the "Godkiller" sword, the lasso and her armor before leaving Themyscira with Steve to find and destroy Ares.

In London, they deliver Maru's notebook to the Supreme War Council, where Sir Patrick Morgan is trying to negotiate an armistice with Germany. Diana translates Maru's notes and reveals that the Germans plan to release the deadly gas at the War Front. Although forbidden by his commanders to act, Steve, with secret funding from Sir Patrick, recruits spy Sameer, marksman Charlie, and smuggler Chief to help prevent the gas from being released. When the team reaches the Western Front in Belgium, they are halted by the enemy lines. Diana goes alone through No Man's Land and captures the enemy trench, allowing the Allied forces to help her liberate the village of Veld. The team briefly celebrates, while Diana and Steve grow closer romantically and spend the night together.

The team learns a gala will be held at the nearby German High Command. Steve and Diana each infiltrate the party, with Steve intending to locate the gas and destroy it while Diana intends to kill Ludendorff, believing that he is Ares and killing him will end the war. Steve stops her to avoid jeopardizing the mission. Ludendorff then unleashes the gas on Veld, killing its inhabitants. Outraged, and blaming Steve for intervening, Diana pursues Ludendorff to a base where the gas is being loaded into a bomber aircraft bound for London. Diana fights and kills Ludendorff but is confused when his death does not stop the war.

Sir Patrick appears and reveals himself as Ares. He tells Diana that although he has subtly given humans ideas and inspirations using Ludendorff and Maru as pawns, it is ultimately their decision to cause violence as they are inherently corrupt. She attempts to kill Ares with the Godkiller sword but he destroys it. Ares reveals Diana to be the "Godkiller", as the daughter of Zeus and Queen Hippolyta, but he fails to persuade her to help him destroy humankind to restore paradise on Earth. While the two battle, the others on Steve's team destroy Maru's laboratory. Steve pilots the bomber carrying the gas to a safe altitude and detonates it, sacrificing himself. Ares attempts to direct Diana's rage and grief at Steve's death by convincing her to kill Maru, but memories of her experience with Steve cause her to realize that mankind has good within it. She spares Maru and redirects Ares' lightning into him, killing him. Later, the team celebrates the end of the war. In the present day, Diana sends an email to Bruce Wayne thanking him for the photographic plate of her and Steve, and reaffirms her new mission to protect and give to the world.

• Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman:

An immortal Amazon princess, god, the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and of Zeus given to the Amazons to raise, and half-sister of Ares, contradicting the earlier claims of Diana being a "demigoddess Describing Wonder Woman and her appeal, Gadot said "She's relatable. She has the heart of a human and is very compassionate, but her experiences – or lack of them, her naivete, really – make her interested in everything around her and able to view the world in a way that we'd all like to: with a genuine curiosity. On Diana's relationship with her mother, Gadot said "Diana is a very opinionated girl. Her mother is very opinionated. Her mother is very protective as well, and they have, you know, the very natural clash that a mother has with her daughter, with their daughters, the first time they want to leave home. On taking on the role as Wonder Woman, Gadot stated "I feel very privileged that I got the opportunity to portray such an iconic, strong female character. I adore this character and everything that she stands for and everything that she symbolizes. On Diana going to the world, Gadot stated "When Diana comes to the real world she's completely oblivious about gender and society rules, that women are not equal to men. Describing Diana's relationship with her mother and aunts, Jenkins said "She is the only child they raised together. And their love for her manifests in a different way for each of them. On working with Gadot, Jenkins said "Gal quickly became the person I wanted to talk to about everything. We'd shoot together all day. And then on weekends, we'd be like, 'What do you want to do?' That's maybe not totally normal. Lilly Aspel was cast as the 8-year-old Diana and Emily Carey was cast as the 12-year-old Diana.

Baby Driver (2017)

Baby Driver is a 2017 action crime comedy film written and directed by Edgar Wright. It stars Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Bernthal. The plot follows Baby, a young getaway driver and music lover who must work for a kingpin.

Baby Driver was co-produced by Working Title Films, Big Talk Productions and Media Rights Capital, and was distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures and by TriStar Pictures in the US. It premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2017, and was released theatrically on June 28, 2017. The film received critical acclaim and has grossed $224 million worldwide against a production budget of $34 million, making it Wright's highest-grossing film as director.

