Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

[XZero]

The movie opens nationwide tonight for midnight screenings, so I thought I'd get the obligatory thread going for those who want to discuss/analyze/evaluate it.

Little note: OC Remix doesn't get a whole lot of trolling like this, but please, don't even post if your entire post can be summarized as "Harry Potter iz teh gay!!111!" If you don't like the movie or the series, voice some well-reasoned opinion by all means. But if you just want to make fun of fans, don't. Go on YouTube to do that.

As for me, I didn't grow up with Harry Potter like a lot of fans did. I was 12 when the first book came out, but I didn't hear of it until a few years later when the first movie was released in 2001. By then, I was 15 and far too "cool" (read: douchey) to be interested, despite some of my friends being into it. So for a while, I was one of those who said shit like "LotR >>>>>>> Harry Potter" and "Harry Potter's gay" with absolutely no real basis for thinking either of those things. Last year, at 24, I decided to give the movies a chance when the 6-disc box set was on sale for $40, and I fell in love with it. I saw movie 7.1 with friends from school at midnight, and this past January, I bought the whole set of books (also on sale). Throughout the spring semester of school, I read the books for an hour or so a night, and 5 months later, I can honestly say that it's one of my favorite book series out there. What I thought were simple kids books--and admittedly the first 2 or 3 kind of are--turned into an in-depth, character-driven experience. There's a weird feeling when you spend so many months reading these books every day and start to feel that the Harry Potter world is like a second reality. There's a resultant feeling of loss when you finish the books. Tonight, that feeling of loss is compounded by the end of an era.

I'll post my thoughts on the movie for anyone who cares sometime tomorrow, probably after others who have more initiative to stay up later into the night have already done so. For my part, I'm extraordinarily excited for this movie, and I'm hoping that it is a proper send-off for the characters I fell in love with just a few months ago.

[Lemonectric]

I hadn't read anything, but I'd seen movie 2 on tv and 7 part 1 in the theater with some friends. They gave me a little summer reading assignment to finish the books before the last movie came out, so I blazed through them in about a week and a half and got the movies on netflix. Good stuff. I couldn't stop until it was all over. So, I'm going with the same friends to the 3D screening tonight (tomorrow morning?) because the 2D was sold out by the time we thought to get tickets a couple weeks ago.

Basically, I didn't read the books when I was younger because my mom was wary of witchcraft-related stuff. I got in trouble once for smuggling a witch book home from the library and hiding it in the boards under my bed.

One person from her church recommends Harry Potter on his blog, though, and all of a sudden she wants to read it too. Oh, Mom.

[XZero]

Basically, I didn't read the books when I was younger because my mom was wary of witchcraft-related stuff. I got in trouble once for smuggling a witch book home from the library and hiding it in the boards under my bed.

One person from her church recommends Harry Potter on his blog, though, and all of a sudden she wants to read it too. Oh, Mom.

Oh, don't worry. I'm sure the movies turned you into a damnable devil worshipper. Have fun in hell. But don't worry; you'll be in the cool hell.

I have a side job at the Catholic church I've been a member of since birth, and I was talking with one of the priests there about Harry Potter earlier this year. He said that when parents were starting to worry about it, he was actually asked by the bishop to go see the first movie to see if it's something that they should be concerned about. He came back to work about 3 hours later and basically told the bishop that any parent who worried about it was insane; it was harmless and he sensed some Christian themes and imagery in it. If parents took the time to see it with their kids or read it for themselves, they'd see that it isn't going to destroy our nation's youth.

[DarkeSword]

I stopped watching the movies after the 5th one because I felt that they excised too much of what I felt was essential to the stories. They were basically highlights reels of the books. Azkaban and Goblet were particularly disappointing (Azkaban is my favorite of the books).

I'm being taken to see 7.2 this Friday though. Seems like it'll be good.

[WillRock]

Looking forward to seeing the film but as a result will be staying away from this thread... i'd like to go in with an open mind, but I have read the books.

