Escape to the Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

[Silva]

I just went to see it. It was worth a watch in 3D if mostly for the visual spectacle. Like Avatar, its strength is the ability to wow us with consistent action set to a functional rollercoaster storyline.

It was interesting watching this for me, since I didn't see Part I. But having read the books closely, I could see the tiny divergences from the book's way of doing things.

Spoilers ahead, but yes...

I wasn't a fan of the way they removed the scene with everyone crowding around "The Boy who Lived, the reason it was over at last." That was such a key scene in the book and they just skipped it for no real reason at all. Except perhaps to make it seem more "dark" (newsflash to Hollywood: "dark" doesn't mean "mature" to anyone not pumped full of synthetic hormones and plastic fakeness), the loss of focus really messes with the power of the ending in my view.

With spoilers aside, it's not a great movie - it's well shot, acted with some seriousness and highly budgeted, yet falls short of truly pleasing either fans or the casuals. It tries to reach both parties, but there's a saying about trying to catch two hares. You get neither. Unless you're very witty and well-prepared indeed.

 

[Ren3004]

But yeah, there was never a perfect HP film. *sniff*

I think this last one comes down pretty close to "perfect". It has its gripes, but there's one rather touching scene that had me a bit misty-eyed. And overall it was a good watch. The series definitely finishes with its dignity intact. Well worth seeing it theaters, worth the money and the time.

Not a bad idea to skim the book first either. It expects you to remember a lot of stuff.

Good to know, I'll try to see it this week with my friends. Glad that the series is getting a good finish.

 

[DJ Jack]

Good bye Harry Potter, I'll look forward to the day someone decides to remake you or throws out unneeded prequels. Until then, helllo the Hobbit!

 

[JaredXE]

Thank god the series is over. Never before has such a popular book series been so completely bastardized over so many years as Harry Potter has. After the first two movies I saw the whole series go down hill with what amounts to "YOU NEED TO READ THE BOOKS FIRST" almost emblazoned on each frame due to the movie's nonsensicle plot-holes, sudden drop-in characters that appear out of context and the shear frustration of how horrible the films were.

Thank god it's over.

Wait... You hate the movies, because they made millions upon millions of kids read books they might enjoy?

Holy crap. I know the children are the future, unless we stop them now, but if not for HP, I would have never gotten interested in fantasy books. And if not for Harry Potter, I wouldn't read any of the Forgotten Realms books. And if not for those, I would have NEVER discovered the wonders of Discworld.

Yeah, I was about 9 or 10 when the first book came out, so for me, HP is half of my life and half of my childhood.

No, I hate the movies because they sucked. You NEEDED to read the books to get anything out of the films, and that is just bad movie making. So what if you never read the books and wanted to watch the movies to get the Harry Potter experience? Well how did Sirius and Barty Crouch escape Azkaban? Who made the Marauder's Map? Why on earth is Harry's Patronus a Stag? Who the hell is Bill Weasley and why is he marrying the french tart when according to the movies Percy is the oldest child? Hell, where's Percy?

The movies failed at piecing together a cohesive story from a book that had a cohesive story. If the movies got you to read the books, that's good. But if they got you to read them because you had no clue what the hell was going on in the movie.....that's bad.

 

[E.Blackadder]

I love the first and second books the most, the give me a lovely feeling of nostalgia. That's why, even when I'm 85 I'll still be reading them, because they are basically what my childhood revolved around (BTW I'm not one of the idiots saying my childhood has ended, mine ended 3 years ago or thereabouts)

OT: A great ending to the series, although Voldy sounded drunk or stoned whenever he said Avada Kadavera. And for some reason it annoys me that after 4 years people are only just finding out how it all ended.

 

[Abedeus]

Thank god the series is over. Never before has such a popular book series been so completely bastardized over so many years as Harry Potter has. After the first two movies I saw the whole series go down hill with what amounts to "YOU NEED TO READ THE BOOKS FIRST" almost emblazoned on each frame due to the movie's nonsensicle plot-holes, sudden drop-in characters that appear out of context and the shear frustration of how horrible the films were.

Thank god it's over.

Wait... You hate the movies, because they made millions upon millions of kids read books they might enjoy?

Holy crap. I know the children are the future, unless we stop them now, but if not for HP, I would have never gotten interested in fantasy books. And if not for Harry Potter, I wouldn't read any of the Forgotten Realms books. And if not for those, I would have NEVER discovered the wonders of Discworld.

Yeah, I was about 9 or 10 when the first book came out, so for me, HP is half of my life and half of my childhood.

No, I hate the movies because they sucked. You NEEDED to read the books to get anything out of the films, and that is just bad movie making. So what if you never read the books and wanted to watch the movies to get the Harry Potter experience? Well how did Sirius and Barty Crouch escape Azkaban? Who made the Marauder's Map? Why on earth is Harry's Patronus a Stag? Who the hell is Bill Weasley and why is he marrying the french tart when according to the movies Percy is the oldest child? Hell, where's Percy?

Remember that it's still a movie, that was at time aimed at 10-year olds and around that age. It's not Return of the King, where the main audience are adults - your average kid won't sit in the cinema for 2.5 hours or more, no matter how fun it is. You still get most of the plot, and plotholes can be, like you said, explored in the book. Just like LotR didn't manage to get ALL the details into the movie. Simply impossible in a reasonable amount of time.

The movies failed at piecing together a cohesive story from a book that had a cohesive story. If the movies got you to read the books, that's good. But if they got you to read them because you had no clue what the hell was going on in the movie.....that's bad.

Neither. I read the book, then watched movie. It's always fun to watch something you already read about, since you can actually get some vague idea of how heroes look, react, how their voices might sound, and also the scenery is much easier to enjoy if you SEE it, not just read about it. What was more enjoyable - reading a long, even if vibrant, description of a battle in LotR, or watching the battle on large screen, and actually experience the sight of 10s of thousands of monsters clashing with knights in shining armor.

Fact is - Rowling made books that got millions of kids into reading, and movies helped a LOT in making the books a success. At this point, I'd have nothing against even satanic rituals in the plot, as the good things the series did outweighs the potential side effects.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

I stopped watching them after the third film.

My sister had the fourth one on the other day. (She was watching all the films leading up to this one.) So I sat through it and watched the thing.

I'm certainly not going to bother catching up with the rest or see this one.

If they're on TV at somepoint and there's nothing else on I might catch them. I just think Rowling has to take the cake for most undeserved megggggga success ever though.

I don't know, it's objectively better then Twilight, and in terms of sheer effort it's pretty high as well.

The twilight craze has died down though.

I think that was just a passing flick that some douche thought would look good on the big screen.

Harry Potter us still a huge thing. And how many years down the line are we?

I just really don't like the books and I don't think they deserve as much praise as they get.

Twilight hasn't died down...

The reason Harry Potter seems so much bigger is because it has a movie coming out right now.

Harry potter has never not been big.....

Even when the movies aren't just about to come out. There is always someone you know talking about some aspect of them. I'd say it was probably biggest around the time the last book came out. But it's always had a steady fandom that are almost fanatical to a fault.

And I haven't heard of any Twilight related nonsense since 'Vampires suck' came out.

I think most people who liked those books at first have since outgrown them and the few that still love it are generally quiet about it for fear of ridicule. It's certainly not as big as it was when the films came out. And the books never made anywehere near as much as an impact as Rowlings stuff. (In all honesty, rightly so. They were not only bad books, they also have a very disturbing undertone.)

I'm not saying Harry Potter isn't big, I'm saying Twilight isn't small, which you seemed to suggest.

 

[Warachia]

I just have to call BULLSHIT on this one, what is the purpose of spoiling stuff in a review? There is no fucking reason for it as spoiling takes away some of the experience you get while watching the movie. If you absolutely CAN'T review something without spoiling something then you've failed as a reviewer.

 

[metal mustache]

I don't remember an explanation for why the draco's weren't punished in the books either.

 

[TheScottishFella]

Good thing I've read the book, so I don't need to worry about spoilers...

Although, I haven't read the final book in a long time, so I'm still a little confused about the whole "Elder Wand being Harry's" business...

