Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

So that's it. Another favorite franchise of mine coming to a close.

I was lucky enough to attend the midnight screening of the final Harry Potter film at the Bob Bullock IMAX theater in Austin, Texas. My group arrived to the theater to get in line around 8:30, but upon arrival we were given a wristband with a number that signified our place in line, and that the line wouldn't form until 10:30... we come back at this time to get in line, where we waited until 12:20 just to be seated. They seriously need to rethink they're procedures for midnight releases because I've attended many in my 20 years of existence and this was by far the worst. We make our way to our seats and are treated to three trailers: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Real Steel, and the Dark Knight Rises (which I will go in depth about in a later post). 

Finally the film begins, with a brief replay of the final scene of Part 1, where Voldemort robs Dumbledore's grave of the Elder Wand. Now before I go into this discussion, I need to preface it with the fact that I haven't read the Deathly Hallows since it was released back in 2007. Before the first of the two films for this adaption were released, I began to listen to the audiobook, but only got past the wedding at the Burrow before getting distracted with something else going on in my life. 

As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The pacing at the beginning was kind of slow, leading up to the break in at Gringotts. Let me just say that Helena Bonham Carter did an amazing job of channeling Emma Watson's portrayal of Hermione Granger. I was literally in awe of how believable it was. Once the crew makes it past the lobby and towards the vaults is where the action picks up. The emotional return of Harry, Hermione, and Ron to Hogwarts was extremely well done, with the score complementing the event. Once the audience applauded Harry's reveal to Snape when the headmaster was questioning the students, I knew that everyone was along for this ride that I was enjoying so much in my head. As the castle and it's inhabitants were preparing for the epic battle that was about to transpire, I couldn't  help but become wrapped up in the excitement and energy. The scene where McGonagal enchants the armored statues to protect the grounds was extremely well done and I couldn't help but believe in those stone beings. 

Another part that was well done in my eyes was when Harry was viewing Snape's memories in the pensieve. The young actors that were casted to portray Lily, Severus, and James were convincing and added to the emotion of the scene. Also, seeing the older Snape (portrayed by Alan Rickman) display emotions such as anguish and sadness was very strange and unfamiliar. I've heard that this scene was paced too fast, especially for those who have not read the books. But at the same time, I feel that it was not meant to be a short flowing narrative, but instead glimpses of Snape's past that explained his behavior in the "present" day. 

The battle as a whole was done well, but there are aspects of it that I have issues with. For one, the focus seemed to be heavily on Harry, Hermione, and Ron, when in the books everyone had their own important role in the epic battle. Sure, we were treated to the fan favorite "Not my daughter, you bitch!" by Molly Weasley, but I felt as though that was one that they 100% had to include. But besides from that they left out way too many characters and deaths from the book. It's not until after the battle that the audience is shown the dead bodies including Tonks, Lupin, and Fred Weasley. I remember how emotional the death of Tonks and Lupin was in the book, and the movie seemed to miss that mark entirely. 

On to the final scene, which was the "19 years later" epilogue. Since it was revealed that they would use digital aging technology on the actors to make them appear older, the fandom was unsure as to how believable it would appear. I really think the special effects crew did a great job of presenting the older versions of Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy (who received much laughter from the audience due to his very unkempt appearance). Also, the young actors that were selected to portray the children were well chosen. Seeing this scene almost makes me wish we had some kind of companion series or sequel during this time period. 

So that's it, the eighth and final film in the "Harry Potter" movie franchise, and undoubtably the best. I really hope that no one ever attempts to "reboot" this film series, because this will forever be one of my favorite film adaptions of a book. Some may argue that some of the films were not as well done as the others (for me those are Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire) but those same people must admit that they would never want to give up the time spent with these films. I know that J.K. Rowling had some say in who was chosen to portray her characters, but I really need to give props to the entire crew that was involved in this selection process. So many of the portrayals were spot on, being nearly identical to how I had them portrayed in my head. 

What would I give this film? 9 out of 10 horcruxes. 

Until next time nerds.