Movie 7.1 Reviews

[Cat_on_my_head]

Have you seen it? What did you think?

[Cat_on_my_head]

The following contains many, many spoilers.



Of all the HP movies, this one bothered me the least upon first viewing, so I enjoyed watching it for the first time more than usual. A big part of this is, while I know they have to leave things out, it always drives me up the wall when they add things. Don't tell me you don't have time for this one important scene, but then add 20 minutes of crap that has nothing to do with the book. They obviously left out a lot, and changed some things for the sake of time (Like when they use Hedwig instead of Stan as the giveaway when they move Harry-I thought that was actually a pretty good idea.) There are obviously some things I was disappointed not to see, like the story of R.A.B. and the transformation of Kreacher, and there were some places where Voldemort should have been and wasn't (like Godric's Hollow), but for the most part, I thought the movie was coherent and didn't feel too rushed. I'm glad they split it in two.

I really liked montage of everyone preparing to leave in the beginning. I thought it set the tone of the movie very well.

There were times when the acting wasn't spectacular. Especially with the ensemble scenes in the beginning. I thought they came off more awkward than tense. The scene at the end in Malfoy's Manor was much better. Helena pulls a scene together well.

Voldemort was better, at least, if still not great. Ralph Fiennes' portrayal of Voldemort has always been a big peeve of mine. There is no way his whiny, morose Voldemort would ever have gained followers. Voldemort has style, panache, wit; he's a wonderful salesman, and a recruiter to the end, as long as you're not a muggle or muggleborn. Remember near the end of book 7 when Neville is talking back to him? He doesn't get mad at first- he tells Neville he's got moxy and tries to recruit him before he sets his head on fire. Voldemort is crazy, sure, but he is at least sane enough to put together a decent world domination plan. Fiennes has played him as a depressed nutcase. Totally wrong. (He also plays him from the pelvis, which I don't get. Voldemort isn't giving into his base desires. Voldemort is a play-from-the-head character.) But he was a little better this time. He gave Voldemort a little more of that shiny evil that he has in the book. Still wasn't great, but there was at least some improvement.

Also, I think the lack of Gambon's Dumbledore was in improvement. His portrayal (except in the 3rd movie, which was fine) has always irked me. I think, though, this has less to do with Gambon and more to do with the directing. Something that Columbus did well, and Cuaron continued, was he let his veteran actors do their own thing. Starting with movie 4, the adults start to get a little drab, and are more obviously directed. I think part of this is the effort to make the movies "cooler," having the adults give more subtle performances (with apparently the exception of Bellatrix). Which is too bad, because all the adults were doing a great job. They didn't need the extra direction, or the odd changes to their character (Dumbledore being the biggest example of this).

As for the trio, I thought Rupert really stood out. His angry Ron storming away from camp was excellent.

Dan is kind of hit or miss. He doesn't always put in the energy he needs to, and we still occasionally see that wide-eyed look of surprise from the first movie that doesn't really fit anymore. I don't think he carries a scene that well along, but is better when he has someone to play off of. (Like Rupert. The scene where Ron leaves was really very good.) An exception would be Dobby's death. I think Dan did very well there.

Emma is kind of in the middle. She falters occasionally on her lines, but makes up for it by being fairly good at her physical portrayal of Hermione. She shows her emotions well, which is something Dan isn't as good at, at least with this character.

I liked the scene where Harry and Hermione dance. (Okay, I guess they did add something.) I thought it was a nice portrayal of their friendship.

I thought the scene where Dobby dies was very well done. For me, it is the most moving death in the books (probably because it is the one Rowling spends the most time on), and the movie did justice to it. (Excepting that you can't bury a dead body two feet deep in a sand dune, but I'm trying to overlook that.)

Luna was wonderful, per usual!

Overall, I really liked it and can't wait for the second part!

[Cat_on_my_head]

Oh, two things I forgot! (More spoilers!)

1. The Harry and Hermione from the locket: I really liked the first part. It was a great representation of a more terrible and beautiful Harry and Hermione. One the other hand, I wasn't so into naked Harry and Hermione. I thought it escalated the scene too much, so it looked like Ron finally breaks the locket not because he has overcome Voldemort's taunting, but because he is mad at Harry and Hermione. There are certain things better left to the imagination, and this is one of them.

2. The animation for the Deathly Hallows story. I loved it! I thought it was creepy and especially effective for a children's tale (as opposed to a live-action depiction).

[aramantha]

Both of those things are true, I think. The animation of the story was a beautiful way to tell it. The semi-nude bit -- a bit hokey actually. Maybe Voldemort's idea of the way real humans think about it or do it.

I liked the way they did the coffee shop thing -- almost like a gunfight. It's all suddenly very serious and not like the rest -- there's been a jump.

I was catching a little of the quality of Gilliam's "Brazil" at the Ministry -- flushing themselves in, for example. Once a long time ago they were considering Gilliam as a director for the whole thing. Lot of water under the bridge since then, as well as down the loo.

[Godric]

Right, finally saw this yesterday... on the biggest screen in Britain! Mwa-ha-ha-ha.
First the gripes: There were two incidents of baffling stupidity: Harry and Hermione dancing, and Harry and Hermione naked in Ron's vision. Both stood out as being terrible, and rightly drew laughs from the audience, for being dreadful. Ron's vision didn't work well to begin with, but descended into utter crap. Also, I didn't like the Bourne-style action scenes the jittery camerawork and sudden cutting from scene to scene. It was great in he Bourne movies, but too often directors of other movies have attempted unsuccessfully to emulate it, this was one such time. Added to that, I'm not sure about the animation in the Three Brothers tale. It seemed too contemporary, reminded me of a Gorillaz video. I think in five years time, we might look back on it and say "that's sooooo 2010". They should have gone for a Medieval kind of look somehow, and speared that from becoming an issue.

On the whole, a big improvement on HBP, which was in its turn an improvement on OotP. Rhys Ifans was brilliant as Luna's dad, and most of the cast were, as usual, superb. It made to much of a big deal out of Dobby's death. Overall, though, I guess I'm happy. I still think the series has far more to offer than has been achieved, and we may see it all again in a few decades. bring it on!

[MsBeater]

I was talking to MrC today about Dobby's death.
Do you realize that Dobby has not been seen in the movies since he got that sock that set him free? If you've just seen the movies then Dobby's death was extra over done.

Other opinions may have to wait till I see it again.
But I liked the animation of the three brothers. It seemed to show that it was a dark fairy tale. I don't know, it was just cool.

[aramantha]

Wow! what a relief. I could not remember the old password to get onto the site -- or rather I thought I did, but it kept being wrong. Just today it let me reset a new password for myself. How is everyone?

No one is talking about the second film yet? I'm going to see it this week, maybe tomorrow or Tuesday. Clips look good for the most part, especially Neville. Looks like a little-brother puppy-fat version of Clive Owen. I'm impressed.