Baby is a getaway driver in Atlanta, Georgia. He ferries crews of robbers assembled by Doc, a heist mastermind, to pay off a debt he incurred after stealing one of Doc's cars. When he was a child, a car accident killed his parents and left him with tinnitus, which he blocks out by listening to music on various iPods. Between jobs, he creates remixes from snippets of conversations he records, while caring for his deaf foster father Joseph. While visiting a local diner, he meets a waitress named Debora, and the two start dating.

His next robbery goes awry after an armed bystander chases them down, but Baby evades him and the police. Informed by Doc that they are now "straight", Baby quits his life of crime, and starts delivering pizzas. During a date with Debora at an upscale restaurant, Doc blackmails him into performing another heist at a post office, making veiled threats to Debora's safety should he refuse.

The crew consists of easy-going Buddy, his sharpshooter wife Darling, and trigger-happy Bats, who takes an immediate dislike to Baby. While the crew attempts to purchase illegal arms for the job, Bats realizes the dealers are police and opens fire, killing them all. Afterwards, Bats forces Baby to stop at Debora's diner, unaware of Baby and Debora's romance, and nearly kills her in a hold-up.

Doc, furious at the botched deal, tries to cancel the heist, but Baby convinces him to go through with it. He attempts to flee later that night, hoping to take Debora and leave Atlanta, but is stopped by Buddy and Bats, who have discovered his recordings and believe he is an informant. When they and Doc hear his mixtapes, they are convinced of his innocence.

During the heist, Bats kills a security guard. Disgusted, Baby refuses to drive the crew, causing Bats to beat him. Baby rams the car into rebar which impales Bats, killing him. The three flee the police on foot. After police kill Darling, Buddy blames Baby for her death, and vows to kill him. Baby steals another car and flees to his apartment. After leaving Joseph at an assisted living home, Baby drives to Debora's diner to pick her up, where he discovers Buddy waiting. Baby shoots Buddy and flees with Debora as the police close in.

Baby seeks help from Doc, who initially refuses to help as he blames Baby for ruining the heist. After seeing he truly loves Debora, Doc supplies them with cash and directions to get out of the country, stating that he was also in love once. Buddy ambushes them in the parking garage and hits and kills Doc with a stolen police car. A cat-and-mouse game ensues until Buddy has Baby at his mercy. Debora disarms Buddy with a crowbar and Baby shoots him with the pistol, causing him to fall to his death.

Fleeing Atlanta, Baby and Debora run into a police roadblock. Debora prepares to ram it, but Baby stops her and surrenders, telling her she is not a criminal. At Baby's trial, Joseph, Debora, and several people Baby saved during the robberies testify in his defense. Baby is sentenced to 25 years in prison with a parole hearing after five years. He receives postcards from Debora, who promises to wait for him. Baby is released and finds Debora waiting, and they kiss.

Cast

• Ansel Elgort as Baby / Miles, a young man with a love for music who works as the getaway driver for a rotating crew of bank robbers
  • Hudson Meek as young Baby
• Kevin Spacey as Doc, the mysterious kingpin of the rag-tag gang of bank robbers and a veteran criminal mastermind
• Jamie Foxx as Bats / Leon Jefferson III, an impulsive, violent member of Doc's gang
• Lily James as Debora, a young waitress who befriends Baby
• Jon Hamm as Buddy / Jason Van Horn, a handsome party animal and frequent member of Doc's gang
• Eiza González as Darling / Monica Castello, one of Doc's gang of bank robbers, Buddy’s lawless and scandalous wife and partner in crime
• Jon Bernthal as Griff, one of Doc's gang, who mocks Baby constantly
• Flea as Eddie "No-Nose", one of Doc's gang
• Lanny Joon as JD, one of Doc's gang
• CJ Jones as Joseph, Baby's deaf foster father
• Sky Ferreira as Baby's Mother
• Lance Palmer as Baby's Father
• Big Boi as Restaurant Patron ^]
• Killer Mike as Restaurant Patron 
• Paul Williams as "The Butcher
• Jon Spencer as Prison Guard
• Sidney and Thurman Sewell (The ATL Twins) as Hellcat Thug #1 and #2 (cameo)

Filmmaker Walter Hill makes a vocal cameo appearance as a courtroom interpreter during Baby's trial hearing near the end of the film. Wright has cited Hill's 1978 film The Driver as a major inspiration for Baby Driver.

