To the directors credit though, Mike alone could've had his own 5 hours movie. I don't think there's anyway to do some aspects of the book justice
I want justice for Will maybe even more than justice for Mike. He’s easily a top five secondary character, and they don’t even give him the dignity of a name in these.
While I really didn’t like how Henry Bowers was handled in the first movie, it’s very clearly explained why he is the way that he is. His dad literally shoots a gun at his feet and is obviously abusive.
Agree to disagree. Not that it was the healthiest way to teach him a lesson, but that's how I took it. Henry was going to shoot a cat for christs sake and his father stopped him from doing so
He caught his son about to kill a cat with his own gun while putting his friend in mortal danger at the same time, (and imagine he found out About carving Ben up with a knife). I consider shooting at the ground to scare him in front of his friends a pretty lenient punishment
I don't think Ben went to the police about being carved up and there are plenty of hints that the father is abusive
I know not everyone has read the book, but Butch Bowers is almost as evil as Pennywise and defending anything he did to Henry is super gross. I can’t believe they dropped the ball so hard with his character that this is even a passing thought.
If you're familiar with the rot in Derry and all the awful stuff that happens there, the father shooting at his feet because he's about to shoot a cat/possibly his friend doesn't stick out to me as being abusive but I understand that perspective if you haven't read the book. Especially when compared to Beverly and her father. The book does a much better job explaining why Harry is the way that he is.
You are proving my point. In the book, it's way better explained why Henry is the way that he is. Hence why I said they didn't do a good job explaining it in the movie. Relax, I'm not defending his father
Wait, you’re saying his father wasn’t abusive and you HAVE read the book?? He’s like the quintessential character to show how horrific the town is at its core. The film pulled a lot of their punches with that dynamic and forces people to fill in the gaps more than they should have, but it’s absolutely still meant to portray an abusive relationship.
You are totally missing my point. My whole point was that compared to the movie, they didn't explain it well. I listened to the audio book (45 hours) so I was totally engrossed in this world. In the book, the father is absolutely horrible so Henry's behavior seems realistic based on how he's treated and his home life. I didn't get that from the movie . I honestly can't believe there's this much discussion about it. I've read a bunch of stuff online about people thinking Henry's behavior in the movie is over the top.
Well shooting at my kids' feet is definitely my go-to parenting technique in almost every situation. First day of pre-school jitters? Start dancing!
It’s because you said him shooting at him wasn’t abusive, and may have even been a noble act intended to help him, the cat, and others and fight Henry’s nature, which is..... not a good look. We can agree that they should have fleshed out both characters more, but he was still awful and abusive even in the few examples they gave us.