In response to Dynes post about not reading the books till much later because he thought it wasn't cool, I do think its a shame, because one of the biggest factors of the book series was that it basically "grew up" with its audience - the first three books are childrens books, and meant to be so, but the other books are for more mature audiences.

I was one of those that read the books when they came out and as a result, its a very big part of my childhood and that impact the books had on so many others who read them when they came out is lost on anyone now that didn't read the books at that time, because they can read them all at once.

[Lemonectric]

I stopped watching the movies after the 5th one because I felt that they excised too much of what I felt was essential to the stories. They were basically highlights reels of the books. Azkaban and Goblet were particularly disappointing (Azkaban is my favorite of the books).

I'm being taken to see 7.2 this Friday though. Seems like it'll be good.

I felt the same way; I was disappointed to see a lot of the fun subplots missing. I mean, Hermione never says anything about freeing the house elves in the movies, and that aspect of her character spanned multiple books. I guess that's the problem when you have the books getting longer and the movies staying the same length. 7.1 was better, though. Splitting it up was a good decision.

[XZero]

7.1 was better, though. Splitting it up was a good decision.

Which is funny because I remember everyone complaining about that announcement and accusing WB of just wanting to get as much money from the franchise as possible. While I have no doubt that their corporate interests are exactly what the fans were saying, the way these movies were handled shows that movies 4 and 5 probably could have afforded to be given similar treatment. Here's hoping for Peter Jackson-style "Super Extended Blu Ray Editions" next year.

[Kanthos]

I didn't read any of the books or watch any of the movies until this past October. I borrowed the books from a friend, read them all in three weeks (not bad when you've got a full-time job), and watched each movie after I read each book.

We all know that movies made from books, especially books as long as Harry Potter books, are going to be missing a lot of details, subplots, and even characters, but what I dislike most about the movie series (which I'd say are not bad, but nowhere near as good as the books) are the tiny changes put in for no good reason and the way that they often undercut JK Rowling's tendency to provide all kinds of clues in the books that don't get resolved until much later.

Example of a pointless change: Dumbledore and Harry go to recruit Professor Slughorn, who's trashed his house and turned himself into a chair. In the novel, Dumbledore knows things were staged because there's no dark mark above the house. In the movie, despite the fact that they showed the house from the front and could've easily shown the sky, and that they'd shown the dark mark onscreen as early as the start of Goblet of Fire, they used dragon blood as the clue. Why change that?

Example of early reveal: In Half-Blood Prince, Harry and co. sees Draco walk into Borgin & Burkes but don't really know what Draco wants, other than that he's having something repaired. It's not until the end of the book that you find out it's a vanishing cabinet, and that's how Draco gets the other deatheaters into Hogwarts. In the movie, Harry has Arthur Weasley use his ministry connections to look into it, and halfway through the movie, Harry knows what Draco was looking at in Borgin & Burkes. Combine that with several scenes of Draco working on the cabinets and Arthur's description of what they do, and it's not hard to piece together, pretty early on, that Draco's trying to get people into Hogwarts.

[Chernabogue]

Saw it yesterday (yeah, we got it on July 13th in France ) and it was a really good conclusion to the series and a good film IMO.

[Final_metroid]

God help them if they take out the house elves attack or "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!"

[XZero]

God help them if they take out the house elves attack or "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!"

No, that was confirmed to be kept. Back in April, a bunch of people got to see a version of it missing a bunch of special effects (apparently green screens were visible all over the place). They all verified that that line is present and awesome.

Reviews seem to be saying that the first half feels slightly rushed, but the second half is borderline perfect for a Potter film. Radcliffe's acting is getting mild criticism, but if you've gone this far, people are agreeing that this is still infinitely better than all of the other movies. Personally, I never had a problem with his acting, so a performance at the top of his game is fine by me.

A few reviews criticized the final battle, though without spoiling anything, suffice it to say that while the dialogue was great in the book, the actual battle itself was lackluster. So from what I can gather, the film is a vast improvement over that, but it's not quite up to par with other epic final battle sequences. Your mileage may vary.

Finally, universal acclaim is being given to Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) for stealing every scene he's in. The soundtrack features a 6 minute track that's labeled as playing over the major flashback that fans are waiting for (and no, I'm not saying what it contains). Essentially, everyone is in agreement that this scene is the absolute highlight of the whole movie, even compared to the awesomely epic stuff that follows it. It makes sense if you've read the books, but it's nice to know that they pulled it off perfectly. Though after seeing Rickman's consistently strong performances in the last several movies, there wasn't much chance of him screwing it up now.

[Matt E. Waldman]

I'm seeing the midnight premiere tonight! Soooooo excited.

A total of eight movies. So crazy!

[DarkeSword]

I didn't read any of the books or watch any of the movies until this past October. I borrowed the books from a friend, read them all in three weeks (not bad when you've got a full-time job), and watched each movie after I read each book.

We all know that movies made from books, especially books as long as Harry Potter books, are going to be missing a lot of details, subplots, and even characters, but what I dislike most about the movie series (which I'd say are not bad, but nowhere near as good as the books) are the tiny changes put in for no good reason and the way that they often undercut JK Rowling's tendency to provide all kinds of clues in the books that don't get resolved until much later.

Example of a pointless change: Dumbledore and Harry go to recruit Professor Slughorn, who's trashed his house and turned himself into a chair. In the novel, Dumbledore knows things were staged because there's no dark mark above the house. In the movie, despite the fact that they showed the house from the front and could've easily shown the sky, and that they'd shown the dark mark onscreen as early as the start of Goblet of Fire, they used dragon blood as the clue. Why change that?

Example of early reveal: In Half-Blood Prince, Harry and co. sees Draco walk into Borgin & Burkes but don't really know what Draco wants, other than that he's having something repaired. It's not until the end of the book that you find out it's a vanishing cabinet, and that's how Draco gets the other deatheaters into Hogwarts. In the movie, Harry has Arthur Weasley use his ministry connections to look into it, and halfway through the movie, Harry knows what Draco was looking at in Borgin & Burkes. Combine that with several scenes of Draco working on the cabinets and Arthur's description of what they do, and it's not hard to piece together, pretty early on, that Draco's trying to get people into Hogwarts.

One of the things I didn't like about Goblet of Fire was the scene of the flashback to Barty Crouch Jr.'s trial. In the book, you see Jr. essentially begging for his life and pleading for mercy because he's basically just a kid that fell in with the worst crowd. This leads to a bit where Harry is thinking about all the evil things Crouch Jr. did, but then experiences a jarring realization that Voldemort is really at the root of everything; he's responsible for destroying all these families, Crouch's included.

The movie, Barty Crouch Jr. is depicted in the same trial scene as a deranged, evil lunatic. The end.

That was one of those little things that changed from the book to the movie that really changed the entire tone of the scene, and indicative of a lot of changes in that movie and the previous one that sort of glossed over the subtler characterizations.

[Brandon Strader]

I grew up with the books and then the movies, now that it is over... I don't know what to do. I spent my whole life reading and watching Harry Potter.

[LuckyXIII]

I stopped watching the movies after the 5th one because I felt that they excised too much of what I felt was essential to the stories. They were basically highlights reels of the books. Azkaban and Goblet were particularly disappointing (Azkaban is my favorite of the books).

I'm being taken to see 7.2 this Friday though. Seems like it'll be good.

I concur, however the Half-Blood Prince adaptation is quite good.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I concur, however the Half-Blood Prince adaptation is quite good.

So the book was total ass then?

[mickomoo]

I never got into Harry Potter... I think the problem is that when my dad offered to get me a book he started with the 4th. Idk why, but yeah. I only watch the movies when I'm forced to with friends. I saw the first, second, and third movies, they were pretty good. I wouldn't mind seeing the last two

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

3rd movie's probably my favorite. Went plumeting downward afterwards. Haven't seen either part of the finale though, so that might be good.

[Brandon Strader]

I wish Richard Harris didn't pass.

I thought the new Dumbledore was a comedy Dumbledore by comparison.