Friend Request 2017

To its credit, "Friend Request" is upfront with its intentions and methods almost from the start. Our protagonist, a generic college student named Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey), is watching a cat video on the feed of her non-specific social networking profile (It looks just like Facebook, just without the logo and with some of the nomenclature changed—"thumbs up" instead of "like" and "spread" instead of "share," for example). When she least expects it, the face of the cat transforms into a monstrous one, with sharp, pointy teeth and a roar. Yes, this is going to be one of those horror movies.

One could say that it doesn't disappoint, although one would also have to lower the bar of expectations to say that in a way that possesses any significance. Director Simon Verhoeven dutifully gives us multiple jump scares, in which an arm violently enters into frame or a face is suddenly in complete close-up on the screen. This is what the movie promises from the start, so there must be at least a few points awarded for truth in advertising, I suppose.

You probably know the drill by this point: The plot is a mystery, in which the characters—the ones who haven't been killed off, of course—have to figure out the reason that their friends are dying one at a time. In the process, some evil force is picking them off by supernatural means. The plot doesn't matter. The only requirement is that the screenplay (written by Matthew Ballen, Philip Koch, and Verhoeven) provides an angle that seems a bit different, if only to distract from how familiar the rest of the movie's game is.

The angle is that the supernatural killer is the spirit of a college girl named Marina (Liesl Ahlers), who committed suicide after Laura unfriended her on the safe-from-claims-of-copyright-infringement website. In Laura's defense, we learn from a lengthy, sort-of flashback that Marina was a cyber-stalker, who commented on every one of her posts, sent her repeated video chat requests, and started following her around in real life. Against Laura is the fact that Marina's own social networking profile was filled with clues about an unstable personality, such as unsettling photos of mangled faces and a video of someone stomping on a doll's head. Laura might have figured that out if she had scrolled down to the "See older posts" part of the page.

The movie's deaths are—uncomfortably, since it's simply a gimmicky hook—centered on suicide or, better, demonic possessions that make the deaths look like it. The ghost in the machine takes control of Laura's page, posting videos of her friends killing themselves in gruesome ways, starting with Marina, who hangs herself over a roaring fire.

As her online friends—all of whom the evil spirt tags in the posts—start to see the videos, they begin to unfriend Laura. It's probably an unintentional bit of social commentary that she still has hundreds of friends after two such videos are posted to her page. The last count we actually see has her hovering around 80 friends, and that's after three suicide videos appear on her page. This means that a few hundred people thought that someone posting two suicide videos was fine. Their limit, apparently, was a third video showing someone's bloody death.

Laura and her friends—including her boyfriend Tyler (William Moseley), her jealous ex Kobe (Connor Paolo), and her best friend Olivia (Brit Morgan)—look into Marina's past to determine how this is happening. All of the movie's mythology is explained in a flashback, which involves a coven of witches, a devastating fire, a boarding school, and a couple of child murders. None of it really matters, because the movie's sole purpose is to get each of the characters alone in a dark space, toss some unsettling sights and sounds their way, and, to top it off, have something pop on screen, with some loud growls and screams accompanying it.

There are flashes of inspiration here, such as repeated references to internet addiction (without any legitimate point, except that it literally will kill you), an unsettling and dynamic shot of rows of computer monitors illuminating a dark room with images of the face and eye of the spirit, and, most notably, a series of animations that tell the story of Marina's lonely, unfortunate past without the witchy hokum. These things aren't much, but when dealing with something as stale and formulaic as "Friend Request," you have to take what you can get.

Wind River 2017

Taylor Sheridan’s films take place in a mythical version of the American West that doesn’t exist anymore, if it ever really did. It’s a place where there are no rules beyond the ones people invent for themselves to survive—stretches of Texas and New Mexico that are equal parts brutal and beautiful.

Sheridan previously explored this terrain as the writer of Denis Villeneuve’s “Sicario” and David Mackenzie’s “Hell or High Water,” the latter of which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Now, he’s directing for only the second time as well as writing with “Wind River,” which feels very much of a piece with those two previous films, even as it distinguishes itself with a vivid sense of place.

