Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Harry Potter The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review

Hey guys!
I would just like to throw out I am an avid Harry Potter fan. When I was little, I dressed up as Hermione for two Halloweens in a row. I waited in those long lines at midnight to get the book first, and then I would pull an all-nighter reading them. And now it's over. I am no longer a child. Okay, so I'm kind of 22 but isn't there still part of all of us who was a little sad when they didn't get their acceptance letter to Hogwarts?
So...I know I am not of the popular opinion, but I personally found the second part of the seventh movie a bit of a wreck. The animation was superior to the seven movie succeeded it, I'm sure the cost nearly doubled than that of the last. Yet there was a sincere lack of heart.
Let me first cover the things that I did like:
1.) It was beautiful. The cinema was gorgeous. Those clear shouts of the English countryside were breathtaking. The most well done scene, in my opinion, was when he died and saw Dumbledore. The washed out Kings Cross Station behind them was really very well done.
2.) The last scene. Right before the epilogue, when the three hold hands and look forward, I think it is a very good representation of the entire series. Just the awkwardness of the whole shot, and them just standing there, really I think ran parallel to the quirkiness of the whole thing.

Ummm...so that's pretty much it.
Now onto my rant.
Okay. So. Basically, they kinda screwed this movie up. All the qualities were there to make a good Potter film, yet it didn't happen. At all. First of all, personally I feel that splitting the movie into two parts really was only for financial gain, because the way this movie was put together was extremely awkward. In the first, there is much too little going on, and there are points where I was actually bored. And in the second, there is so much going on really there is not enough time for much of anything. The imbalance is ridiculous, and I say why not just make it one three and a half hour movie. That way, they wouldn't have had to elongate scenes in the first and put in all these filler scenes (like the Harry and Hermione dance, which was just strange) and they would have given everyone a proper goodbye.
I mean really, the goodbyes were awful. Former significant characters, and one's that were very important to the books, such as Hagrid, Abernanthy, Ginny, Fred and George, and Percy really never got their proper story line, or a goodbye. Hagrid has about two lines, the cast off the whole plot that adds dimension to Dumbledore's character, Ginny has gotten about eight words in edgewise the entire series, we never even see Fred die, and the whole Percy thing is completely thrown out. I get that they have to make the movie fit into a certain time frame, but at the same time, it was the last movie and it was the last movie and if they insisted on making it two parts, they might as well made it a little longer. It clocked in at just 130 minutes, while the 6th was 153. Imagine what they could have thrown in with 23 extra minutes. Maybe some dialogue.
Now here goes my dialogue rant. I really feel like there must have been under three words uttered the whole thing, and when a word was said, it was normally someone's name in desperation. Really, it might as well have been a silent film. And the only dialogue used was to move the plot forward, such as Harry's conversations with the wand maker and goblin. There were none of those awkward laughing scenes that I've grown to love. Those ones where Harry, Ron, and Hermione just laugh at the most random of times to remind us what Harry is, ultimately, fighting for.
There was no focus on Harry, Ron, or Hermione, either. They didn't have a conversation, they were just thrown immediately into this fighting. And there was no redemption of Ron, which JK Rowling made sure to include. Someone who just watched the movies would think: "Wow, Ron is a douche. He leaves when it's hard, comes back when it's easy, and steals Hermione from Harry since they are clearly in love, which you can see in the dancing scene. And when Harry says he's going to give himself to Voldemort, Ron doesn't even say anything or give him a hug."
And furthermore, Ron and Hermione's romance has been cast aside since the sixth movie when Ron gets that girlfriend. The kiss was cute, but I felt as though there should have been SOME build-up, and the kiss should have been more tender and smile-y. And then they neglect to mention their relationship the rest of the movie, they just have them holding hands off in the corner for affect.
All and all, the movie had one too many meaningful looks and dark, heavy music. Here's what I would have done to mitigate this:
1.) Combine the movies. I think that they very well could have fit it all into one movie, had they eliminated those painfully long Horcrux-searching for scenes. I think the first movie could be cut to an hour and the last one kept at two and we could have sat down and watched it all in 3. If they insist on their little money ploy of keeping it two separate movies, then the Gringotts scene should have been in the first and the last should have just been the battle. Which is just as awkward as the cut was before.
2.) More dialogue. They really forgot to include what made us fall in love with the characters in the first place. I know there is not much time to add any in depth conversations, they might as well have thrown in Ron saying I love you to Hermione or a scene of them laughing...Something to counteract all this bloody action.

All and all, I give HP7 Part 2 a B. It could have been better, it could have been worse, but I say it really didn't tie together the whole series that well.
xoxoBlogging Life

How it ranks with the other movies:
HP4-A
HP6-A-
HP3-A-/B+
HP7P2-B
HP1-B
HP7P1-B-
HP2-B-/C+

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