Yeah when I started to think about it. Why was it in the tomb? If they had it in the first place.

Also I don't think Malfoy gets away with it, it's more the Mother didn't tell anyone Harry was alive so they got out of dodge, and in the grand scheme they never really did anything.

 

[KirbyKrackle]

Bob didn't cover this (he didn't cover all that much about the movie itself), but did they use a bit too much slow motion in this movie? I think that added about 15 minutes to the run time -- they didn't exactly need all of it, and it looked silly in some places. Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Bob's a Zack Snyder fan, so even if he did notice, he probably thought it was super-awesome-o-cool and 100% necessary.

 

[MB202]

Good thing I've read the book, so I don't need to worry about spoilers...

Although, I haven't read the final book in a long time, so I'm still a little confused about the whole "Elder Wand being Harry's" business...

Yeah when I started to think about it. Why was it in the tomb? If they had it in the first place.

You know what's really ironic? Or maybe it's just coincidence, but my dad and I got into a heated argument about the Elder Wand and "who had it?" so to speak. I'm never good at arguments. Or debates, as he called it, because I always lose my cool and I can't properly collect my thoughts.

 

[CleverCover]

OH God, my childhood. It's officially over!

I...oh god, I need a tissue. I'm going to cry.

If you read the books, you know what happens. If you don't...well, I hope you like it. My friend did...I think.

 

[JoelChenFA]

Thank god the series is over. Never before has such a popular book series been so completely bastardized over so many years as Harry Potter has. After the first two movies I saw the whole series go down hill with what amounts to "YOU NEED TO READ THE BOOKS FIRST" almost emblazoned on each frame due to the movie's nonsensicle plot-holes, sudden drop-in characters that appear out of context and the shear frustration of how horrible the films were.

Thank god it's over.

Wait... You hate the movies, because they made millions upon millions of kids read books they might enjoy?

Holy crap. I know the children are the future, unless we stop them now, but if not for HP, I would have never gotten interested in fantasy books. And if not for Harry Potter, I wouldn't read any of the Forgotten Realms books. And if not for those, I would have NEVER discovered the wonders of Discworld.

Yeah, I was about 9 or 10 when the first book came out, so for me, HP is half of my life and half of my childhood.

No, I hate the movies because they sucked. You NEEDED to read the books to get anything out of the films, and that is just bad movie making. So what if you never read the books and wanted to watch the movies to get the Harry Potter experience? Well how did Sirius and Barty Crouch escape Azkaban? Who made the Marauder's Map? Why on earth is Harry's Patronus a Stag? Who the hell is Bill Weasley and why is he marrying the french tart when according to the movies Percy is the oldest child? Hell, where's Percy?

The movies failed at piecing together a cohesive story from a book that had a cohesive story. If the movies got you to read the books, that's good. But if they got you to read them because you had no clue what the hell was going on in the movie.....that's bad.

I never read the books and at no point did my enjoyment of harry potter get shortchanged

 

[JoelChenFA]

I just have to call BULLSHIT on this one, what is the purpose of spoiling stuff in a review? There is no fucking reason for it as spoiling takes away some of the experience you get while watching the movie. If you absolutely CAN'T review something without spoiling something then you've failed as a reviewer.

If you absolutely cannot avoid using absolutes then the world is rather black and white no? Grey is fun sometimes (not absolutely)

 

[GeorgW]

I've just seen the movie. I liked it, it was certainly a capable end, but was very disappointed by how few deaths there were. I would have hoped for at least doubled the amount of people that died. As Moviebob said, the was a big "the fuck" moment for me when I saw the disgustingly happy and sudden ending. Where was all the misery and loss? Where was the finale, the conclusion? Where was the closure? I would have also liked to have seen better and more special effects.

 

[aba1]

Good thing I've read the book, so I don't need to worry about spoilers...

Although, I haven't read the final book in a long time, so I'm still a little confused about the whole "Elder Wand being Harry's" business...

Its because at the end of the 6th book malfoy kills dumbldore and in the 7th book harry beats malfoy so harry gets ownership. The wand basically will only work if it is won off its current owner.