IT

IT lives up to its name with an unambitious storyline and delivery. Unsurprisingly, it focuses on today’s technology, illustrating the intensity of its power and how the human race now depends on it. The film follows the lives of Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan), the multi-millionaire aviation entrepreneur, his wife Rose (Anna Friel) and 17-year-old daughter Kaitlyn (Stephanie Scott), who live in a state-of-the-art home in Washington DC filled with the latest technology. We soon learn that Mike is a bit of a technophobe when a work presentation encounters a glitch, needing expert support from temporary IT technician Ed Porter (James Frecheville) who swiftly fixes the problem. Although he saved the day, there’s a sense of unease already surrounding Frecheville’s character, exemplified by dark lighting and the movie’s unnerving dystopian atmosphere. Regan asks Porter to come to his home to fix their internet, where he reveals his former stint working for the US government alongside a comment about how no one has the privilege to privacy anymore.

We first learn of Porter’s creepy characteristics during a shot of him staring at Kaitlyn sunbathing outside in her bikini, and it certainly doesn’t end there. Big Brother is always watching. The plot starts to thicken and gets a little more exciting from this point. The technician tries to invite himself to a low-key dinner, using Kaitlyn as a scapegoat for his mistake, but Regan denies him admittance, evoking high levels of rage from Porter, which we witness in a strange and questionably acted scene where the IT man angrily sings along to a song in his car. Porter decides to seek revenge by hacking into both Regan’s home and work technology systems, jeopardising his business whilst also spying on his daughter in the shower.

As Mike Reagan, Pierce Brosnan gives a fairly average attempt at a recreating a deadly and suave James Bond demeanour but, ultimately, IT has very few thrills and fails to deliver a potentially powerful message. Any eeriness in the plot disappears, with the unimaginative and predictable ending diminishing any feelings of trepidation in its audience. 

Hannah Staunton

IT is released in cinemas on Friday 10^th March 2017.  

Watch the trailer for I T here: