It's been Ten Years...
10 years ago I sat, totally absorbed by what I had just seen. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone had just become my favorite movie, pushing Star Wars down to 2nd place. The Harry Potter franchise has grown with me as I traveled around the world; I had grown up with this series. Yes, this is like the "Star Wars" of this generation; we would look back at this, 'Deathly Hallows Part 2' and feel the nostalgia. Over the 10 years this franchise has brought joyce, laughter, tears and pure awesomeness to various theater screens and now it's time to say goodbye. But like Neville Longbottom has said Harry Potter will stay in us. The franchise will continue to grow through our memories.
Review (SPOILERS):
Plot (3/5):
I don't want to start off with the negative side of the film but let's get over with it. The plot of the film is quite nit pickable; this I find is the novel's fault not the filmmakers'. The things that bothered me were minor such as students still attending Hogwarts at a time like this...which is ridiculous. Hey, remember when in the fifth movie Seamus said his mother didn't want him to come back to Hogwarts? Well, that was when Voldemort's return was controversial. Now he's taken over everything and we see little first years in their Hogwarts robes. Also the movie does feel a little rushed and Harry goes through finding the Horcruxes quite conveniently by entering into Voldemort's mind...and he couldn't do this before because? See it's minor things like this but like I said before I had the same questions when I was reading the novel. As an adaptation I think the movie was extremely well done. It starts off right where we left off and is a non-stop action flick from start to finish just like it should've been. The only thing I wanted a little more was closure. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a perfect example of ending a franchise. It took time and the transition was smooth and we had time to say goodbye. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ends roughly 5 minutes after Voldemort is defeated and the '19 years later' sequence is quite short. It would've been better if it had been exactly like the book: adding more dialogue between characters that mentions Neville being a Herbology Professor and getting to know the childrens' names (not just Albus-Severus). Overall it's a satisfying ending that we can all embrace.
I don't want to start off with the negative side of the film but let's get over with it. The plot of the film is quite nit pickable; this I find is the novel's fault not the filmmakers'. The things that bothered me were minor such as students still attending Hogwarts at a time like this...which is ridiculous. Hey, remember when in the fifth movie Seamus said his mother didn't want him to come back to Hogwarts? Well, that was when Voldemort's return was controversial. Now he's taken over everything and we see little first years in their Hogwarts robes. Also the movie does feel a little rushed and Harry goes through finding the Horcruxes quite conveniently by entering into Voldemort's mind...and he couldn't do this before because? See it's minor things like this but like I said before I had the same questions when I was reading the novel. As an adaptation I think the movie was extremely well done. It starts off right where we left off and is a non-stop action flick from start to finish just like it should've been. The only thing I wanted a little more was closure. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a perfect example of ending a franchise. It took time and the transition was smooth and we had time to say goodbye. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ends roughly 5 minutes after Voldemort is defeated and the '19 years later' sequence is quite short. It would've been better if it had been exactly like the book: adding more dialogue between characters that mentions Neville being a Herbology Professor and getting to know the childrens' names (not just Albus-Severus). Overall it's a satisfying ending that we can all embrace.
Characters (5/5):
The characters have brought total brilliance to the screen. This is the final, the most dramatic and emotional chapter. Every piece is put together, revealing the whole picture. They still managed to put in a few laughters here and there among the sad moments and thrilling battle sequences. Severus Snape's death is tragic and even the most stoic man on earth would shed an empathetic tear during his flashback scenes. On top of that all this is the final Harry Potter movie...the final conflict, the final facebook---I mean face off, the final battle...it's all over. Harry's character learns of Snape's identity and the two interacting right before Snape's death is great closure between the two. All these emotions put together form a masterpiece film.
The downside is the relationships being shown on screen. None of them have developed steadily over the movie franchise as they have in the books. They seem random and very unrealistic (especially during the 19 years later sequence). I know this was a continuing problem from the previous films but I'm adding the fact that it didn't work till the end.
