I’m mixed on the final installment in the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two. On the one hand, it was pretty true to the book, including a number of key sequences, plot points, and quotes, without feeling terribly rushed about it. On the other hand, it doesn’t stand well on its own – it is very clearly the second half of a film, not a complete film in its own right – and the pacing that worked fine on the printed page proved very uneven on the screen.
Harry has to jump through specific hoops to get to the final, climactic battle with Voldemort, and J.K. Rowling made sure to get several of his friends in on the action in that melee, although for some reason Ginny was barely present in this half of the movie. Some of those hoops don’t translate terribly well to the screen, or just lacked the necessary contest of the books, but the film jumps back and forth between action scenes and Harry’s more cerebral quests, creating pacing issues but also keeping the film from becoming incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with the story. (That is, those are the good guys, those are the bad guys, they’re fighting. Everyone can grasp that much.) The battle sequences often seemed cut off by the need to get Harry back on screen, though, meaning it didn’t have the same intensity as part one, which remains the best of the eight films if we view these two parts separately.
The staccato cuts also mean that none of the actors beyond Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) gets to stretch out much, meaning we get more mugging and less acting from some outstanding performers. Helena Bonham-Carter looks certifiable as Bellatrix Lestrange but is largely left making faces at everyone, while Alan Rickman – as central to the success of the films as anyone outside of the three main characters – might end up hoping for a Judi Dench exemption if he wanted a Best Supporting actor nomination. I wrote in my review of part one that Rupert Grint and Emma Watson had shown substantial growth as actors, but here they’re reduced to bit players, and the development of their relationship earns little screen time and scarcely any explanation.
The movie looks amazing, both in scenery and in special effects, with the initial attack by the Death Eaters on Hogwarts the effects highlight of the series. (That scene was preceded by a necessary yet too-short return for Dame Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall.) Rowling has always been one of my favorite authors for the depth of her descriptions, and the films have lived up to the prose in sights and sounds, including some of the more difficult settings like the goblin bank Gringott’s.
But that Gringott’s scene encapsulates why I found this second half somewhat unsatisfying. It looked the part. Everyone involved in the scene did his or her job. But there was so much time spent on setup and so little on the climax of the scene that even though you saw them escape (and do quite a bit of damage along the way), the escape doesn’t stick with you as much as the setup does. I can tell you how it looked, and the tension of the scene before the betrayal, but what happened after that didn’t have the same power.
I mentioned half-jokingly the possibility of Alan Rickman getting an Oscar nomination for his role as Severus Snape, one of the meatiest roles outside of the big three across the series. The films themselves were not Oscar-worthy, but knowing the Academy’s penchant for honoring successful series as they close, I did wonder if they’d throw one nomination at someone in the film just to acknowledge the series’ existence. (That is, something beyond a technical award or an award for costumes or design.) Rickman would be my choice, since Daniel Radcliffe would have a difficult time cracking the competitive Best Actor field. Helena Bonham-Carter was convincingly crazy, but she’s barely in the movie and her part was too thin to be award material. Then again, they nominate so many films for Best Picture that perhaps the academy will shoehorn Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two into that category as they did with Toy Story 3: we hope you feel like it’s an honor to be nominated, because we have no intention of actually giving you the award.
Couldn’t agree with you more Keith. After how great part 1 was I was really looking forward to this one but something just seemed wrong with this movie from the get go. Ron and Hermione’s relationship being the biggest problem for me. What was a huge buildup in the book never really happened in the movie. I realize they had to make it fit as a movie but their scene where they kissed was all wrong in my opinion. It was still a decent film by comparison to others in the series but after part 1 it fell a bit short of my expectations
I had a hard time viewing it as objectively as you did. I was so familiar with the story from the books, I just filled in the missing parts subconsciously (like the Ron/Hermione relationship). I also didn’t make the distinction that this was a separate movie from the first, and I think that was how they were intended, given that the ending of the first rolls right into the beginning of the second. I agree with your review, in that someone who hadn’t read the books wouldn’t have found it as enjoyable. Although I think I still would have enjoyed it with the sound off; it was visually stunning.
There was much to like about this movie but with this one and many of the others it seemed too rushed through. Not enough time spent developing certain parts like the book was like you pointed out. My daughter said she liked it but it did not really seem like a Harry Potter movie and I agree. Maybe it was the battle at the end which seemed more Lord of the Rings than HP. Love the movie reviews Klaw. Keep em coming. Thanks.
One of the things I love about these movies is after the first couple, they started making them as companions to the books rather than stand-alone movies. I couldn’t care less whether people who don’t read the books have any clue what’s going on; I appreciate the filmmakers’ willingness to craft a visual (abridged) version of a story of which I already know every detail.
Pretty much on target. I didn’t see Part One, which may have affected how I felt about it. One of my favorite scenes in the book — Bellatrix gets hers — got shoehorned into the movie, to my disappointment. And if the whole “19 years later” was suddenly vaporized from the book, the movie and my memory, I’d call that a great thing. Pleasant movie but it didn’t connect with me emotionally.
I saw “Midnight in Paris” last night and enjoyed it. Some laughs, some twists, Marion Cotillard, what more do you want out of a movie?
Honestly, after about an hour and a half I was ready to say that this might be a sleeper for Best Picture. I felt like this was finally the Harry Potter movie that got it right: nonstop action, breathtakingly cool effects, and dialogue that didn’t seem lame or forced. Unforgivably, though, the best part of the entire book series for me (the final Harry/Voldemort confrontation) was simply awful in the movie. I thought it was just such a LAYUP (spoiler alert): Harry’s dramatic emergence from underneath the Invisibility Cloak as everyone realizes he’s not dead, the tense wand conversation with Voldemort, then the final duel ending with Voldemort dying and the entire wizarding world celebrating…that was my favorite part of all seven books, and I couldn’t wait to see it happen on the screen. The way everything actually went down in the movie made me want to punch someone; the whole “HARRY’S ALIVE!” sequence was catastrophically lacking in drama, as was Harry and Voldemort’s chase sequence/battle throughout the castle (interestingly, Harry immediately runs away and hides from Voldemort after specifially saying earlier that he’s “done running away” from him). Then you had the entire conversation about wand allegiance gone too, and eventually just tacked onto the ending where it absolutely didn’t belong. You also get Harry finally killing Voldemort in a stupid-looking scene with nobody around, and there was almost no celebration at all after it happened (also unforgivable; there should have been a Return Of The Jedi-esque party like in the book). I hated everything about the final twenty minutes of the movie; it’s just frustrating how the screenwriters had an awesome ending served up to them on a silver platter and completely blew it. Oh well, maybe the rebooted series 20 years from now will get it right.