“Wind River” is full of vast, scrubby expanses that give way to pristine blankets of white, interrupted only by a snowmobile slashing a solitary path. You can hear the crunch of snow and feel the bitter chill, which runs so deep that it can be deadly. Sheridan drops us in and we know this place immediately; his storytelling is meaty but efficient, and his pacing moves along at a steadily engrossing clip before ultimately exploding in a startling blast of violence.

A moody procedural, “Wind River” is heavy with symbolism from the start—perhaps, too much so. When we first see Jeremy Renner’s Cory Lambert, a tracker well-versed in the Wyoming wilds, he’s lying on his belly in the snow, camouflaged with his rifle, picking off wolves that have been preying on sheep. He’s a protector because it’s his job, but as we learn throughout the course of the film, that calling has become deeply personal.

There’s specificity to the way the characters talk, a poetry that can be quite moving or it can clang on the ear. But Sheridan’s script can be just as powerful in its quiet moments like these—in what the characters don’t say to each other.

On one of Cory’s hunting expeditions, he comes across the frozen body of a young woman; we’d seen her at the film’s start, frantically running barefoot in the middle of the night under a crisp, full moon. He recognizes her as Natalie (Kelsey Asbille), the best friend of his teenage daughter, who also died mysteriously a few years earlier.

Since the death occurred on the Wind River reservation—and Natalie, like Cory’s daughter, was Native American—the tribal police get involved in the investigation, led by the great Graham Greene as the dryly humorous, no-nonsense chief. But so, too, do the feds, in the form of newbie FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen). She’s been sent from the Las Vegas office and is so ill-equipped for this place and this weather that she has to borrow snow gear—from the closet of Cory’s late daughter, which adds to the prevailing sense of grief.

“This isn’t the land of backup, Jane,” he says to her in explaining life on the reservation. “This is the land of: You’re on your own.”

And so as Cory works with Jane to unravel the mystery of what happened to Natalie in this remote, secretive land, he also must finally face what happened to his own child. (Cinematographer Ben Richardson, whose work includes the ravishing and dreamlike “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” helped create the richly atmospheric visuals.)

Sheridan handles the relationship between Jane and Cory deftly: They’re equals, but they also need and learn from each other. And while fellow Avengers Renner and Olsen have a natural, understated chemistry, Sheridan mercifully doesn’t throw their characters together in an awkward, needless romance.

Renner also has several powerful scenes with Gil Birmingham (who played a crucial supporting role in “Hell or High Water”) as Natalie’s grieving father, Martin. He’s all masculine stoicism and bitter swagger until he isn’t, and watching his proud veneer crumble is shattering.

At times, Sheridan has his characters spell out a little too clearly what they’re thinking and feeling, and that’s often the case in the exchanges between Cory and Martin. But the words are so beautiful and come from such a place of deep truth, it’s hard not to be moved, and they help give “Wind River” a simultaneous sense of timelessness and immediacy.

Stronger 2017

Not another inspirational true-life story, you might be forgiven for thinking when considering the new movie Stronger, about Jeff Bauman, who lost both his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing and identified suspects (later revealed to be the Tsarnaev brothers) to authorities.

The “inspirational true-life story” has become a bit of a picked-on genre in recent years, thanks to how many mediocre or even outright bad versions lean heavily on the schmaltz and sentimentality in hopes of winning Oscar gold. Think, for instance, of 2015’s Jennifer Lawrence vehicle Joy, which had all sorts of problems, but first and foremost an inability to tell the “normal woman triumphs over adversity to win her fortune” story in a way that earned its (would be) soaring climax.

Plus, Stronger hails from director David Gordon Green, whose work is often great but is, to put it kindly, hit-or-miss over the last few years. (His 2015 Oscar bid, Our Brand Is Crisis, sank without a trace for good reason.) Its star, Jake Gyllenhaal, can give performances that range from magnetic to misguided. And female lead Tatiana Maslany is terrific on TV’s Orphan Black but has never had a film role of this stature.

But fortunately, almost everything in Stronger works really well. Yes, it follows the inspirational true-life story format almost chapter and verse, right down to the part where Gyllenhaal breaks down weeping about how he can’t do it anymore. And yes, I could quibble with a few choices here and there, particularly when it comes to the movie’s score and a couple of its climactic scenes.