Performances (5/5):
Multiple scenes gave me chills running down my back. The child actors we've seen in the first movie have grown up to portray their characters for the last time. Danielle Radcliffe is at his peak performance as Harry Potter; my favorite scene delivered by Radcliffe is when he walks out from the group of other students and faces Snape. The lines are bold and memorable and leads to a duel between McGonagall and Snape. Wasn't a big fan of some of the lines still; things like "That's my girlfriend!" coming from Rupert Grint and his character chasing after THREE enemies. Sure it made the theater laugh but to me it came off as a one liner. But seeing that Grint is the best actor out of the trio I don't blame his performance but the script. Ralph as Voldemort is still a little over the top (I think he screams "NYEAAA" about seven times in this movie). Still, these are just nitpicking criticism; all the actors were FINE.
Specifics (4/5):
Multiple scenes gave me chills running down my back. The child actors we've seen in the first movie have grown up to portray their characters for the last time. Danielle Radcliffe is at his peak performance as Harry Potter; my favorite scene delivered by Radcliffe is when he walks out from the group of other students and faces Snape. The lines are bold and memorable and leads to a duel between McGonagall and Snape. Wasn't a big fan of some of the lines still; things like "That's my girlfriend!" coming from Rupert Grint and his character chasing after THREE enemies. Sure it made the theater laugh but to me it came off as a one liner. But seeing that Grint is the best actor out of the trio I don't blame his performance but the script. Ralph as Voldemort is still a little over the top (I think he screams "NYEAAA" about seven times in this movie). Still, these are just nitpicking criticism; all the actors were FINE.
Specifics (4/5):
The make up for this movie was recognizably bad in the Limbo scene - Albus Dumbledore looked awful. I liked how the movie was battle from start to finish and the number of combatants was delightful. I just wished they showed more specific duels between characters. I know that we don't see Lupin or Tonks die in the books but it would've been dramatic to see their actual demise/sacrifice. There was a lot of focus on Harry finding the Horcruxes but I would've liked to see in between shots of people engaging in fights...kinda like Lord of the Rings. They could've squeezed more things into this seeing that it's only 131 minutes long (and it didn't even feel that long!). What I wanted the most was closure with my childhood heroes. Remember when the Return of the King took about a 40 minute epilogue? I wanted just half of that: 20 minutes isn't too much to ask for...no amount of Potter is too much. Voldemort's defeat was a little too short and the movie ends about 8-9 minutes after his death so it felt like a horror movie ending: movie ends when villain dies. These are the bits the movie could've improved on.
The super awesome things about this movie are 1) the soundtrack, 2) the huge scale, 3) the final battle. I loved the Half Blood Prince opening and I liked the Order of the Phoenix opening as well...it looks like David Yates is awesome with Harry Potter openings. This opening was good too; the dramatic music played as the traditional sky sequence was shown...and then it faded into a Hogwarts surrounded by Dementors. I LOVED the soundtrack; the Prince's Tale scene is where it can be most appreciated. Above in the criticism section I did talk about the improvements they could've made with the final battle. However the battle was still satisfactory. The scale was huge and I really got the feeling that this was going to be it. The battle we've waited for...the one we didn't get at the end of Half Blood Prince. Everything that I had imagined while reading the book came to life. Great job and much better job with editing this time.
Theme (N/A):
Death, love, family...the typical Harry Potter stuff. It continues on to the final chapter but I don't really want to talk about it when I can talk about the awesome battles...besides I already talked about how emotional this movie was in the above sections.
Overall (4/5):
A satisfactory ending to my childhood franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 proved that splitting the adaptation in two was a great idea. There is room for improvement but this was certainly an event we will remember. Still, the Half Blood Prince remains as my number one favorite Harry Potter film.
A satisfactory ending to my childhood franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 proved that splitting the adaptation in two was a great idea. There is room for improvement but this was certainly an event we will remember. Still, the Half Blood Prince remains as my number one favorite Harry Potter film.
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