In the final installment in the Harry Potter film series, SNAPE. SNAPE. SEVERUS SNAPE. Oh, and a battle. And magic. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Harry Potter.
It IS pretty weird that this is the final movie we will ever see devoted to the Harry Potter series. I will admit that I am not experiencing the same sense of finality as others are about the series. I’ve only been in the Harry Potter community for just over a year, and while I certainly have a huge attachment to these books, it’s short-lived compared to how long many of you have been reading J.K. Rowling. (I’m not setting this up to claim that this movie didn’t affect me, though. Did I cry? OH GOD.) I still have a lot going on with me and Harry Potter. I had my panel presenting Mark Reads Harry Potter today at LeakyCon 2011. (OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING OMG) In a month or so, I’ll be working my way through my reviews of the series to convert them to books, and I’ll still try to find time to re-read the series. On top of that, this was only my second midnight showing.
All that said, I have to admit I felt kind of sad when Deathly Hallows Part II came to an end. No more movies? I don’t get to see my favorite trio onscreen anymore? Am I going to sob softly to myself throughout the day?
I will say, right off the bat: I enjoyed part two way more than the first part, and was impressed by how many essential scenes were treated with the love and respect they deserved. The same problems I had with part one presented themselves here, but I definitely felt that that good well outweighed the bad.
Shall we, my Potter friends?
THE VERY GOOD
- I love how the dementors look in the films in general, but that image in the beginning of them floating over Hogwarts was a spectacular way to set the tone for this final film.
- For the vast majority of Deathly Hallows Part II, the CGI and special effects were not distracting in the slightest. I wanted the effects to accent the story and to replicate the fantastical story during the battle. I wanted it to feel grandiose and ridiculous. (I mean ridiculous in a good way.) Bravo to those who worked on this film, who captured so much of the horrific nature of the Battle of Hogwarts.
- How awesome was the execution of Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault? Not only in size and in detail, but the rapidly multiplying treasure was super creepy and overwhelming.
- Awesome dragon was awesome.
- I felt that, more than any movie, this one dealt with a lot of the more complicated aspects of the story in a way that was both efficient and poetic. From the way Harry’s links to Voldy’s mind were filmed, to things like “The Prince’s Tale” and how Voldemort was defeated, I knew the writers had to explain things to an audience who had not read the books without irritating the fans of the source material. I thought it was done well.
- I wish that Aberforth’s role was a bit fuller in the movie, but again, it was a great way to introduce the idea of Dumbledore’s failures. Obviously, I’ld like if it was as complete it was in the book, but enough was given to make Aberforth’s Patronus casting a satisfactory emotional moment when the Battle of Hogwarts began.
- UGH NEVILLE’S ARRIVAL IN HOG’S HEAD. MY GOD.
- Harry’s arrival into (what I think was) the Gryffindor Common Room was FANTASTIC. But it also made me realize how much I’m going to miss these characters.
- I don’t care how gross this makes me. Dean Thomas is goddamn gorgeous. There. I said it.
- I almost feel like I could spend an entire review discussing The Battle of Hogwarts. I wanted a film version of this to blow me away. With all of the funding and work given to this adaptation, I set my standards high. The scenes in this battle had to be overwhelming. They needed to be terrifying. They needed to make me feel tension, despite that I already knew what was going to happen. I know that this is a difficult demand to meet, but meant to be the biggest, most terrifying battle of the whole series. I’ll address some of the few bizarre things in this film later, but by and large, the Battle of Hogwarts was done beautifully. It was everything I wanted. I got chills when the stone soldiers jumped down, and the awe never went away. It was nice to get a chance to have it fully realized in the way it was here, to give us a chance to see the scope of the Hogwarts ground, and to understand just what they were up against.
- I’m so glad that Professor McGonagal got more screen time than I expected. She’s such a fascinating character here, as she takes a personal, emotional role in protecting the school she’s come to call home. It’s in the worry and determination on her face: she will save this castle even if it takes her life.
- Voldemort’s voice in Hogwarts was done well, as if it was a loud whisper that could simply be heard.
- Snape’s death was made so much more violent and horrifying. When I heard the location had been changed from the Shrieking Shack to some boat house, I worried I wouldn’t like it. But I have no complaints. It was done with the respect the character deserved. This might be a weird thing to say, but I liked that Harry at least tried to stop the bleeding instead of watching him die like in the book.
- The bodies of Lupin and Tonks. UGH HEARTBREAK.
- While I’m on the topic, virtually every moment Alan Rickman was on screen amounted to the best performances of the entire series. I loved the method used to give us “The Prince’s Tale.†I loved that they didn’t shy away from the actual point of that flashback. I loved that they kept the lines, “After all this time?†“Always.†Because I might have teared up? i might have. Rickman’s emotional range in this movie was so much more expressive, and it was great to see him pull of these other sides of his character.
- UGH. THE FOREST AGAIN. PERFECTION. This is the moment I lost it. HOLY SHIT.
- Harry’s death. I was initially a bit weirded out by him going up to tell Hermione and Ron what he was doing in the way he did, but in movie logic, it kind of worked super well, especially when Hermione started bawling. (CUE MY WHOLE THEATER BECOMING SOBBYCON 2011.) His march to his death was exactly as it should have been.
- KING’S CROSS. My god. So beautiful and they even showed Voldy’s dead soul baby thing!
- Every moment after King’s Cross up until that one moment we will discuss was done well. Harry coming back, Narcissa betraying Voldemort, marching to Hogwarts, Neville’s fantastic speech (I LOVE YOU FOREVER NEVILLE), and the re-ignition of the battle. UGH. SO WONDERFUL.
- McGonagall vs. Snape. The subtext dripping from this scene is FANTASTIC. Even before this, you can tell Snape hates what he is doing. You can see that when Harry starts to call him out, he so desperately wants to tell this boy what he’s actually done for seventeen years. And when McGonagall fights him, he’s saddened that he can’t reveal who he really is. For McGonagall, she’s believed Snape to be detrimental to Hogwarts for years, and now she gets to act on it. SO GOOD.
- why can’t mcgonagall and molly hang out all the time
- Ron and Hermione’s kiss. Unexpected and completely necessary.
- The Room of Requirement scene, for the most part. Done pretty much how I imagined, except for a couple things. I’ll address those in a bit.
- THEY KEPT IN MOLLY WEASLEY’S AMAZING LINE. EVERYTHING IS PERFECT.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD
- Sorry, will never accept the Voldemort Harry hug. Nope. Why are they flying AND hugging????
- Um, the Draco Voldemort hug was also awful? Why are you even touching him?
- NO GRINDELWALD. how dare you remove my queer backstory to dumbly. NO. NO.
- Um, doesn’t the movie audience not even know about Lupin’s kid???? WTF.
- why did Bellatrix/Voldy disintegrate. what.
- I have to complain about this. STOP PUTTING JOKES INTO SUPER SERIOUS SCENES TO BREAK THE TENSION. It gives EVERYTHING an awful pace. Up until the Battle of Hogwarts started, it seemed you could not go more than three minutes without a joke or a visual gag. STOP. DOING. THIS. It is unbearably distracting. I understand the need for humor and it’s not a bad thing in and of itself, but this was overkill. To give an example: WHY WAS THERE A JOKE DURING THE SCENE WHERE NEVILLE GAINS CONSCIOUSNESS AFTER VOLDY’S SPELL HITS HIM?? That did not need to be there! It added nothing! That is a deeply serious scene! (Also, I know realize this sounds like I DON’T LIKE FUN. Oh well.)
- Why the goddamn hell was Blaise Zabini with Draco in the Room of Requirement?
- Not enough Dean Thomas.
- Too much epilogue. Ginny looked like she was 19.
- NO LUPIN TEMPER TANTRUM. BOOO FOREVER.