But Stronger just works, thanks to strong performances across the board and lovely, understated direction from Green (who’s tremendous at how he uses the frame to highlight his actors). It’s a great reminder why Hollywood keeps making movies like this and why the Oscars love them so much. For all future iterations on the form, however, Stronger offers one big lesson worth learning.

    Jake Gyllenhaal is terrific in Stronger. 

Roadside Attractions

In most inspirational true-life stories — but especially in the ones that fail — a character’s internal journey is often treated as secondary to their external one. And early on in Stronger, it feels like the same basic arc is being set up. Jeff (Gyllenhaal) wants to walk again. With the help of his on-again, off-again girlfriend Erin (Maslany) and high-tech prosthetics, he’s going to regain that ability.

But fairly early in this storyline, Green and screenwriter John Pollono make clear that the real journey Jeff has to undertake is the internal one. The experience of the bombing and losing his legs has left John with PTSD, and since he has trouble expressing his vulnerability or asking for help, his greatest struggle will prove to be a psychological one.

Now, there’s a simple reason most movies like this focus on external, rather than internal journeys: It’s really hard to depict an internal journey onscreen, and if you screw it up, it leads to histrionics that feel unbelievable at best and laughable at worst. What makes this journey work is how Gyllenhaal modulates every little movement he makes. By the time he has the obligatory “breaking down and weeping” scene, he’s built to it so beautifully that it doesn’t feel over the top. (His work reminded me of a slightly less internalized version of Casey Affleck’s Oscar-winning performance in Manchester by the Sea.)

But Green also contributes to the steady accumulation of emotion that is Gyllenhaal’s performance. Every time that Jeff tries to walk on his new prosthetic legs again, Green shoots it in a distancing wide shot, as if to underline how this process is all clinical, just a series of physical processes that he can figure out how to chain together if he keeps at it long enough. Green only goes in for close-ups when Jeff is in internal distress, the better to highlight Gyllenhaal’s performance, but also to underline the much harder problems Jeff has to face.

Stronger also subtly tweaks the eye-rolling “the love of one good woman can help a man overcome anything!” story arc that Maslany’s character would seem to invite. Erin really does help Jeff out, and Pollono’s script is terrific at highlighting how Jeff and Erin have a connection so strong that it keeps drawing them together, again and again, even when both know it’s not quite right. But said script also doesn’t let Jeff off the hook when he’s cruel to Erin — and she doesn’t, either. The best thing about Maslany’s performance is how she makes Erin’s boundaries clear and purposeful at all times, so she doesn’t simply get sucked into Jeff’s more obviously dramatic arc.

That could apply to so much in Stronger, though. It’s a movie about how a whole village of people mobilize to help Jeff, but in the end, only he can take the biggest step of all: admitting he needs those other people to help him before he falls into the dark ocean inside his own head. Stronger is designed to jerk tears, but its greatest feat is that it actually earns them in the end.

Stronger opens in theaters Friday, September 22.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie

In this big-screen NINJAGO adventure, the battle for NINJAGO City calls to action young Master Builder Lloyd, aka the Green Ninja, along with his friends, who are all secret ninja warriors. Led by Master Wu, as wise-cracking as he is wise, they must defeat evil warlord Garmadon, The Worst Guy Ever, who also happens to be Lloyd's dad. Pitting mech against mech and father against son, the epic showdown will test this fierce but undisciplined team of modern-day ninjas who must learn to check their egos and pull together to unleash their inner power of Spinjitzu.

• Rating:
  PG (for some mild action and rude humor)
• Genre:
  Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Kids & Family
• Directed By:
  Charlie Bean
• Written By:
  Hilary Winston, Bob Logan, Paul Fisher
• In Theaters:
  Sep 22, 2017  Wide
• Box Office:
  $21,245,000
• Runtime:
  90 minutes
• Studio:
  Warner Bros. Pictures
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

It (2017)

New Line Cinema's horror thriller "IT," directed by Andy Muschietti ("Mama"), is based on the hugely popular Stephen King novel of the same name, which has been terrifying readers for decades. When children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine, a group of young kids are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.

