I had started to make a video response, but it was like, 20 minutes long and I hadn’t even covered half the shit that I wanted to, so I decided to scrap that idea and just type it all out instead. Anyway, here are my thoughts:
First of all, this movie should be titled SHOCKFEST 2011. I was pretty sure that I would be bawling throughout this whole movie, but honestly, I didn’t cry nearly as much as I thought I would. I cried a bit during certain parts and was pretty much misty-eyed for like, 95% of the movie, and yes, there was even a lump in my throat throughout the whole movie as well, but I didn’t actually bawl at any point. Which may seem really odd considering how much death there was in this movie - one of those deaths being Snape’s, which was, no joke, quite possibly the worst and most heartbreaking death scene I’ve ever seen in my life - but honestly, I think it was because my jaw seemed to be glued to the floor for the whole 2+ hours.
Seriously, even having read the book and knowing what was going to happen did not prepare me for what was going on in this film; it was like seeing it played out onscreen in front of me was just a completely different experience than reading the book, and the act of actually seeing it was just so raw and real and shocking and...GUH, that I was in like this permanent state of shock for the whole thing. I felt like I was holding my breath for the whole length of the movie and couldn’t let it out until the whole thing was over, and because I was just so worked up about that, I couldn’t process the deaths in the same way, you know? Like I said, the tears and the emotion were there, but it’s like I couldn’t express it properly because of the sheer shock of the whole thing, you know? I am seeing it again like next week, though, so I’m guessing that now that I’ve experienced that, the shock value will go down a bit, and I might actually cry next time, haha.
But now onto more of the specifics, yeah?
NEVILLE. Oh. My god. Seriously, this boy was like, the most amazingly awesome badass motherfucker I’ve ever seen in my life. I LOVED him. I always liked how his character changed and grew and progressed throughout the series, and I love what JKR did with him in this book, but in the movie? GOD, HE WAS SO FUCKING COOL. Again, something about seeing him onscreen and everything just made it that much better and cooler, and…god. So great. When he killed Nagini at the end, the entire theater burst into cheers. It was so AWESOME. And him and Luna? Fucking ADORABLE.
I LOVED Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix as Hermione. She was so adorable, walking around all awkward and uncomfortable and shit. It was so weird to see her in full Bellatrix attire and be somewhat normal and even a bit insecure and not, you know, batshit insane.
Aberforth? Yeah, I liked him. He was pretty cool. I got all teary when I saw the portrait of Arianna, cause I immediately knew it was her, and when he made that comment about how Dumbledore had put power and infamy or whatever above his family…well, that was one of those emotional moments for me. He was so cool when they showed him during the Battle, too.
And McGonagall! OH GOD, SHE WAS SO BADASS AND COOL. I LOVED her line after she made all the knights and shit come to life - "I always wanted to use that spell!" or whatever. So adorable! Love her love her love her. And her concern about Harry when he shows up too, and buying him time, and just…I love her. Like I said, she’s one person I overlook a lot, but she really is such a great character. She’s stern and strict and whatever, but she just wants what’s best for her students and holds them responsible for their actions and everything, and in the end, she’s really a great woman and is always there for them, you know? She does care about everyone, and I’m sure she does have a soft spot for Harry, and I just love her for it.
Speaking of the statue knight thingies, OH MY GOD THOSE WERE SO COOL. Honestly, I loved that sequence; the part when they’re arming Hogwarts and putting up all of the protective Charms and shit was actually one of the parts where I cried a little bit and got mad chills, because it was like, after ten years or whatever, this was it. Like, the last ten years have been building and adding up to this moment, and now, now, shit’s about to go down.
I thought the Fiendfyre scene was really well done too. I mean, the special effects were awesome, and the part where Harry’s like, “BITCHES, WE GOTS TO GO BACK FOR MAFOIL!” was really lovely and made me all, “Awwwww!” inside. And when Malfoy just like, hops on and they fly out of there all BA-like…yeah, that was a great, feel-good moment.
And, of course, let’s talk about the best part of the whole movie, SNAPE’S DEATH. OH MY FUCKING GOD, THAT WAS THE BEST DEATH SCENE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN ANY MOVIE EVER. AND ALSO THE MOST TRAGIC. I mean, seriously, when you see him getting all fucked up by Nagini through the glass, and then they walk in and he’s all dying on the floor, SWEET JESUS MY HEART JUST CRACKED. This was one part where I did actually cry (some girl behind me was like, bawling at this point, lol), and I was just all numb and emotional and sad. And then he fucking CRIES THE MEMORIES. Now, admittedly, I haven’t read the book in a long ass time and I can’t say with certainty what happened, but I don’t actually remember him crying the memories…I thought he pulled them out like everyone else has always done. Like I said, for all I know, it did happen this way in the book, but I honestly don’t remember it that way. However, if it was different than the book, this is one thing that I like better in the movie than the book; him crying out his memories was SO fuckING SAD. And then Harry like, trying to stop the blood and be all nice to him, and OH GOD IT WAS SAD. AND THEN, SWEET JESUS, Harry tries to look away and Snape’s all, “LOOK AT ME,” and Harry does, which was all emotional and shit enough, but then he’s like, “YOU HAVE HER EYES,” or whatever, and HOLY f**k MY HEART CRACKED MORE. I mean, that’s something that Harry’s heard his whole life, but this was the first time I really felt like it meant something, you know? And how beautiful and yet horribly tragic that Snape died looking at them; like, it reminded him of Lily, which was good, but at the same time, it was still Harry and not her, you know? I MEAN GOD, HOW AWFUL. And then he just f**king dies, and god, seriously, so f**king beautiful and tragic and just fucked up and awesome.
AND THEN THE MEMORIES. THE MEMORIES, OH GOD, THE MEMORIES. That section of the movie was just one horrible thing after another; I loved how adorable little!Severus and Lily were, but all the shitty stuff that happened was just so terrible, and then SWEET JESUS, when he walks into the Potter’s house after Voldemort’s been there, and just fucking loses it when he sees Lily, and it goes in and out and then you see him just clutching her body to him for dear life and sobbing uncontrollably and looking for all the world as though the earth is just gonna swallow him whole...Holy. fuck. LITERALLY most tragic moment of any movie ever. This was the point in the movie that I cried the hardest, and while, again, I wasn’t bawling, I felt so shitty afterward that I may as well have. Seriously, just thinking about it now makes me want to start crying. :( And then the bit where he’s basically signing himself over to Dumbledore, and even though you know it’s for the best and Dumbledore is a much better guy than Voldemort, you still can’t help but feel that he’s being fucked and he’s still got the short end of the stick and everything, you know? And then when he’s talking about how unfair it is for Harry, and it’s all sad and shit, and then the whole, “Always,” scene...I mean, seriously...Jesus Christ on a cross, seriously the most tragically heart-breaking and yet beautiful sequence in a movie EVER. THIS JUST PROVED TO ME HOW FUCKING BRILLIANT OF AN ACTOR ALAN RICKMAN IS, AND HOW MUCH I FUCKING LOVE HIM AND WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIES.
Onto other things, though...the Resurrection Stone scene, I thought, was well-done. I loved seeing Lily and James and Sirius and Remus, and Sirius in particular got me a little choked-up; I was all, “OH GOD SIRIUS IS BACK I MISSED HIM AND LOVE HIM! ♥♥♥” And I love how determined Harry was after that, too.
One thing that I did think was weird (just in my own head) was the whole Harry seeing Lily after witnessing Snape’s memories. This isn’t a comment on the movie, really, just something that the movie just sort of brought to my attention having seen these two scenes played out in front me sort of one after the other. Anyway, I just thought about how weird that must be for Harry to see his mom after watching Snape die and seeing his memories, and realizing for the first time that not only did he love his mom, but that everything he’d done in his life since then had been because of and for her, and that probably half the reason why Harry was still alive and standing there was because of Snape’s love for her. I just thought that would be a really odd moment, like, “Oh hey mom,” and then realizing like, Shit, Snape fucking loved her despite everything else and spent his whole life loving her, and he doesn’t really like me but still protected me because of her, and…I don’t know. I just thought it was really odd.
Anyway, I thought the scene when Voldemort kills Harry was well done, too; I think it, once again, shows how inhumane he is in that he kills Harry without Harry making any means to defend himself. Obviously, Harry knew he had to die and shit, but still...I thought it exemplified the fact that Voldemort is rather inhumane and a total douche as well.
As for the King’s Cross scene…I’ve heard a lot of complaints about that, but I thought I kinda liked it. They didn’t really explain it as well as they perhaps could have, but having read the books, I was fine with the explanation they gave and was happy with it. Voldemort lying under the bench as the gross bloody baby thing was TERRIFYING; again, maybe it’s just been too long since I’ve read the book, but wasn’t the “thing” actually in a bag in the book? As in, you never really saw it? And didn’t Dumbledore even kind of brush it off a bit and only allude to what it was, letting the reader kind of interpret it how they wanted? Well, either way, that was how I remembered it, and so when they actually showed that fucking gross thing lying there, I was pretty taken aback and actually leaned over to Trent and was like, “’DA FUCK IS THAT?!” In a sense, they gave it a much more...literal presence than metaphorical like the book (if I’m remembering it right, of course), but I sort of liked it that way. I think that the way it was done in the book was great for the book, but I sort of liked that they did the more literal and visual approach to it for the movie. *nods* And I really loved seeing Dumbledore again; it was like fucking Gandalf the White coming back in LotR, and it made me all happy. :) (Note: It was pointed out to me by the lovely SiriuslyLupin after making this post on the Nuthouse that it was actually done this way in the book...so ignore the stuff I said about it being different.)
And then when Harry came back to life, and Narcissa leaned over him…I liked that. Obviously, that happened in the book, but that was one thing that I liked seeing in the movie; the whole bargaining thing she does with Harry really reveals a lot about her character, and I’m glad that they kept that in. And then Hagrid carrying Harry…oh god, it was so sad! Hagrid is one of those characters like McGonagall for me; every time he’s in the movies or the books, I really really love him (and shit, how can you not like Hagrid, really?), but I tend to sort of forget about him a lot of the time. :P But I loved him in this, and I loved seeing him carry out Harry. I know JKR has said before that she knew she could never kill him off, because she wanted Hagrid to be the one to carry him out at the end, and I think that was the best choice; Hagrid seems to be all about delivering Harry, first to the Dursley’s, and then to the Wizarding world in general, and it just seems fitting that the same person who sort of brought him into the Wizarding world would be the same one to bring him “out of it,” so to speak. I love the symbolism in that and everything.
But it’s so sad when everyone thinks he’s dead, and even when Malfoy goes over to his parent’s to join Voldemort’s side; it’s terrible that he was just saved by Harry and everything, and then he fucking goes right back to Voldemort. Again, it’s a brilliant piece of writing on JKR’s part - and a lovely piece of acting on Tom Felton’s part, what with the look of turmoil on his face and everything - as it really shows the nature of their characters and how they’re always just looking out for themselves, but still…it was so frustrating! And then when Neville steps forward, and they all laugh at him and Voldemort’s all, “Well, you wouldn’t be my first choice but whatevs” or whatever he says...FUCK THEM ALL. NEVILLE IS GREAT. And then when he delivers that whole speech - BRILLIANT. HE FUCKING SHOWED THEM, particularly when he KILLED MOTHERFUCKING NAGINI. HELL YES. But then Harry “comes back to life” or whatever (which was another point that the whole theater burst into cheers, and which also made me cry a little) AND SHIT GETS REAL, AND IT’S GREAT.
And then there’s the whole final confrontation, and that was awesome, and the scene at the end when they’re all old (and everyone laughed, no joke) and Ron’s got a potbelly lol and OMG I LOVED IT. :D :D :D :D :D SERIOUSLY, FUCKING EPIC.
…now onto things I didn’t like,
TEDDY. He’s mentioned ONCE. One thing that I loved about DH was the inclusion of Teddy, and I’m so bummed they sort of just dropped him. I mean, yeah, he’s Remus’ kid, so of course I love him, but I always just loved his story, so to speak. I felt like he was a GREAT parallel to Harry’s life - parents both killed in the war when he was a baby, raised by his mother’s relative, has a godfather who was a good friend of his parent’s, etc - but the key difference is that, while Harry’s childhood was pretty shitty and he grew up without a lot of love, Teddy had a fairly happy childhood and grew up with all kinds of love (from what we know). I always thought that that was a really beautiful sort of parallel, and I’m so bummed they left him out. Also, because they failed to mention him, there wasn’t that great f**king confrontation between Remus and Harry. Seriously, despite the fact that it’s really sad and broke my heart a little and made me cry when I read the book, the fight between Remus and Harry at Grimmauld Place when Remus tells them Tonks is pregnant is one my all-time favorite moments in not just the book, but the series as a whole. So I’m really really bummed that got left out. Also, the scene at Shell Cottage when Remus bursts in and is all excited and names Harry godfather is great, too, and they also cut that, so…I was pretty sad that they cut him out. Not to mention, HOW THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE WHO HADN’T READ THE BOOKS KNOW THAT THEY HAD A KID? Seriously, Remus just mentions it when Harry sees him with the Stone, and is all, “OH BTW WATCH OUT FOR MAH SON,” and I’m sure anyone who’s unfamiliar with the books would be like, “WTF HE HAS A SON?!” Seriously, whatever…
ALSO, the Elder Wand thing…that really bugged me. I know it’s just a piece of wood or whatever, but it’s THE ELDER FUCKING WAND. It’s the most powerful wand in the world, it can kill bitches without any problem, it’s seen more death and destruction than all the Death Eaters combined, and yet Harry just fucking BROKE it. WITH HIS BARE HANDS.
...WHAT THE HELL?!
It also seemed rather silly to me; I mean, yeah, I guess it showed how little he cared about it, but still…I liked him fixing his own wand with it and then reburying it with Dumbledore
The major character deaths sort of bugged me, too; I understand that in the book, Tonks and Lupin’s deaths were sort of mentioned a bit in passing, and that they kept it canon in the movie by doing the same thing, but…really? They couldn’t have made it a slightly bigger deal? And they didn’t even SHOW Fred after he died; they sort of just implied that it was a Weasley, and if you weren’t paying attention, you could have totally missed who it was. I just found that a bit irritating. :P And Jesus, they didn’t even mention Colin. Yeah, that stuff all kind of had me peeved.
And honestly? The Molly Weasley bit with Bellatrix was a bit of a let-down. I liked that she really started to fight back and kick some ass in her duel with Bella, and I really glad they kept in the, “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” line (another point when the whole theater cheered), but…truthfully, the whole thing seemed a bit anti-climactic to me. :/
Also, the whole thing with them pretty much excluding all of Dumbledore’s past with his sister/family and Grindelwald kind of bummed me out. Again, I understand that that stuff could take a LONG fucking time to explain in the context of the movie, and would probably be really boring if they kept it all in, and I guess in the end, it didn’t make a whole lot of difference to people that hadn’t read the books (as in, the plot of the movie didn’t depend on it enough to make a difference or leave people confused), but...I don’t know, I always felt that that was such a huge part of the book that I was disappointed that more of that didn’t make it in. Particularly since they showed Grindelwald earlier in the film; it was sort of like, “HEY, HERE’S THIS RANDOM DUDE FOR NO REASON!” They might as well have just not even mentioned him if they weren’t going to develop that plot line at all. :P
I also loved the stuff with Dumbledore, because I always thought that that was something that was really important for Harry in the book; all throughout the series, Harry looks up to and respects Dumbledore, and in a sense, I think he sort of feels that he can do no wrong. Obviously, at the end of OotP, he gets pretty fucking pissed at Dumbles and see that, actually, the man can make mistakes and it humanizes him a bit, but still…overall, I think Harry just has this really positive, almost saintly view of Dumbledore, and thinks that he can always rely on him, no matter what. One thing that I liked about learning some of Dumbledore’s backstory is that it really caused Harry to start questioning some of his loyalty in Dumbledore and reexamine his feelings for and of the man, and while, in the end, he still liked Dumbledore, I think it finally caused Harry to realize that Dumbledore is just as human as anyone else. Also, all of that illustrated very important things about Harry and Voldemort, too; we always see Harry as being good because we can compare him to Voldemort - both have incredible power, and yet Voldemort chooses to use it for evil, selfish reasons while Harry chooses to use it for good, selfless reasons. However, I think Dumbledore’s past helps to give insight into both of their characters even more; Dumbledore was corrupted by his power at one point, and while he can still be a bit manipulative or whatever, ultimately turned it around and is fighting for the greater good. This shows how terrible Voldemort is, because despite the fact that he’s had many opportunities to change, he never has, and it shows how truly evil he is. Similarly, we see how truly selfless Harry is, because while the opportunity to use his power for evil has been presented to him time and time again, overall, he always chooses to do the right thing; he’s never had to redeem himself like Dumbledore, because he’s never really done anything that he has to redeem himself for. So yes, I’m bummed they left most of this stuff out.