As you can see, I enjoyed way more than I disliked in Deathly Hallows Part II. I’ve had a chance to discuss it with a lot of people at LeakyCon and I’m definitely happy with the way these films ended. I am feeling a bit more depressed that there are no longer going to be films after this, probably more so than when I started this review.
But I want to know what you all thought about it! Favorite scenes? Least favorite scenes? Were you satisfied?
(On a semi-related note, a post about the Mark Reads Harry Potter panel will go up later today as well, so swing by later on!
I guess a few people hated the ending, but I actually thought the last half-hour was the best part. I loved that they changed shit, I would've gotten bored otherwise. They kept so much the same in the first two films and it's nice and everything, but not all that dramatic anymore if you have your expectations met. I wanted to be shocked and horrified and start crying at moments I didn't expect.
I didn't like that there weren't bodies for Bella and Voldemort, though. When seeing the showdown in the courtyard I'd hoped that would be like a prelude to the battle, that the actual moment of death for V would be in the Great Hall. I really, really wanted to see the cheers and everyone hugging Harry. I wanted that moment of celebration, however short, that told them this was over for good. I wanted people to SEE it, gdammit.
Also that part where they twirl around together as smoke… or something… it was kind of interesting, I liked it at first, but when they combined faces or whatever… that was weird. Unsubtle and just plain awkward tbh, like, the similarities between the two have already been reinforced enough, writers, we get it. But eh.
And oh my god, Lavender. I was spoiled on that but it still came as a huge shock.
Oh Mark, I love that you lost it during "The Forest Again". I lost it during the previews. A kid in my theater actually started wailing when the Warner Bros logo came up.
All in all, I liked the movie. It was fun and pretty much what I expected it to be. I doubt I'll watch it again. I don't think I've rewatched any of the other movies beyond them being on TV when nothing else is on and I'm doing other stuff. But it was good fun. I cried the entire time. And laughed. And ogled Neville.
I actually really liked that Seamus got his moment. The gag about Seamus blowing stuff up was unique to the movies and it was nice to see that pay off.
I thought the same thing about Seamus! I loved that bit.
THINGS THEY CHANGED IN THE MOVIE (IN A MAJOR WAY) THAT I STILL REALLY LIKED:
(that I can remember… I'll probably leave out a lot.)
>>Harry's reveal in Hogwarts, where he steps out to confront Snape. I think it was well done. It was very movie-ish, but I liked the confrontation and I liked what Harry said to him.
>>The scene with Helena Ravenclaw. Obviously parts of it were done for the 3-D, but I still liked the actress who played her. Very well done.
>>King's Cross. I know a lot of people didn't like the way it was done, and a lot was left out that was in the book, but I think that for ONCE, Angrydore gave a pretty decent performance and he didn't spend an hour apologizing profusely. I also hoped that his backstory could come in, but I completely understand how much time that would have taken and it wouldn't have related to anything else in the movie directly, because of the road they took getting to that scene. It was removable, I think.
>>I LOVED that they redeemed Slughorn. In the book, I believe he doesn't fight in the final battle, but in the movie, he's right there from the beginning. And it makes sense. In the books, he's a little less likeable, but they made him more likeable in the movies. Hence, makes total sense that he fought with them in the end, even though the Slytherins didn't.
>>I really liked Aberforth's speech in the Hog's Head about bitterness and pessimism and all is bad in the world. I thought that guy gave a pretty good performance.
>>I liked that they added that line for Snape about "You have your mother's eyes," and I liked that Harry tried to slow the bleeding.
THINGS I WASN"T SO SUPER-EXCITED ABOUT:
>>I didn't get the whole "crying out the memory" thing Snape did. Seemed ridiculous, in every possible way.
>>Neville/Luna. I am not a shipper (of anyone, really), I don't care about shipping wars, blah. But I've read J.K. Rowling's rest-of-the-life summaries for both Neville and Luna, and they do not involve each other. It felt wrong, and it felt a little stupid to force them on each other with no warning.
>>Griphook. This movie made me not like him as a character. By that I don't mean, I hate his character, I just mean I wish he weren't there because he feels so one-sided as to be almost dead weight on the story, like every single character in Twilight :p.
>>"Let's finish this the way we started it… TOGETHER!" I hesitate a little to be so harsh on this, but… it was stupid. It was just stupid.
>>Malfoy's anti-redemption when he walks over to the Death Eaters. I understand his parents were mostly calling him over to sneak out together as a family, but Malfoy didn't know that. He just straight up said "fuck you" to his entire school and walked over to Voldemort (even if it was reluctantly). And I thought he was doing SO WELL! I was hoping for another story deviation from the books where he didn't necessarily give a terrible speech (a la Neville), but where he at least didn't budge. SO CLOSE.
>>Neville's speech. God dang Neville, go buy a gothic belt buckle and grow your hair out and start a band already.
>>In the epilogue (which was WAY BETTER THAN THE BOOK'S btw) I generally liked the way they aged up the characters and I thought they did a really good job. EXCEPT HERMIONE, who still looks 18. Harry looked about … 35, I'd say, Ron looked about 40, Ginny even (for the first time ever) looked older too, I'd say about 30 or so. I'm probably the only person who thinks so. But HERMIONE DIDN"T CHANGE AT ALL.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
I'm pretty sure Slughorn was in the final fight. But I agree that he was a more likeable character in the films.
IIRC, in the book Slughorn duels Voldemort alongside McGonagall and Shacklebolt, so yeah, he was already redeemed there.
Not only does Slughorn fight in the book as well, he even duels Voldemort personally.
I loved the movie and am not sure how I feel about Harry Potter really being over (I didn't want to believe when the book came out because there were movies still).
I pretty much cried through the entirety of "The Prince's Tale". Also at the beginning when there was Dobby's grave. And the end. And Lupin and Tonks.
I've been waiting for "not my daughter you bitch!" since I first read it. I'm so happy at how it was done!
I didn't mind McGonagall's jokes. I thought they did all right where they were and actually cut the tension that had been growing in the movie enough to let the audience breathe before going back into terrifying.
Why was Cho there? By that I mean I'm pretty sure she was put back in uniform too. She was a year ahead of Harry!
I miss the Grindelwald story line but I kind of get why it was cut for time. As was all of Dumbledore's backstory. I do wish it was there but I kind of get it. I wish part of Neville stepping forward was him saying something about his parents. I think that was a missed moment.
I really like the nod to Neville/Luna shippers and even how they aren't even together in the movie. It's one line and then they are sitting next to each other and looking awkward. I will defend this to the end.
And with this movie, so ends my childhood…
They kept my my two favourite lines from the book, so I can't fault them for that much. And I have to confess my everlasting love for Professor McGonagall right now. Also, props for the actress who played Ginny. Out of all the characters I think she performed amazingly well, as did Alan Rickman…
For a while, I was scared that somebody-not-Neville was going to kill the snake. Thank God they left him that Crowning Moment of Awesome, although admittedly that was so much more badass when HE WAS ON FIRE!
Also, I fully agree with you on the Voldemort hugs… HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED DOES NOT GIVE HUGS, especially while flying. The Harry/Voldemort hugging thing made no sense and the only purpose it served was creating fuel for crack pairings.
One problem I had was that they referenced Tonks and Lupin's son, but NEVER mentioned that she was pregnant, or had had a kid. My sister, who loves the movies but has never read the books, had no clue what was going on at that point, and asked me on the way home what Harry was talking about. It would have been so easy to just sneak in somewhere just to fill people in. I don't know why they wouldn't have done it,
I ALSO AM OUTRAGED BY THE LACK OF GRINDELWALD. And Ariana Dumbledore's backstory as well. Didn't they even CAST a young Grindelwald? WHY DO THAT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO USE HIM. DELETED SCENE PLZ. *grabby hands*
The actor playing Crabbe got arrested or something, so they used Goyle for the fiendfyre scene instead and just stuck someone else with Draco so there could be three of them I guess? I like that they kept Ron's line "if we die for them, I'll kill you!"