• Rating:
  R (for violence/horror, bloody images, and for language)
• Genre:
  Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense
• Directed By:
  Andy Muschietti
• Written By:
  Chase Palmer, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman
• In Theaters:
  Sep 8, 2017  Wide
• Box Office:
  $218,813,729
• Studio:
  Warner Bros. Pictures
  
  

  In October 1988, Bill Denbrough gives his seven-year-old brother, Georgie, a sailboat made from paper. Georgie takes the boat out onto the street and is unable to stop it from sailing down the storm drain. In the storm drain, he finds a figure dressed as a clown who introduces himself as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown." The clown severs Georgie's arm when Georgie reaches into the drain for his boat, then drags him into the sewer.

  Eight months later, in June 1989, Bill and his friends Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris run afoul of bully Henry Bowers and his gang. Bill, still haunted by Georgie's disappearance and the resulting neglect from his grief-stricken parents, discovers that his brother's body may have washed up in a marshy wasteland called the Barrens. He recruits his friends to check it out, believing his brother may still be alive.

  Ben Hanscom, who has recently moved to Derry, learns that the town has been plagued by unexplained tragedies and child disappearances for centuries. He encounters a burned, headless boy in the library and runs into Bowers' violent gang. He flees into the Barrens, meeting Bill's group. They find the sneaker of a missing girl and Bowers' friend, Patrick Hockstetter, is killed by Pennywise.

  The next day, they each have a nightmarish encounter with Pennywise. Later, Bill and his friends discover Bowers' gang beating up Mike Hanlon. They chase the bullies off and befriend Mike.

  A few weeks later, the group, who now refer to themselves as "The Losers Club," realize that they are each being terrorized by the same entity. They determine that "It" assumes the appearance of what they fear, awakens every 27 years to feed on the children of Derry before returning to hibernation, and moves about by using the sewers around Derry's well, upon which 29 Neibolt Street—a run-down, abandoned house near the train yard—is built. Pennywise appears and the Losers fight It off before going to the Neibolt house. Eddie breaks his arm inside by falling before Pennywise emerges, and when Bill and the others come Pennywise admits that this was "real enough for Georgie" revealing that he was the one who killed him. Beverly Marsh impales It through the head, forcing the clown to retreat. The group begins to splinter, with Richie, Stan and Mike abandoning the others when Bill insists that they continue to hunt It.

  One day in August, Beverly manages to incapacitate her father when he attempts to rape her. She is abducted by Pennywise and Bill reassembles the Losers to mount a rescue. It compels Bowers to murder his abusive father before sending him to kill the Losers. At the Neibolt house, Mike is attacked by Bowers. He pushes Bowers down the well, where Bowers seemingly falls to his death. The Losers find It's lair in an underground cooling tower containing a mountain of decaying circus props, children's belongings, and the floating bodies of the missing children of Derry. They find Beverly in a catatonic state after Pennywise exposed her to It's true form. Ben kisses Beverly, restoring her consciousness. It, as Georgie, attempts to trick Bill but fails when Bill shoots It. It then attacks the group before taking Bill hostage, offering to spare the others if they allow It to eat their friend. They break Bill free and brutally fight Pennywise. Despite It's attempts to use their fears against them, Pennywise is mortally wounded and cornered by the Losers. Bill tells Pennywise that they know It needs their fear to survive and that they are now starving the creature by making It afraid of them. Knowing it has no more power over them, Pennywise escapes into a deep pit. Upon discovering Georgie's yellow raincoat, Bill accepts his brother's death and emotionally breaks down.

  One month later, Beverly informs the group of a vision she had while catatonic, where she saw them fighting the creature as adults. The Losers swear a blood oath that they will return to Derry in 27 years if It returns and destroy the creature once and for all. Beverly tells Bill that she is moving to live with her aunt in Portland. Before she leaves, Bill reveals his feelings and they kiss.

