Harry Potter 7.2 - A Review

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 starts well. We're treated to a silent "what has gone before" sort of montage. Harry stands over a freshly dug grave; Severus Snape looks down on the courtyard at Hogwarts while the students march by in silence, watched over by Dementors. The film seems to be comfortable with silence, as when Harry takes a moment to check in on the other prisoners that escaped with him in the climax of the first part of Deathly Hallows. The Boy Who Lived has grown up, and developed gravitas.

So yes, the first ten minutes or so impressed me. After that, though, it started feeling a little off.

First, for the climactic last film, there's really not a lot that happens. Hallows was a big book, so I understand the choice to split it into two films, but it seems like they lumped 60% of the story into the first part and figured the nifty FX battles would pad things out for the conclusion. (Even then, 7.2 is the shortest of all the Harry Potter films.)

And the Battle for Hogwarts, nifty as the FX was, didn't make a lot of sense as presented. It was nice that Neville and Colin got to go blow up the bridge to stop Voldemort's Army of Extras, because I like it when secondary characters get to shine and I also like it when things blow up, but how does it make sense to blow up a bridge when fighting people that can fly? Yes, the bad guys are also using werewolves and giants, but the werewolves can teleport and the giants manage to find the other bridge that no one blew up, so what was the point again?

Speaking of the battle, there's a real lack of tension in the film that I didn't feel when reading. Part of that is inherent in the medium - you can have multiple chapters of a novel cover differ perspectives occurring at the same time, but it's harder to do that in film. You either intercut like a hyena on speed (ala the Star Wars prequels) or you do some 24-esque split screen. Or you hope your audience doesn't notice that the 5 minute countdown has been going for 9 minutes now.

Well, I noticed.

Then there's the alteration of the Neville/Voldemort scene. The movies jettisoned most of the nuance to the whole Chosen One thing that was in the books, where both Harry and Neville seemed to match most of the characteristics of the Chosen One. Instead, the film just anointed Harry and moved on, because time was short and we all knew that was how it was going to be anyway.

And that should have made film Neville's Crowning Moment of Awesome even more Awesome. (Or more Crowning. I'm not sure how you amp up that particular superlative.) Because he's not touched by destiny in the films. He's just comic relief. So when he tells Voldemort to frak off and then snicker snack goes the magic sword and the snake's head comes off, it's a victory for Every Man. Chosen Ones need not apply.

Except instead, we get one more round of Neville as comic relief, and the defiant blow of the everyday schlub becomes a Scooby Doo moment where Harry, Ron and Hermione chase the snake for a while, and then the snake chases Harry, Ron and Hermione. The only thing missing was them running through a hall of doors. It's all well and good that Neville finally gets to make the killing blow - they left that at least - but they missed the moment, and the point.

In the end, of course, Harry and Voldemort wand it out, and Harry's red beam beats Tom's green beam, because... well, because. And then Voldemort dies. But if the Evil Overlord dies and no one is around to see it but the hero, does the Army of Extras that outnumbers the heroes but who has magically (heh) stopped blowing up Hogwarts believe it and go home?

Yes. Yes it does.

And that's it. Red beats green and the bad guy flakes away. All that stuff in Part One about the Deathly Hallows and mastering death and Death Eating and Voldemort's obsession with having power over magic? Not important. All that stuff about Harry learning not to fear death and how both different and alike he and Tom were? Less important than shooting really excellent red FX.

I've no complaints about Nineteen Years Later, because it ties back well to the beginning even if it is a little self-indulgent. Although I did think Hermione was a little under-dressed for Chief Justice of the Wizengamut or whatever supreme position of authority she obviously ended up in. Harry and Ron looked fine, since one is a middle aged celebrity coasting on his former glory and the other is Mr. Mom to the Chief Justice of the Wizengamut.

This has grown more critical than I originally intended, because I did like the movie. But I didn't love it. I wanted this to be Return of the King and it was much more Revenge of the Sith.

(Hopefully my family will still talk to me after this.)

Comments

[Sister]

I'll agree that they botched carry-overs from the book and even common character reactions they had established in previous films. Your best friend just told you he's going to go die, and you don't really say anything? No, "good luck, you've been a great friend" or "no, Harry, we won't let you!" argument for two minutes? Also, the Ginny development was a disaster. Bah. I feel confident the DVD will have more, but yes I had higher expectations too.