ALAN RICKMAN, oh my god. When he was holding Lily's body and sobbing I just LOST IT. Beautifully done. He made me want to watch all of the movies over again just to see his scenes. Snaaaaape
I would like to point out though that there were SOME jokes interspersed with the seriousness in the book, too. Like McGonagall's army of desks, which I was disappointed to not see in the movie. But the statues and her giving Neville permission to blow shit up were pretty awesome. (I loved the recurring joke of Seamus exploding things, because that's a MOVIE JOKE. AND THEY GAVE IT A PUNCHLINE.)
Neville's speech was… disappointing. Should have been closer to the book IMO. But I'm really glad Neville got so much screen time and they didn't short-change his character. I loved when he said he felt like he could spit fire. Such a great character arc from the shy awkward boy in the first book/movie to here. ALSO, NEVILLE/LUNA IS CANON NOW OMG. 😀
In general these last two movies were able to stay so much truer to the books by having enough time to properly tell the stories, and I loved that. I wish the entire thing could have been a miniseries or a TV show so we would have had time to see every scene filmed. But I'll take what I can get and the movies are pretty awesome.
THE GUY WHO PLAYED ABERFORTH. He was SO GOOD at being Gambledore's brother! They even sounded similar! Great job on both the casting and the acting there.
SNAPE IS SO EMO HE CRIES MEMORIES okay whatever
When Harry grabs Voldie and is like "let's finish this TOGETHER," I'm like "why is this movie suddenly shipping Harry/Voldemort?" AND VOLDEMORT, PLEASE NEVER TRY TO HUG ANYONE EVER AGAIN.
I thought Older!Ron was adorable. I dunno, it's just a thing. Also Albus Severus made me go awww. He's so tiny and cute! (Although still. ALBUS SEVERUS. WHYYYY.) Mom!Hermione being all worried about Rose was cute, too.
As for the final Harry/Voldemort battle, I wish it had been less running around and shooting spells and more talking. I miss the part about how Voldemort's spells against Hogwarts students didn't work so well anymore because Harry died for them. But whatever, it's a movie, they want to blow shit up.
And I second the commenter (Megan) who said that the scene should have been in the Great Hall so that we could have seen cheers and happiness. It was weird to not have that closure, to just have the trio standing around looking at Hogwarts and then the epilogue.
I wrote this in my tumblr already, but I'll say it again here: about Voldemort and Bellatrix not leaving corpses, I think it has to do with film ratings. Well, for Voldemort I think they just wanted him to die in some kind of spectacular way, and him crumbling away (representing his soul's fragmentation) was a nice visual. For Bellatrix, I don’t think they wanted to show a corpse because having one of the "good guys" (Molly) just outright KILL someone was too violent, too real. Seeing a corpse is supposed to be a tragic, somber thing, not something to cheer about, whereas everyone can cheer when Bellatrix gets blown up. Makes the movie a bit more kid-friendly. Kind of like how they never showed a dead body onscreen in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In other words, I think the way it’s done in the book is the way it should be done, but the constraints of making a movie that's ostensibly "for kids" caused them to make different stylistic choices.
I don't know why Dumbledore had to give a speech about words and their power at the end. What? Is this The Book Thief?
Babymort was appropriately creepy, good god.
Did anyone else think Snape was wearing a LOT of eyeshadow in the Great Hall scene? Like, maybe they were making him look haggard or something, but it kind of took me out of the scene. SNAPE WHY ARE YOU WEARING MAKEUP.
I didn't go to a midnight showing (because I'm old) so I didn't dress up, but I did wear my Marauders tee.
A couple more things –
1. Loved the Hugo trailer! I haven't read the book, but this might get me to check it out.
2. JOEY RICHTER IS GOING TO THE YULE BALL WITH EVANNA LYNCH. Insert "I always knew Luna had a crush on Ron" joke here.
"why is this movie suddenly shipping Harry/Voldemort?"
Ahahaha, that was pretty much my first post-movie facebook status update. I seriously thought for a second that Harry was gonna plant one on Voldemort. NO THANK YOU
Also, love for Maggie Smith both being EPIC with the "defend Hogwarts!" line, and then making it the funniest thing ever with her delivery of "I've always wanted to use that spell". I could forgive the lack of galloping desks for that.
Harry grabbed Voldemort so he couldn't get away, then tried to just pull him off the tower and kill them both. I don't think he was expecting the cheesy-horror-movie-flying-scary-face crap that Voldemort pulled at the last second.
Honestly, I am totally crushed that they left out the part in the epilogue where Ron gets the best line ever: "It's me, I'm extremely famous."____But mostly it was AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!!
there were some things that i really really loved about the movie, such as the set up of hogwarts with the dementors and snape watching over the students march and THE PRINCE'S TALE. i don't even like snape but i found myself bawling at it. i also really liked the epilogue for some reason, i found it really uplifting and when i think it was leaving hogwarts (?) played i totally bawled and clapped at the same time.
danrad's acting has improved so much more since HE WAS THEIR FRIEND in prisoner of azkaban (hahaha. or should i do a creepy voldemort laugh and say ehhehheh) and his acting esp from after the prince's tale section to that scene in the forest was amazing. GO DANRAD.
i quite liked how the malfoy family were dealt with in the end, and apparently jason isaacs thought of it? if this is true then that's pretty awesome. (jason isaacs is a huge potter stan anyway so this makes sense) i liked the fact that you could see the hesitation in draco's face and how he wanted to make it right but he gave it all up for his family, i liked how narcissa did everything she could to spare draco from harm (then again this is really from the source material) and i liked how lucius even begged voldemort at one point to stop the battle so he could look for draco inside the castle. and then they just upped and left together. what a badass family. BUT you can say that i'm a little bit biased because i adore the malfoy family, tbh.
i was slightly miffled at the changing of the script (grrr at kloves) especially at parts of the prince's tale (needed more scenes of snape being a jerk like he was in the book, ok) as well as the leaving out of dumbledore's backstory. i felt like that really contributed to our understanding of dumbledore and it also contributed to harry's gradual . also the plot point was brought up in part 1? WHY INTRODUCE IT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO USE IT.
also angry at kloves because of the scene where slytherins were basically made out to all be like pansy. SO ANNOYED. mainly because slytherin is my adopted house because i'm always sorted into there, so i feel particularly strongly about them being made to sound like criminals who all want to turn in harry. esp because in the book some of the slytherins snuck out and got reinforcements/joined reinforcements, i'm not sure which but it's one of them! either way, THERE ARE REDEEMABLE SLYTHERINS BUT THE MOVIE DIDN'T EVEN ADDRESS THIS. /filled with rage. mainly because it was such a small, unnecessary thing to change. grrrr.
ultimately though, i enjoyed the film loads. it was a great send off to my childhood, sobbing. MAY HARRY POTTER FOREVER LIVE ON. listening to leaving hogwarts now and crying like a bitch. THIS FUCKING SONG OMG ;____;
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/8xkdwm.gif">
i have another question mark, are you planning on watching and writing about the rest of the series? OR HAVING A WATCHALONG? i am slightly miffled i missed the very potter sequel one ):
ok never mind i was rereading the markreads archives and i found the movies I DON'T KNOW WHY I DIDN'T REMEMBER THIS. i still think the movie watchalong will be a good idea, though! (:
I have lots of RAEG at the Malfoys, but Narcissa walking Malfoy out of there all "well fuck this shit" and Lucius scrambling after them was my favourite scene of the second half.
I agree with you about Dan's acting. He blew me away in this movie. Completely. I saw Harry Potter, the man, especially in the last parts.