  Cast

  • Jaeden Lieberher as William "Bill" Denbrough:
    The leader of the Losers' Club, who, with the help of his friends, vows to get revenge on the monster for the death of his young brother, Georgie. Denbrough losing his brother makes the battle against It a more personal crusade for him than any of the others. That and his stutter is what binds him to the group and transforms him into Big Bill, the leader. On the character of Denbrough, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he stated, "Bill is like a ghost in his own home: nobody sees him because his parents can't get over Georgie's death.Ty Simpkins was considered for the role in Cary Fukunaga's production.
  • Bill Skarsgård as It / Pennywise the Dancing Clown
    An ancient, trans-dimensional evil that awakens every twenty-seven years Will Poulter was previously cast in the role but was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, with Poulter stating, "I was when Mr. Fukunaga was directing, but the circumstances at New Line are such that a new director's attached now. Poulter continued, "I think, with all due respect to him of course, I was selected by Cary and subscribed to Cary's vision for the movie, and so I haven't had a chance to connect with that [new] director. Mark Rylance, Ben Mendelsohn, Kirk Acevedo, Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving and Tilda Swinton were considered for the role,with Mendelsohn passing on the project, as New Line wanted him to take a sizable pay cut.^[37] On June 3, 2016, The Independent officially reported, after final negotiations took place, that Muschietti had chosen actor Bill Skarsgård to portray the character. On portraying Pennywise, Skarsgård stated, "It's such an extreme character. Inhumane, It's beyond even a sociopath, because he's not even human. He's not even a clown. I'm playing just one of the beings It creates. Skarsgård described the character further, saying, "It truly enjoys the shape of the clown Pennywise, and enjoys the game and the hunt." He also commented,^[What's funny to this evil entity might not be funny to everyone else. But he thinks it's funny. On Pennywise's design, Skarsgård stated, "It's important that we do something fresh and original for this one. It's purposely not going toward that weird, greasy look.He also commented on being compared to Tim Curry, stating that, "[Curry]'s performance was truly great, but it's important for me to do something different because of that. I'll never be able to make a Tim Curry performance as good as Tim Curry. Skarsgård also elaborated on his age, stating, "There's a childishness to the character, because he's so closely linked to the kids. The clown is the manifestation of children's imaginations, so there's something child-like about that. Producer Dan Linspoke of Skarsgård's physical attributes: "His build is really interesting. He's really tall and lanky, and feels a little clown like in his movement. When he came in—we had a lot of different actors read, and when he came in he had a different spin on the character that got us really excited.Lin concluded by contrasting the character with that of Heath Ledger's Joker, "You've had [Ledger] doing almost a clown joker, you've seen obviously Tim Curry as a clown. We wanted someone who created a Pennywise character that would stand on its own and Bill came in and created this character that frankly freaked us out.Muschietti spoke of Skarsgård's Pennywise as one not to lurk in the shadows, to which he remarked, "Pennywise shows up, he's front and center, and he does his show. He has an act ... So it's weird all the time, and every little thing implies a further threat. Muschietti also spoke of wanting to make the sense of dread that grows in Derry part of the dread of Pennywise, to which he stated, "He's not just a character that can shape-shift, his influence is all around. The anticipation of him is almost scarier than the actual Pennywise scares. On selecting Skarsgård to portray Pennywise, Muschietti wanted to stay true to the essence of the character, and Skarsgård caught his attention,The character has a childish and sweet demeanor, but there’s something very off about him. Bill has that balance in him. He can be sweet and cute, but he can be pretty disturbing.
  • Wyatt Oleff as Stanley "Stan" Uris:
    A Jewish mysophobe who is the son of a rabbi. He is studying for his bar mitzvah but isn't interested in religion, which is upsetting to his father. On the character of Uris, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, "Long story short, there’s all sorts of difficult situations, and we had the chance to tell them in a movie that faces directly those conflicts ... the families of the young actors were very open-minded, so we could tell them about subjects that are normally very touchy.
  • Jeremy Ray Taylor as Benjamin "Ben" Hanscom:
    Hanscom is the new kid at school and consequently does not have any friends. He likes reading and researching so he spends a lot of time in the library. He is also very overweight, which earns his place in the Losers' Club, but like all of the Losers, there are underlying facets that define him far more than superficial appearances. On the character of Hanscom, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, "... Ben is bullied at school.
  • Sophia Lillis as Beverly "Bev" Marsh:
    The only female member of the Losers' Club, she is bullied at school, particularly concerning false rumors that she is promiscuous. Her home life is also dismal, as her violent father is sexually abusive to her. Beverly's Losership was not defined by the fact she was abused but by her poverty. On the character of Marsh, Muschietti spoke of her knowing a situation of despair, "Beverly's case is of course the worst, because it’s about sexual abuse on a minor.In an interview with Rolling Stone, Lillis spoke of Muschietti not wanting her and her co-stars to spend too much time with Skarsgård: "We actually weren't allowed to see him until our scenes, because we wanted the horror to be real.On Skarsgård's appearance as Pennywise, she recalled, "Everyone had different reactions, but all of us were like, 'Wow, what did we get ourselves into?' One look at him, and ... you know, he's a really scary clown that wants to kill us. I was a little bit shocked. On her connection with her fellow co-stars, she noted that the closeness of the friendships formed allowed Lillis to connect with her own character: "I relate to Beverly – the way she deals with her emotions, and the way she was around the Losers. I felt that way around the actual actors.
  • Finn Wolfhard as Richard "Richie" Tozier:
    The bespectacled best friend of Bill Denbrough, also known as 'Trashmouth Tozier' due to his foul language and loud mouth, that often get him into trouble.Wolfhard, famous as Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things, shared the first image of the Losers Club on his Instagram account, with the photo captioned as "The Losers Club take Toronto", showing the cast of actors who would play the protagonists. Wolfhard was the only actor cast in both this and Fukunaga's version.On the character of Tozier, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, "We don't know much about Richie's personality, because he's the big mouth of the group. But we suppose he's also neglected at home, and he's the clown of the band because he needs attention.
  • Jack Dylan Grazer as Edward "Eddie" Kaspbrak:
    Kaspbrak is the epitome of the hypochondriac, overly exaggerated by the immense amount of objects in his medicine cabinet; a sickly boy who only feels truly well when he is with his friends. His overbearing mother is the true source of his hypochondria, however; she has convinced him that he is seriously ill and must stay close to her because only she can protect him. Grazer spoke of his appreciation of films such as Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) and Batman (1989) that gave him "... insight on how [he] could [improvise] or reuse those things as references to the time period.
  • Chosen Jacobs as Michael "Mike" Hanlon:
    An African American autodidact of history, who relays the incidents of Derry's past to his friends – The fire at the Black Spot, the Bradley Gang shoot-out, and the mass-murder at the Silver Dollar. He was orphaned in a fire, and is being raised on his grandfather Leroy's farm, where he works and is homeschooled. On the experience of shooting Muschietti's piece, Jacobs spoke of the experience as "... my favorite summer of my 16 long years on earth .
  • Nicholas Hamilton as Henry Bowers:
    A young sociopath who leads the Bowers Gang, a gang of high school thugs, and terrorizes the Losers' Club. Hamilton prepared for the role by studying Jarred Blancard's portrayal of the character in It (1990), and in Hamilton's words, "watched all the bits of my original character" for research.Hamilton added, through the character of Bowers, that "There's stuff that I have to do that is really creepy and the opportunity to help share my psychotic side has been really fun. Additionally Hamilton stated, "I recently did a scene where I was working with Jeremy Ray Taylor. I had to terrorize the hell out of him and get right in his face.
  • Jackson Robert Scott as George "Georgie" Denbrough  :
    The innocent, energetic 7-year-old brother of Bill Denbrough. His killing at the hands of Pennywise sets the stage for the next summer's events.