You can't flippin' replace Richard Harris.

[LuckyXIII]

So the book was total ass then?

Not at all, just saying I thought the adaptation was good - I take it you disagree.

[linkspast]

Dang, that was sweet..

Most impressive.

[XZero]

Alright, so here are my thoughts (and as a word of caution, this will probably be riddled with spoilers, so if you haven't read the book or seen the movie and plan to do either, you probably shouldn't read this).

I saw the movie in IMAX 3D. This was the first 3D movie I've ever seen, and honestly, I wish it was in 2D. There were some cool 3D moments to be sure (the Gringott's bank sequence and the fire escape in the Room of Requirement stood out), but it just didn't do it for me.

As for the substance of the movie, it was awesome. It was a little rushed at first, but once they got to Hogwarts, everything was excellently paced and beautiful. All of the actors and actresses were undoubtedly at the top of their game. The final battle between Harry and Voldemort was much improved over the battle in the book. I enjoyed the epilogue as well, though the characters didn't quite look like they aged the appropriate amount of years. Mrs. Weasley's "Not my daughter, you bitch!" got a big cheer, as did Neville decapitating the snake and Prof. McGonagall's leadership during the battle at one point.

I need to take a moment to mention Snape. The movie opens with him overlooking the students entering Hogwarts in a beautifully chilling scene. Lily Potter's theme music, which was composed exclusively for this film, plays over the scene. Voldemort killing Snape is handled largely off-screen. You see Harry and the others' view on one side of a snowy window, so you can't see any detail at first. You hear Nagini attacking Snape about 4 times with these horrible sounds as he bites Snape in the neck, and each time, if you look on the glass pane, you see more blood appearing. It's handled brilliantly. Snape's other two scenes are where he is warning the students to turn over Harry if they know where he is (in a very well-delivered monologue) and the backstory scene, which was basically perfect. It interwove pertinent clips and lines from the previous movies before coming to focus on Snape and Dumbledore's direct conversation. It couldn't have been handled any better.

I do have a few small gripes, though nothing to ever suggest it was anything but fantastic. First, the movie's 2 hour and 5 minute runtime feels very short. It's over so quick. The one thing they should have done was use a little more time in the scenes dealing with Dumbledore's brother to flesh out Dumbledore's back story. In the book, we find out all sorts of things about him in the years prior to his becoming headmaster of the school. There are references to those, but not enough. The second thing I wish they included was at least a passing mention that Harry did in fact use the Elder Wand to restore his own that Hermione broke during the last movie. He snaps it in half and throws it off the bridge leading to Hogwarts, but if you didn't read the book, you get the sense that he's now decided to stay with the wand he used during the battle, which is not true.

Finally, a word on the music. Lily's Theme is beautiful, and fits so perfectly with the world. But for me, it was the use of Sorcerer's Stone themes by John Williams that made the movie. A few of these return, most pertinently "Leaving Hogwarts" as the second and final song of the epilogue, and what sounded like the first half of the credits music from the first movie. We didn't stay through the credits because the epilogue was before them.

All in all, this movie was great. As a standalone movie, it definitely worked, but its strength is when you realize that it is the balancing half of 7.1. Combined, the two Deathly Hallows movies form the single best Potter film in my opinion.

Oh, and as an aside, my screening didn't show the Dark Knight Rises trailer, so for someone who sees the movie today, can you let me know how it looks? We just jumped straight into the movie at 12:01.

[Esker]

Story ended on part 1, and now part 2 will be just action. It's simplistic but it's the way I see.

[XZero]

Story ended on part 1, and now part 2 will be just action. It's simplistic but it's the way I see.

It's actually like 60-40 action to story. There is a lot of action to be sure, but the story elements are really strong and interwoven throughout.

[Kanthos]

Story ended on part 1, and now part 2 will be just action. It's simplistic but it's the way I see.

Clearly you haven't read the book in a while. There's a lot of story-focused sections in the last half of the book, some of which are crucial to understanding the series as a whole (Snape's memories, in particular).