I have yet to be able to formulate coherent thoughts, but I wanted to address the disintegration – I think the reasoning might be similar to why they did it in Buffy. When Whedon chose to do that in Buffy it was a combination of practicality (where do we put the dead bodies at the end of the episode?) and oh my god it's a teenage girl who regularly KILLS people, lets remove them as far from normal humans as possible so she remains sympathetic and teenage-girly. Although I haven't heard any interviews saying as much, I would think that the producers wouldn't want a shot of Bella's cold dead eyes after the cuddly mother figure killed her for a similar reason; same for Harry. He's a 17 year old boy that 11 year old kids are watching on screen and relating to. As evidenced with the insanely inappropriate gags, they're still catering to the children fans (it is, officially, a children's series), and it might be unsettling for them to see that.
I agree. And yet the book is about death. It seems to me completely irresponsible not to show it in all its forms. We could have simply seen Bellatrix fall backwards, but I think we needed to see Voldemort hit the floor, wasted and light like he does in the book. The whole point of killing the horcruxes is to make him mortal again. Mortal means dying like everyone dies.
I feel it was dishonest to gloss such important deaths in a movie that was, at least in part, about death.
So I didn't see this until last night but I NEED A PLACE TO SHARE MY EMOTIONS
I wasn't feeling the first 45 minutes of the movie, to be honest. I think it was the fast pace that threw me off- I really should have watched Part I right before I saw Part II because I was like WAIT WHAT WHY SO FAST? HOLD ON LET ME SAVOR THIS…OK NO..FINE.
Also, for some reason all the little differences between the book and the movie bothered me SO MUCH MORE in this one. Normally I'm like well, it's annoying but what's important is that they got the feel of the book! but I guess because everyone said P2 was so faithful to the book I was expecting more. There is also a sadistic part of me that wanted to see Fred's death. For me, his was probably the most emotional death in the book but in the movie it was almost a blink-and-you'll-miss-it :/
Yea…but other than that I LOVED IT AND A;LKDJF;ALJFDA;S MY EYES ARE ALL SWOLLEN AND I WILL BE FOREVER DEPRESSED.
I should also mention that I hated how it wasn't so much a trio but Harry + Hermione and some ginger kid she's dating. HARRY AND RON ARE BFFS!!! WHY DIDN'T THEY HUG EVER? NOT EVEN ONCE! NOT EVEN WHEN HARRY WAS GOING INTO THE FOREST!
I completely agree with you. I was seriously upset when Ron didn't hug Harry. I kept expecting it and then nothing happened. WTF IS GOING ON HERE!!??
I think Ron was even out of focus in some of the trio shots. REALLY, YATES, REALLY??? It's not enough that Kloves hates him??
I completely agree. Why is the movie afraid of the friendship between two guys? Is it some kind of homophobic brows don't touch thing, exaggerated to an utterly ridiculous extent? Ugh.
Why I never see movies at the theatre… So, I can't wait for the Prince's Tale. It is clearly one of the most emotion & important parts of the movie. Well, right when shit starts to get real & Snape is conversing w/ Dumbldore about the goings on, someone in the top row of the theatre drops their entire box of M&Ms. This starts a cascade of candy that starts at the very top row & doesn't end until the very front of the theatre. Not only is this lound but everyone starts craking up in the one part where people need to be paying attention & not to mention, crying. I couldn't hear a damn thing going on in the movie! It completely ruined the Prince's Tale. The thing was is that it WAS funny, but I was pissed b/c I just missed by fav part!
God, I can't type, but I'm sure you guys can figure out what the hell I'm trying to say!!!!!
What's with Kloves' need to clarify questions? "Why didn't it work for him? The elder wand?" "Does it hurt? Dying?" We know what you're talking about, Kloves, go make out with your Hermione doll.
Also, JKR was a producer for both parts of this movie, so I assume she at least allowed Neville/Luna to be included even if she hasn't changed her own canon.
It seems to me that people talk that way in real life. I'll say 'it' because I was thinking about it a bit in my head, then realize no one else was in on my thoughts and clarify.
That's true. But it seemed obvious whenever it was said in the movie- what else would Hermione be talking about? I'm nit-picking, though. 🙂
I am well known for getting majorly pissed off by the films, but I've learnt to lighten up a bit. I actually found this one alright…so glad they did DH in two parts.
The only thing I wish was really different was the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. I love how in the book it was witnessed by everybody, and Harry in a way was defeating Voldemort with his explanation, and I feel that was just lost in the film. It missed out that hysteric euphoria when he's killed, which is the point where all the tension and the build-up peaks, but in the film the scene sort of petered out.
But saying that I was impressed with the Harry and Dumbledore scene at Kings Cross, and the epilogue was not as bad as it could have been (still pretty funny though).
So yeah, it was okay, has nowhere near the same emotional value as the book does, in my opinion, but I appreciate that some things are very difficult to convey in film, which is why I didn't have my hopes up hugely for the moment where Harry realises he has to die. I think that moment in the book is the part where I cry the most in the whole series.
Oh and one more thing: not enough Tonks and Lupin! That was disappointing. I was sad in the first part when Lupin and Harry didn't have their argument, but oh well.
I definitely agree about the final showdown not being witnessed by everyone. But what really bothered me is that Snape was not vindicated!! It's heartbreaking.
Just popping in to let you know that Alfie Enoch (who plays Dean Thomas) is goddamn gorgeous in real life too. I've seen him around town a few times and wow. Even though he is several years younger than me. And I probably won't see him anymore since he's probably graduated now 🙁
Oh, hello, my third post. Anyway, I was thinking about the criticism of McGonagall sending the Slytherins to the dungeons. Yes, it was uncool to brand them all as evil, but nobody was evacuating like they were in the book. When the trio were on the way to the boat house, McGonagall is calling at kids to get inside and take cover, not leave the school. The Slytherins were probably safe in the dungeons, not being imprisoned and prevented from going somewhere safe.. They probably just waited in their common room.
The Prince's Tale will never NOT hurt. OhMYGod that was horrifyingly wonderful. (that doesnt even make sense but words dont describe how i feel about that scene) Snape holding Lily's body made me cry…there i said it I cried and i have never cried over a movie before…ever. Alan Rickman did an amazing job he deserves so much recognition for that performance. I was worried that because I loved the chapter so much that anything the movie did to portray it wouldnt live up to my standards and expectations. I was so wrong. Ugh goodbye Harry Potter I will miss you.
oh and did anyone else catch Lily saying "Always." Yeah as if my heart werent already torn apart into small pieces.
Mark, have you ever been introduced to Tobuscus's Literal Trailers? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MahTKZDHXaA
Hmmmm was that "something worth living for" bit in the film? I don't recall it….
Too much epilogue?? Take it back!
I couldn't cry during Snape's death and the Prince's Tale. No, it was worse. I was PARALYZED WITH GRIEF.
<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_loi394qbEx1qfhcak.gif">
I'm an evil person but I wish they'd cropped out baby!Harry because his presence made the scene a little creepy for me… o_O
Cue the M&M's rolling down the theater floor…
I loved the nods to the previous films – the pixies from CoS and the pink hoodie Hermione was wearing from PoA (I think Harry was wearing the same shirt from PoA as well) 🙂
me too! That's also part of the reason why I didn't mind the change to The Prince's Tale- I loved all the little flashback scenes to SS
The Cornish Pixies! Loved that.
I don't have too much to say because so many people have said awesomeness before me, but I will say this.
I have never, in my entire rather emotional life, cried as much at a movie (or play or tv show or book) than I did during this film. I had tears running down my face for at least half the movie, but the scene in the great hall after the first part of the battle? I wept like a baby and I am not ashamed to admit it.
Well done, Hollywood. Just this once, you got something right.
(Oh yes, and Molly versus Bellatrix BEST DUEL EVER amirite?)
I saw it two nights ago (and I swear I wrote up a comment here but apparently it got ate, or maybe I was a bit drunk), but I gotta say, on the whole? Not that impressed. But it made me understand the LotR book purist fans who RAEGed at the movies more.
For me it was mostly that I get that and why they need to change things in an adaptation, but my HPstan heart just went WHYYYYYYY all the time.