On another note, I realize that there was a lot left out from the books (even having not read it in a long time, I still remembered parts that they missed), but two little scenes that I was hoping they would have put in were the one where Kreacher charges up from the kitchens with all the House Elves and fucks shit up, and when Trelawney is standing from a higher level and dropping crystal balls on people’s heads (I do know that Emma Thompson was supposed to have neglected to be in the film due to her involvement with Nany McPhee or whatever it’s called, but she did have a quick cameo in the movie, so I was bummed that this scene didn’t make it).
However, despite the stuff that they left out, I still really liked the movie as a whole. Initially, I was a bit disappointed with it, because I guess I was expecting more (particularly since the whole thing was pretty much the final battle, and I was hoping that, of everything in the entire series, they’d at least keep this as canon as possible), but the more I thought about it, the more I grew to like it. Seriously, they left out a ton of shit in these last two movies, but I thought it was still really good for what they kept in. I mean, if you figure they've got just two, two and a half hour movies, they actually kept in quite a bit. And again, not to mention that, honestly, explaining a lot of the aforementioned stuff they left out wouldn't be all that great for the movie; I just think about how long it took to explain all of Dumbledore's history and whatever in the book, and how much time that would have taken in the movie to explain and how boring it probably would have been. And, honestly, I think they expect that the majority of the fans have read the book and know the back story, and so they don't need to take the time to explain everything; why go into all that detail and take all that time if your audience already knows about it? Why not just stick to the action instead, which will keep you more glued to the screen? And as for the people that haven't read the books, they probably don't care about not knowing the back story, because it's not relevant to the film canon, and therefore it won't effect the movie for them; it's like, if they didn't already know about it, they're not going to miss it, you know? That's just my two cents, of course, but personally, I thought that they did a good job with the film overall. Am I really bummed they left stuff out? HELL yes. But am I overall satisfied with it. HELL YES.
Seriously, I loved the movie, and I thought it was a rather fitting ending and good way to sum up the series over the last ten years.
What follows now are comments in response to other comments left by people on the Nuthouse:
SiriuslyLupin (SL):
His line...OMG. About "it's the quality of their conviction, not the number of their followers" or whatever the f**k it was. I was freaking out to much at Remus speaking to really hear it clearly (laughing smiley) But Jesus. So hot.
And then Kingsley says, "Who said that?" And I was like, "He did!" And then Remus said, "I did."
I loved that line, too! And his delivery of that line to Kingsley was perfect! :)
SL:
Oh. And Harry's line about, "We plan, we get there, and then all hell breaks loose." (laughing smiley)
Yes, that was a great line, too! I love that acknowledgement!
SL:
OH. OH. AND GREYBACK EATING LAVENDER *FLAILS*
OH JESUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT! That was so fucking horrifying and yet great! I'm really glad they put that in, because it was so brutal and awful, but like, raw and realistic, I guess; again, it illustrates how fucked up some of Voldemort's followers are or whatever, you know? LOVED IT.