Now, here's my geek out moment: Ron was actually an auror with Harry for a long time and then helped George run Weasley Wizard Wheezes. It sucks that he just stood there and didn't get a line about their daughter beating Malfoy at everything.

[Brian]

Aha, so if Rowling feels the need to generate another half billion in spending money she can just do a Harry/Ron buddy cop story? Maybe throw in a cameo with Kingsley Shacklebolt talking about how he's too old for this?

Also, didn't Ginny end up being a celebrated sports writer or something?

[Anna]

Okay, I can't keep my mouth shut, forgive me if I go too far...

I feel the need to address certain comments made both in the blog and in the comments.

1. Ginny became a professional Quidditch player (chaser?) for the Hollyhead Harpies.

2. Hermione grew up to rise in the ranks of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but I haven't seen anything that suggests she was in the Wizengamot (although, of course, she could have been).

3. It wasn't COLIN, it was SEAMUS that Neville blew up the bridge with. In fact, McGonagall made a delightfully alliterative comment about Seamus's "particular proclivity for pyrotechnics" that referenced Seamus's tendency to blow things up by mistake in the first 7 movies.

4. Neville is NOT just comic relief. He's been portrayed as his own brand of hero since the first movie (reference the scene where he wins Gryffindor's last 10 points that get them the house cup in the first movie as an example).

Now that those points are out of the way, can I just ask what you actually LIKED about the movie, since you assert that you did actually enjoy it? I thought the movie was fantastic, and it might be my favorite in the series. I thought their successes far exceeded their failures. The scene with Molly and Bellatrix was fantastic. I was sorry they downplayed Fred's death, but since he, well, isn't Harry, of course they did. But at least it was in there, along with Tonks and Lupin (which I was worried they might leave out).

Also, I didn't think the snake was chasing anyone other than trying to catch up to Voldemort. I think the point of blowing up the bridge was to kill all the people on it. I don't think everyone in the opposing army could fly. Plus, it gave Neville another chance to demonstrate his heroism. Sure, he had a funny line at the end, but still- brought him more into focus.

Since the first part of 7 was slow-moving, dragging out the hallows search (as it should have been), this part HAD to be extra-action packed. They saved it all for this movie. Plus, so many things happen in that book- you can't imagine they'd fit everything in. Remember, they are appealing not just to those of us who loved the books, but to all the people (and there are many) that just watched the movies. This movie was NOT Revenge of the Sith- ugh! OUCH that final comment went too far!

So there! :-P

[Brian]

Well then, allow me to retort. :p

1. I knew it was quidditch related, so I award myself partial credit.

2. Any society not smart enough to make Hermione Granger supreme leader does not deserve to continue. Girl is hardcore.

3. Mea Culpa. I get my minor Gryffindors who are not Neville mixed up.

4. The scene as written is superior to the scene as filmed. On this point I shall not be moved.

Did I like it? Well, yes. I said I did. I enjoyed the build up at the beginning. I enjoyed Hermione trying to be Bellatrix. I loved every single second Maggie Smith was on camera, because she is awesome.

I liked Harry's confrontation with the ghost of Ravenclaw, because she was one of the few instances in the film that got to address the duality between Harry and Voldemort, and because her delivery of the "I know who he is! I know what he did!" line was perfect.

I thought the Dumbledore Explains It All moment in King's Cross was spot on.

I like that they shipped Film Neville and Film Luna, even if it was a deviation from the books.

I'm not going to backtrack from comparing it to Sith, because if you look at my review of Sith it bears a striking resemblance to my comments on Hallows, Pt 2. Namely, that it hit all the required plot points and was pretty to look at, but missed multiple opportunities to be a better film.

Or, to put it in another perspective, it was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when I was hoping for a Raiders of the Lost Ark. :p

[Anna]

LOL I like the Indiana Jones comparison better than the Sith comparison- I didn't really like Sith at all. I actually thought the Dumbledore moment at the end should have had more in it- they didn't explain his family's history even though it was mentioned both by Aberforth and Muriel.

I do agree that the scene as written was better than the scene as filmed. But I think just about everything as written was better than as filmed.

I also loved the moment with McGonagall when she brought the armor to life and then said "I always wanted to do that spell!" :-D