I liked it well enough for the part until Harry dies (with some headscratchers like "yeah, Hermione DANGER Granger, PUNCHER of DRACOS, RIDER of DRAGONS, riiiiiiiiight"), but from King's Cross on… WHYYYYY
No Grindledore ;-; I needs my gay Victorian wizard summer of ~love~
and the second part of the battle… it just kind of misses the whole spirit and intent of the book battle, with the tides finally turning for the good guys and Harry's epic public humiliation of Voldemort, and Neville was much more badass. Unepic beheading is unepic.
*sigh*
Well at least it got Rupert Grint shirtless. There's that, too.
ETA: And the ultimate point in nitpicking: Harry faced Voldemort with his wand drawn. I winced at that bit after the book made such a big deal out of Harry ~*~dying for our sins~*~.
Anyways, in honour of this epic event, I shall repost these:
<img src=http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d77/baranxi/Other%20macros/HP%20Macros/mcgonagallbedknobs.jpg>
<img src=http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d77/baranxi/Other%20macros/HP%20Macros/voldemort.jpg>
<img src=http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d77/baranxi/Icons/Deathly%20Hallows/iconfinale.gif>
What was weird to me about Hermione being the one to suggest riding the dragon was that SHE HATES FLYING. They've even established this in the movies! So for her to be like "come on guyz, let's all hop on this dragon" was kind of OOC for me.
I thought it was a great movie. I'm so glad they followed the book so closely. There were some things they did in the movie that weren't in the book, but I really liked them anyway.
-Snape in the great hall. It was great to see him in action as Head Master.
-Ron and Hermione going to the Chamber of Secrets to get the basilisk fangs. I like they they had bigger roles in the battle than in the book, too.
-Fred got killed by a Death Eater rather than by falling debris.
-The ugly Voldie/soul thing under the bench in Kings Cross had a Volide face. It made it easier to understand what that thing was.
-Olivander knew what the Deathly Hallows were.
-Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione before he went into the forest. I cried the hardest at that scene.
-Harry being able to find the horcruxes by sensing them. I thought that worked out well in the movie. And it didn't bother me that Helena Ravenclaw knew where the diadem was and that it had dark Magic attached to it.
-Snape's death was definitely better in the movie. The sound of the snake attacking was absolutely gruesome. And Harry trying to stop the blood was exactly what I thought he would have done. The boathouse was nice, too, and I think was a better place than the Shrieking Shack.
My complaints are few. I thought Dumbledore could have been a little friendlier to Harry, instead of seeming like he was in a hurry to go somewhere. And he didn't really explain why Harry didn't die.
I didn't like Harry and Voldie's battle. I would have preferred something closer to the book version. And why wasn't there any cheering when Voldemort was finally defeated?
But all in all, I loved it. Shell cottage was really nice. The Gringotts breaking was absolutely perfect. Snape's death, The Prince's Tale, and the forest were fantastic.
Thank god someone else thinks Dean Thomas=UNF. Rewatched the movies this weekend after the midnight premiere (terribly backwards of me, I know). And I couldn't help but notice where they took out his character's stuff. Like in OOTP, he is very vocal in that first lesson with Umbridge, and then in 7.1, they took out his character entirely!!! D:
Unfortunately reading all the comments here has made me *more* dissatisfied with the movie. Still making my mind up, now I've been reminded of all the things that were left out – some out of necessity, because the plot threads were dropped in *other places*.
Not helping is the fact that I had a row of about 6 teenage boys right behind me, some of whom I swear had never even seen the movies before given the questions they were asking, who sniggered and commented throughout the whole movie even though we asked them to quiet down maybe 3 or 4 times. So you can consider most of the poignant, emotional moments ruined by those guys. I don't think i'll have made my mind up til I see it in an empty cinema in a couple of months' time.
I think it really has some of the pacing issues of the book, too. Rather than the battle being the crescendo the whole story has this whole LOUD QUIET SLOW LOUD QUIET QUIET QUICK LOUD thing going on (made more painful in books because of all that freakin' time spent on the camping trip), and it's just so jarring. So much freakin' time spent with the Grey Lady when there's an epic battle going on!
[cont]
I still liked a lot of things, obviously. Neville Longbottom and Prof. McGonagall, epic BAMFs (and Neville lovin' a bit of that other BAMF, Luna – I've always shipped them so I'm glad they ignored Jo's final word on that one). Molly Weasley. I didn't mind the big Ron/Hermione kiss – although I liked it better in the book, it wouldn't have made sense with the SPEW storyline ditched. And it LOOKED freakin' amazing. I still teared up despite the douchebags between us, and during the pensieve scene I was surrounded by sniffles – on one side, my most emotional friend who cries at the drop of a hat, on my other, my friend who has shipped Snape/Lily seemingly since the dawn of time. I found myself a little distracted to all the things they did to Alan Rickman's face, though – terrible, heavy makeup and the weird de-ageing effect in the flashbacks..
I feel… weirdly distant from this whole thing with the 'end of Harry Potter omg'. I have still not actually seen Deathly Hallows part 1, and to be honest I will probably wait until this movie is out on DVD so I can watch the both of them in one go. But first, I need to reread the actually Deathly Halllows book, which I've only read the once, when it came out in 2006. Not gonna lie, pretty much all I remember of that book is the sitting and bickering in the tent for three months and the epilogue, which I still like to pretend didn't happen. It's been a big factor in preventing me from going back to the book.
So I guess the question is: are the two movies by themselves strong enough that I can eventually see them together, and then maybe read the book later? Because I think of all the books I had the most issues with pacing in that one, and I am just loathe to read it again. But I feel like I really need to refresh myself on what's supposed to be happening before I see the movies.
My preference is always to see the movie first, because then I'm not nitpicking about "they changed this from the book!!"
Well, first of all, Deathly Hallows came out in 2007, not 2006. And second, while the camping bit may have seemed like it stretched on forever, it was really only about three chapters. You really should give the book another try because there's a lot more to it than just the camping (which really wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be) and the epilogue (again, aside from the names, not as bad). 🙂
That said, I think you should see the movies and then reread the book. That way, you won't be nitpicking the movies based on what's been left out/changed from the book and you can just enjoy them as they are.
Also, I disagree with Mark. I think the epilogue was done very well in the movie. I'm not exactly a fan of it in the book, but I think it's better suited to film than page. It was less cheesy and cutesy, I think.
B+, fourth favorite HP movie. Cried more at Bridesmaids (twice vs zero), although the last DH trailer made me cry. Loved seeing Ron and son. Gringotts sequence (from "hideous" to the shirtless guys, everything in between), my favorite part. Definitely not "a hell of a snog" between Ron and Hermione, but cute. McGonagall the best performer, throughout the series. Go, Neville & Luna, separately and together. Dan's last hour was his best ever.
Re: Harry/Voldemort hugging.
If they're touching, Voldemort can't hurt Harry as much because then he'll hurt himself. And him flying I think is just Apparition. Plus, Voldemort is weird in general. Of course he would be the only one who could apparate in the sky.
Snape, like, FLEW backwards out of the Great Hall too. I was like "Wait a second, since when can Snape fly?"
One thing that I didn't like as much as I would have expected was Neville and Luna. When the Deathly Hallows book came out I thought it would be neat if they had gotten together, but seeing it in the movie made me realize how little sense it made, particularly when they had even less scenes together in the movies than in the books. Everything else was amazing, though. The Prince's Tale was handled better than I expected. I was afraid it wouldn't explain everything properly, but it did well enough with making things make sense.
Wrryyyyy Harry? WHY DID YOU NOT REPAIR YOUR WAND? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY.
But I have to say Luna/Neville made me so so so happy.
RIGHT?!?!?!
An older woman behind me said quite loudly, "But that's not how it goes!!" I immediately turned around and went, "I KNOW RIGHT!?!?" We both agreed that he should have at least fixed his wand before breaking the Elder Wand. I mean, are you going to use Draco's wand forever, Harry?