Ellie (E):
The music in PS and CoS kinda hasn't been used in films since but I LOVE it. To me it sums up Harry Potter. And I said, I wanted them to use that music at the end of DH2. And they did. So happy :)
AH! I forgot about this! I totally noticed this when I saw it, too; I also love the music from the first two films, and hearing it again at the end made me get a little misty-eyed, cause like you said, it was perfect having them end the series the way they started it, you know?
E:
3: The Harry-Voldemort duel should have been in the Great Hall and as was in the book, basically. With cheering at the end and without that rubbishy apparition bit.
THIS. The whole apparition thing in the movies is one thing that's always bugged me; yes, it does look pretty cool (especially at the end of OotP when they're all in the Department of Mysteries, and there's all these black and white smokey things flailing around and weaving in and out of each other and whatever), but to me, it always seemed too much like flying. It's like, how are people able to fucking duel and shit while they're apparating, and just fly all over and direct themselves and whatnot? One of the big things at the beginning of DH is when they see Voldemort actually flying during the seven Harry's scene. It sort of belittles that, I think, to have all of these other characters essentially being able to do the same thing. I suppose in this final scene that you're referring to, you could say that Voldemort was doing the flying thing and not the apparating thing, but even so...I felt that was kinda lame and really unnecessary. And yeah, I would have liked it in the Great Hall; I mean, I guess it was fine that it was outside, but they should have at least had an audience or something. As it was, it was basically like Harry and Voldemort dueling out there alone without anyone watching, and you'd think that if the biggest and more important duel of the war was going on, you'd want to be out there watching it. :P
E:
And one overall issue. All of this spell stuff, non-verbal spells that all do the same thing. For a start, it would be a lot more interesting if the films used the diversity of spells used in the books. Secondly, HARRY CAN'T DO WORDLESS SPELLS DAMNIT.
Again, THIS. That was something that's been bugging me throughout the last few movies as well; why cut all of the spell dialogue? And why can Harry use wordless spells? I know he's powerful, but he's not that powerful. I mean, really; how much harder would it have been to include that shit? It just seems silly. And I was hoping they'd keep in the "Expelliarmus" bit at the end, too, with how Harry eventually offs Voldemort using a basic dueling spell and not the Killing Curse (well, I guess it was the rebounded curse that killed him and not the Expelliarmus charm or whatever, but still...again, I think it's a testament to Harry's character that he didn't even use the Killing Curse on Voldemort). I liked that, and I'm bummed they didn't use it. :(
E:
The Kreacher meat cleaver scene wouldn't have worked given that they didn't properly show the Kreacher's Tale scene in Part 1. His change of heart was barely shown, let alone explained. So yeah, wish it was in, but then that stems back to Part 1 and how I wish they'd properly explained Kreacher then.
Again, you're right, of course, but still...to be honest, Kreacher's change of heart was one of my favorite bits in DH, and I'm disappointed it didn't make it into the film. :(
E:
But yeah, I kinda hate nit-picking *giggles*
Oh, yeah, me too, to an extent; this makes it sound like I found all these faults with the film and that I hated it, but really, I did love it. I'm always going to nit-pick the movies and there's always going to be something they left out or added or did wrong or whatever, but overall, it is a film adaptation of the book, and for that, I think they did an awesome job. :)
E:
Apparently they filmed Fred's death but it was deemed too distressing.
...And what, the roughly two hours of footage before that wasn't? :P
On that note I'd LOVE to see Director's Cuts of the later films, where they cut lots out. Especially OotP; apparently 45 minutes was removed from it. That makes it an entirely different film.
YES. I hope they actually do release the full Director's Cut, because I would seriously sit through them all. :)
...and that's all I have for right now (ha, like that wasn't too much about 1000 words ago). I am seeing it again (in D-Box 3D, mind you) with Sean and Schiffler on Friday, so we'll see if I start bawling this time around and have anything else to add to this post. But as it stands, this has been my review/rant of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2.
"And there's
One thing that I've got
One thing that you've got inside you too
One thing that we've got
And the one thing we've got is enough
To save us all
The weapon we have is love"
-The Weapon, Harry and the Potters
No comments:
Post a Comment