  Additionally, Owen Teague is introduced as Patrick Hockstetter, a psychopath who keeps a refrigerator full of animals that he has killed; Logan Thompson appears as Victor "Vic" Criss, the inseparable friend of Henry Bowers Jake Sim appears as Reginald "Belch" Huggins, the biggest, strongest and clumsiest member of the Bowers Gang Javier Botet appears as The Leper, a rotting homeless man that encounters Eddie Kaspbrak under the porch of the house on 29 Neibolt Street; Tatum Lee appears as Judith, one of It's horrifying creations; Steven Williams appears as Leroy Hanlon, the stern grandfather of Mike Hanlon, who runs a nearby abattoir;Stephen Bogaert appears as Alvin Marsh, the abusive father of Beverly Marsh; Geoffrey Pounsett appears as Zack Denbrough, the father of Bill and George Denbrough; Pip Dwyer appears as Sharon Denbrough, the caring and loving mother of Bill and George Denbrough; Ari Cohen appears as Rabbi Uris, Stanley Uris' father and mentor in the Jewish religion;Stuart Hughes appears as Oscar "Butch" Bowers, an officer of the Derry Police Department who is the father of Henry Bowers; Megan Charpentier appears as Greta Keene, a snobby and stuck-up student in Mrs. Douglas' class and a classmate of the Losers' Club at Derry Middle School, who lives in the richer part of Derry.