Just the though of Harry using Draco's wand forever makes me cringe.
I'm not going to list the points I cried at, because my tear ducts were working overtime through that entire movie.
Instead, here are the points where I laughed at inappropriate moments, and then felt really bad because I was the only one who laughed in the theater.
1. The Parseltongue subtitles. Just the fact that they decided to put up subtitles for Voldy speaking Parseltongue was hilarious to me, especially since Parseltongue is spoken several times during that movie and yet that's the only scene with subtitles.
2. Voldy's "I will kill every last man, woman, and child" speech, because even though at that point I was sobbing loudly from Snape's death, I still cracked up from the memory of that scene in AVPM.
3. For some reason, without the glasses, I just cannot see Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. I'm fine until the glasses come off, then he's Dan. So in my mind, when Harry Potter dies, he wakes up as Daniel Radcliffe, which is fairly lulz-inducing. I'M SORRY MY BRAIN IS A LITTLE WEIRD.
4. In the same scene, when Dumbledore appeared, I automatically went, "Hey, it's Gandalf!"
5. The Malfoys leaving Hogwarts. HILARIOUS. They're all just "SCREW THIS, WE'RE DONE."
6. This wasn't in the movie persay, but I love the general idea of Harry walking back into the Great Hall and going, "Okay guys, it's all good! War's over! I killed him! Yeah, just now, out back in the courtyard! Well, no, there's not a body, he sort of just went all flaky, but you can take my word for it, really. He's totally dead. FOR REALZ."
Also, where is my young!Albus/young!Grindlewald flashback. WHERE IS IT.
"Well, no, there's not a body, he sort of just went all flaky"
For some reason when I got to that part my brain put it in Danrad's voice.
OMG, I totally went, "GANDALF! But I thought *spoiler spoiler spoiler for LOTR*!!!
Just popping in to say the credit music was beautiful and wonderful. If I hadn't been in the company of my sister I would have stayed till the very very end just to keep listening to the music.
I can't believe I missed that you put this review up 🙁
The only thing I would add to what you have said would be that it irritated me that they made Neville's scene where he kills Nagini less about how awesome he is and more about how everybody else failed to do it. Also I am really upset that they glossed over Ariana with a simple "That's your sister, isn't it? She died young, didn't she?" LIKE COME ON JUST LEAVE HER OUT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN HER.
"Harry’s arrival into (what I think was) the Gryffindor Common Room was FANTASTIC."
well, mark, twas actually the room of requirements. nice try, though 😉
overall, I liked it. I didnt like how there was no Percy reconcilliation, seeing him crack a joke, or properly seeing Fred's death. Simply seeing a brief flash of Fred getting killed during Voldemort's speech just didnt do him justice!
And yeah, when harry used the ressurection Stone and asked Lupin about his son, i practically shouted "WE NEVER HEARD ABOUT HIS SON!" it just seemed like it would be overly confusing to those who have never read the books.
I agree, the Harry/Voldemort hug/flying was really WTF and I even heard the people behind me whisper "What is going on?"
Not related to Harry Potter at all, but since you're going to Comic-Con, I feel you should know about this:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/18/twilight…
I APPROVE WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
ALAN RICKMAN FOR ALL THE OSCARS EVER, INCLUDING WARDROBE, MAKE-UP, AND EFFECTS.
DAME MAGGIE SMITH TOO. Poor dear, I hope she gets better
Matt Lewis and Alfie Enoch grew up really well. Like, hot damn, need a fan, this is too much for me. Alfie Enoch is really starting to look a lot like his dad, William Russell (AWWWW YEAAAAH IAN CHESTERTON).
I was really irritated about Nagini's death and the Voldie/Harry flying and the fact that there are no bodies of Voldemort or Bellatrix. I can't believe that the movie makers do not realize how important bodies are as proof of things being over. I really feel like Harry's and Voldemort's battle should have been witnessed.
I liked the movie, but Grey Lady, if you know Voldie had corrupted the diadem, how do you not go to your headmaster and go, "So by the way…"?
I find it really hilarious that the actor who played Crabbe is not in this movie because Crabbe dies. I was really upset that Goyle dies though- weirdly I always preferred Goyle, though they have practically no distinguishing features.
I agree with most everything you said and I'm not sure if it has been mentioned, but Blaise being in the Room of Requirement had me going "lolwut?" too. Turns out the actor that played Crabbe was found growing ridiculous amounts of marijuana so they probably just went ahead and took him out. Either to save the reputation of Warner Brothers or because he was pretty busy with trying to not go to prison.
Also, Voldemort and Malfoy hug was easily the worst thing I have ever witnessed.
Dean Thomas. Haha he had a bigger role than before but then again you can never get enough Dean right? Always wish there was more! he was a reliable errand boy for Kingsley at least. And he was pissed at Malfoy which surprised me. I really do wish the movies werent always so centered around the main trio. Neville was a hero on his own in the book and really took initiative and it would have been cool to see some close up dueling and dying, but honestly the movie still exceeded my expectations. Loved every minute.
This was a major tear jerker for me! The Prince’s Tale is my favourite part of the whole series and they definitely did it justice! I was quite worried they wouldn’t. I liked the jokes, it kind of lightened the tension bizarrely so. AND ALAN RICKMAN IS A GOD OFFICIALLY. His performance = perfection.
The hug/falling/flying/black cloud harry/voldemort scene was a big WTF moment. But other than that, this movie broke my heart (especially when you see Fred, Lupin and Tonks all dead) and I LOVE IT. Best movie of the series. Most crying in a movie.
I agree with all the comments about basically discriminating against slytherins… I was actually waiting for the scene for them to all come back with reinforcements! Tonk's mom — who married a muggle — was a slytherin for goodness sake. NOT ALL OF THEM ARE EVIL.
I miss dumbledore's backstory… though I see why the cut was necessary. I don't think taking it away made the story harder to follow.
I also wish they had been more thorough with the prince's tale. IMO it went by too fast and skipped all the stuff that would show how complex snape really was. He had all this internal conflict. It didn't stop me from bawling my eyes out, though.
I liked the battle between Harry and Voldemort, because there was more ACTION. they could have put more dialogue in… but I personally didn't like the battle in the book. I felt like it was TOO much talk and all of a sudden Voldemort just died. It was a big "huh" for me.
Ron and Hermione's kiss was awesome.
I'm glad they kept the epilogue short and only put in ONE ridiculous kid's name. People were giggling in my theater over it. WTF was Jo thinking?
Oh and I hate Ginny forever and ever and ever. I just hate her character. She's terribly written in the book and Bonnie Wright doesn't really help matters. She's also taller than Daniel Radcliffe which makes their kissing scenes look hilarious to me. 😀
I was confused when i didn't see Crabbe.
It doesn't bug me that Harry destroyed the Elder Wand. I really don't see why it's a big deal that they didn't show that he repaired his wand… I don't get why everyone is so upset about it lol.
Neville's moment was awesome.
Overall, I thought it was awesome, though. (:
Btw, while waiting in line, I recall that some dude dressed in yellow and a pair of wings ran by…. my first thought was "Why did someone dressed as an angel just run by??" After he was gone, and a few seconds passed, a large group of people came by running, too, yelling "CATCH THE SNITCH!!!!" Hilarious.
First of all, I've been checking Mark Reads constantly looking for this review going "WHY DON'T YOU POST IT MARK!?!?!" and then I remembered the existence of Mark Watches… 🙂
My most hated things, in order:
1) Voldy/Harry Flying Hug. "IMMA PULL YOUR FAAAAAACE." And pretty much all of the final battle changes. I loved that scene, and desperately wanted to see it on screen.
2) Voldy/Draco Hug
3) Why why WHY did they feel the need to put in SO many jokes? I understand that they need to lighten some of the tension, but I was also really excited about the prospect of seeing all of that tension onscreen. I wanted to be on the edge of my seat a little more.
4) The epilogue was ridiculous. I'd rather have seen them hire new actors.
I also wish that we could have seen the Percy redemption, even though it wasn't really mentioned in the previous movies, and of course, Dumbledore back story. However, I understand why those things were taken out.
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Was anyone else really disappointed that they left out how Harry's sacrifice saved everyone else? That seemed kind of important to me.
In the book it seems Harry basically wins by allowing himself to die. (Hence "master of death!" right?). And he's pretty confident when he comes back, talking to Tom and knowing how strong he is against this broken-down soul of Voldemort who can't even kill him. But I felt like, in the movie, "dying" was just a lull in the battle, not WHAT ALLOWED HIM TO ACTUALLY WIN. In the movie when Harry was waiting for Voldemort to jump out at him in the castle I kept thinking "why do you look so scared, Harry? You've already kind of gone through the worst that can happen, right…?" It felt cheap, like they were playing us for thrills instead of going with what would have made sense.
Was anyone else bothered that Harry's sacrifice didn't save everyone, and with how it was treated? I think ti's kind of a subtle thing, but for me it was why the last fight was unsatisfying.
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Why hasn't anyone commented on the Neville/Luna. THAT SHIT IS AMAZING YOU GUYS.
Now hold on there, Mark. Hermione looked 19 in the epilogue. Ginny looked 40. I had to do a double-take to make sure it was the same actress (as for Harry and Ron, it was 50/50 but I loved Ron's pot-belly). Also, I totally got the Voldy-Draco hug. Voldy was trying for the "I'm a merciful tyrant and reward those who are loyal" act, but he's so inhuman and incapable of feeling that he simply doesn't know how to show any kind of convincing affection. It was perfect.
Otherwise, I mostly agree with your assessment. I hate that they eschewed vital bits of plot and backstory in order to show more action, but on the whole I liked it. ALAN RICKMAN FOR BEST ACTOR 2012! None of this "supporting" shit, BEST ACTOR!
Oh, and I loved that we actually get to see the Chamber of Secrets one more time instead of just hearing about it. Also, CORNISH PIXIE CAMEO FOR THE WIN!
P.S. The replaying of the original "Hedwig's Theme" at the end made me all misty and excited. CAN JOHN WILLIAMS JUST GO BACK AND RE-SCORE FILMS 4-8 PLEASE?!
Just saw film 7b in the cinema. I was bitterly disappointed. I won't even go into details because I'll start a massive rant which will make me look like a pedantic, obsessive uber-fan (and a lot of commenters have already pointed out the same things that I had problems with), but even considering that I don't have high expectations for the films, the whole thing just made me angry. It was very rushed; many beautiful, poignant or dramatic scenes were just passed over without giving them their proper due; things appeared to be changed simply for the sake of being changed rather than because it was an improvement at all; there were inconsistencies even within the film's own universe, let alone with the books; entire scenes were written out and pointless ones written in; it was all so jarringly WRONG that I just couldn't enjoy it and kept waiting for it to end. I facepalmed and cringed my way through the whole thing.
Yeah, I'll use the left-hand evacuation procedure if you like, but I stand by my own convictions even if very few people seem to agree. There were a couple of good bits but the awful completely overshadowed them. And no, I didn't cry at all.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I -did- cry, but I think that was only really from being reminded of how I felt when reading the book. (Except for Alan Rickman's acting. That genuinely got me teary-eyed – that was one of the pluses of the movie.) But yeah, I think, for all that it was missing, it was only slightly better than Half-Blood Prince (which I regard as the worst of the movies because they just -killed- it.) I was quite disappointed that nearly everything was changed in this one…
It seems everything else I liked(McGonagall, Molly, Snape holding dead Lily, Neville, etc) or disliked(guard uniforms, indiscriminate goblin killing, creepy Draco hug, missing things, etc) has already been mentioned.
However, I am amazed that no one has mentioned Ron's line in the room of requirement. When Goyle's curse almost hits Hermione and he gives this angry roar and runs after them shouting "That’s my girlfriend, you numpties!" And Hermione's little grin after that was cute too. I have no idea what a numpty is, but that was so very Ron.
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I was really hoping snape was harry's father, cause who doesnt love snape…
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Criticisms: Gratuitous Luna/Neville shipping. I have no idea why everyone and his brother ever thought Neville and Luna were going to happen, and I bet it's for the same reason H/Hr shippers clung to their ship. JKR spelled out that both of them got with other people.
"Take all Slytherins to the dungeons" bothered me.
Also, the HoYay/FoeYay Harry and Voldemort face gripping (as if to make out!) thing was weird.
And they cut Snape's best line: "Would you like me to do it now or would you like a moment to compose an epitaph?" All I wanted was to hear Alan Rickman say that on screen. Boo.
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My favorite imagery in the entire series:
When Severus Snape is facing Voldemort, about to die, there is a Gryffindor scarf hanging on the wall just beside him. Snape's true colors, at last.
My favorite imagery in the entire series:
When Snape is facing Voldemort, about to dies, and hanging on the wall just beside him is a Gryffindor scarf. Snape's true colors at last.
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I liked that we got to see more of the twins before the battle – that really set me up for Fred's death. Some of the story-telling devices they used in this one were nice, but I honestly liked the first part of Deathly Hallows better.
Things that bothered me:
-They cut out Percy reuniting with the Weasley family.
-They missed an opportunity to explain Dumbledore's backstory.
-Attached to that, after Abertforth has basically slandered him, Dumbledore offers no apology or explanation for why Aberforth could have said such things, etc.
-Harry drops the Resurrection Stone on his way to the forest, sooo…how does he come back to life?
-No death of Peter Pettigrew to be found >:C
-They randomly kill Lavender Brown. -Why-.
-The Ron and Hermione kiss (though I am a diehard R/Hr fan) felt so -awkward-. Like they placed it in there because they -just- realized it wouldn't work the way it happened in the book because they cut out all house elves. -One- line of dialogue could've helped to make that feel non-awkward, but…the script-writer, I hear, is horribly Harry/Hermione (and when I say "horribly," I mean to the degree that he ships, not because it's Harry/Hermione.) And it's clear in this film.
-Harry does not look approving when Hermione "breaks the news" that she and Ron are finally together. He barely smiles.
-They wanted the Harry/Hermione physical interaction to matter so much that they didn't even have Ron give Harry a hug when he was seemingly marching to his death. I found this horribly out of character.
-The movie turning into a comedy for a few minutes after Harry died was just…what?
-I wish they'd mentioned the spells they were firing in the end, at least. My cousin who hadn't read the books thought that Neville killed Voldemort by killing Nagini, and that's why he "turned into paper."
-This is an odd complaint, but still. How did they fix George's ear? 😐
Alan Rickman's acting outweighed most of that bad, though *thumbs up.*
I have not read all of the comments like I usually do before I post. I really should be studying for a test in a couple of days, oh well. Any way, I am so glad that I was not the only one who cried. I was biting my lip to keep from out right bawling; although, there were others in the theater who wiped away a tear or two. I would have liked to have seen the final battle between Harry and Voldy more like it was in the book, with the entire school watching Harry being a BAMF. I think that Blaise was in the Room of Requirement scene because the actor playing Crabbe (?) had been arrested for possession of marijuana (fact) and the producers may not have wanted him associated with the series anymore (speculation).
THIS HAS PROBABLY BEEN SAID ALREADY BUT:
Yes Maggie Smith was fabulous, and apparently she has cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy throughout filming. They told her she didn't have to keep doing the film but she wanted to.
She was wearing a wig 😮
Badass or badass??
I was very very disappointed in the final Harry/Voldemort battle. After Harry 'died' and came back, he was the same but changed, as the bit of voldemort was no longer in him. All this story, from the first book to the last, Harry has been fighting the darkness in himself. And by sacrificing himself to save the others, he won. The darkness was cast out by his death to self, by his act of love (much as his mothers' act of love saved him). But the Harry who returned from the dead in the movie was the same Harry- not changed.
The key bit in the book was that Harry offered Voldemort a stern mercy, instead of going for revenge. This showed how different he now was. And Voldemort, in trying to kill Harry again, destroyed himself. BY HIS OWN HAND.
In the movie, we had a wand off that wasn't even exciting to look at.
I loved the Snape stuff. Loved it. But I felt the real climax to the story, the Harry/Voldemort stuff, was ruined.
Thank you for noticing the same thing i did. (finally someone! 😉 ). In the book, Harry's "death" is his victory. In the movie, it is a temporary hitch on the way to a wand duel. I blame the change on the filmmakers wanting to continue to rack up the tension even after Harry comes back from the dead… Instead of letting the tone turn triumphant and avenging as it does in the book. In the book, harry leaves king's cross with certainty. In the movie, he is bewildered, asking "what should i do?" This question is never answered, as no other turning point is provided for Harry later on. And without the final dialogue between the two of them, we are left with a sudden, seemingly arbitrary victory.
There is a comment of mine further up which discusses all this even more, if you're interested.. 🙂
Soo my first indication of how the night was going to go was seeing the new Sherlock Holmes trailer and NEARLY SQUEEING MYSELF OUT OF MY CHAIR. I think my friend had bruises.
I loved this movie. It's not perfect by any means, but I thought it was a great way to finish everything off. The book death of Voldemort felt really abrupt and anticlimactic for me, but I thought the big strange flying chase around the castle and showdown in the middle of nowhere were equally odd. I guess when you're killing off the living incarnation of evil of the entire series, there are several ways to eff it up.
Now I must talk about Snape.
OMFGASDFWTFBURGER. I love him forever. DID YOU NOTICE IN THE DUEL McGonagall throws a curse at him, and he deflects it BEHIND HIM AND KNOCKS OUT BOTH THE CARROWS before he flies through the window??????? He knows what's about to happen, and his last act as Headmaster is to protect his students the only way he can WHILE BATTLING A PISSED OFF MCGONAGALL. All the respect in the world, sir, and lots of respect to whoever came up with that little moment. A subtle little clue for the bookworms who know the revelations ahead.
Which.. the revelations. Boy howdy. We were approaching the point where Rowling went through the entire series through Snape's eyes, and I was suddenly struck by the fact that if they showed it, Michael Gambon would have to be the Dumbledore of the first and second years. I LOVE Richard Harris, rest his soul, and for some reason the fact that we couldn't have a flashback with him made me really, really sad. So in a really weird way I'm glad they didn't show those particular scenes; it would have felt like we were encroaching on dear Richard's territory. I DO REALIZE THIS MAKES NO SENSE. The fact remains.
Also, MCGONAGALL I LOVE YOU. "I always wanted to use that spell!!!!!" "They're SUPPOSED to be out of bed, you blithering idiot!!" HEARTS FOREVER DAME MAGGIE SMITH.
I didn't cry. Not one bit.
Until Snape saw Lily's body. And then I cried like I'd never cried before.
You have here a man — a flawed man, a man who has made the wrong decisions in his life, but who still loves as much as anyone — who lost the woman he loved once to the man he hated, and has now lost her again. Forever.
Rickman captured that so perfectly. So very very perfectly. The sting of unrequited love and the devastation upon realizing that it can never, ever be, that it's gone forever. And I'm a guy who never cries while watching movies (though certain video games are another matter…damn that "longing" sensory stone in Planescape: Torment).
I went to university with the guy who plays Dean Thomas. He's really nice but, unfortunately for you Mark, he has a girlfriend :S
Also I actually hated Neville's speech: it's an awesome speech but after he gives it he gets blasted away which makes it seem all really useless! I liked the movie version better, because it showed how Voldemort can't hurt anyone Harry's died for (Harry does tell Voldemort in the film about this protection but we haven't seen it!!)
Why the goddamn hell was Blaise Zabini with Draco in the Room of Requirement?
You know, I was really nitpicky about this too, but then I found out the actor that played…Goyle? Crabbe? Was caught selling weed so he went to jail. Something like that. I don't know if anybody mentioned it already, so sorry if this was a repeat comment.
I actually liked the long epilogue because it gave me time to bawl my eyes out before I had to leave the theater and be in public and all that.. I was at the midnight premiere but I still got weird looks in the parking lot….
SNAPE.
http://browse.deviantart.com/flash/?qh=§i…
I have to say I think this Prince's Tale is the best, but the one in the movie made me tear up too.
I had a good time
That's about all that can be, or should be, said.
I know this is a delayed comment, but I seriously just remembered I never read either Deathly hallow movie review. I pretty much agreed with the part 1, but I really didn’t care for part 2 movie at all. Mostly because part 1 was so close to the book, I felt part 2 should have been better. So for your “very good section”
To go along with the “I wish that Aberforth’s role was a bit fuller in the movie“ the fact that it introduced his failers here is weird, I felt it was out of place because you didn’t see how much doubt harry had in Dumbledore before this scene like you did in the book
“Harry’s arrival into (what I think was) the Gryffindor Common Room was FANTASTIC. “it was the Room of Requirements, just like in the books. But I agree I love this scene.
“I don’t care how gross this makes me. Dean Thomas is goddamn gorgeous. There. I said it. “ must agree
cont. So Team Alan Rickman?!? Yes…yes
“weirded out by him going up to tell Hermione and Ron what he was doing.”I’m still weirded out, I HATE he tells Hermione and Ron, because we lose the surprise of when he shows up dead in Hagrids arms. I think we lost out on what could have been a very emotional scene.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD
“Why are they flying AND hugging???” I agree, I hate this. It makes no sense what so ever
“Um, the Draco Voldemort hug" Have you seen Tom Feltons interview about this? He was confuse to the hug scene being in the film. They filmed this scene several times, only one time had the hug. Tom said it was completely unplanned, and akward. Tom says Ralph just randomly hugged him.
“Um, doesn’t the movie audience not even know about Lupin’s kid???? WTF.” Its like they couldn’t decide to remove this or not, I found it akward they never mentioned it then had harry say “and after you just had your son” line still. Its kinda like, just pick one and stick to it
“why did Bellatrix/Voldy disintegrate. what.” I agree
“ STOP PUTTING JOKES INTO SUPER SERIOUS SCENES.”To kinda go with this, who hated Harry falling out of Hagrids arms, how stupid really was that?
“Blaise Zabini with Draco in the Room of Requirement? “ I think they wanted to have 3 inthere, to have 2 escape and one die, and the one acter(either crabbe or goyle) got caught with pot or something and couldn’t be in the films
Somebody has probably already told you, but Blaise was with Draco because the kid who played goyle (or was it crabbe?) was arrested and prosecuted for buying/possessing weed – lots and lots of weed, so he was cut. God did I laugh my little arse off when THAT was in the news paper.
I saw this at a midnight premiere, where collective emotion was running so high that at big moments like Ron and Hermione kissing or Molly Weasley being THE MOST BADASS EVER, people actually broke out into applause. I was a little saddened by the lack of any Dumbledore/Grindelwald (Dumblewald? Grindeldore?) but the gorgeous handling of The Princes Tale made up for it tenfold. Alan Rickman has been consistently the greatest actor in the franchise, and it's sad that he hasn't had more recognition for it. That said, the emotional intensity of The Prince's Tale and The Forest Again sequences made for… not an anticlimax, exactly, but the train station scene felt odd. The fact that it was so bright, while EVERYTHING ELSE for the past four movies has been filmed so dark(lly?), made it seem out-of-place. It got better once he was back in Hogwarts and everything was amazing again, but it was still awkward to watch.
Other than that, though, it was absolutely beautiful and a fitting end to a brilliant story.
My fantasy is that there will someday be "Harry Potter: The Next Generation". Who knows, Voldemort could rise again, in another 15 years. I think there is potential for the Potter and Weasley cousins – they've got good genes.