I'm Awake - Have a Review!
Right now, I'd say that I'm comfortably sleepy. I don't have a headache, nor did I crash the TARDIS on the way here. So far, it's working out pretty well. *drunken thumbs up* I just have to summon more concentration (from somewhere) in order to focus on what I'm doing, if I'm doing anything important. Right now, I'm not, so I'm good. Otherwise, my mind is likely to wander. The more tired I am, the less control I have over that.
Okay, I'm quite sure this will be the first of many discussions I'll have regarding Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. As of right now, I've seen it once, and that was in the wee mushy hours of the morning, so we'll see how coherent I am about this.
I'd say within the first fifteen or twenty minutes, we're at Hogwarts. Gringotts happens ridiculously fast, and BAM, we're at the castle. It seemed quick, but it was greatly necessary because there is a lot that goes down once things get moving there.
There are subtle changes in the plot in order to make things move faster so that there would be more squished into this movie. As a fan of the books first and foremost, I understand most of the changes made. As for the changes not included in that group, I'll address them in a moment.
Instead of previously having a shrewed idea as to what objects the horcruxes might be, Harry was able to find them by sensing where they were with the bit of Voldemort inside him. They emphasized his connection with the horcruxes, which made sense as far as what they were going for in the movie. So, I was cool with that. He figured out where the others were hidden by pure deduction, and once he was in that place, he was able to sense them. I can just hear the horcrux speaking to him:
"Warmer... warmer - oh, colder! Colder, FREEZING! Yes, yes, warmer, warmer, you're in the tropics now..."
It sort of simplified it for everyone.
One of the biggest changes they made was focusing more on the horcruxes and the destruction of Voldemort rather than Dumbledore and his history. To be quite honest, if you don't mind spoilers at all, we really only get a few lines from Aberforth referencing Dumbledore's past, and then it is left alone. Even when Harry speaks with him in near!death. You know what? I find that I'm perfectly okay with that in the movie. Dumbledore's past was a lot of information that would have been difficult to convey amongst everything else, even in two movies. In the end, it's not terribly important. In the book, it was more of another obstacle for Harry to work through when on his own.
With each destruction of a horcrux, it physically and emotionally showed on Voldemort's person, which I greatly appreciated. After the Hufflepuff cup, you knew he was worried, and feeling a little under the weather, because it showed. I suppose that would happen to anyone who split their very "selves" into several pieces over the years. I'd feel rather stretched, wouldn't you?
Even Harry and Nagini, the other sentient horcruxes, could feel it when one was destroyed. Even though that was never really specified in the book, I kind of liked that. I especially liked that it showed on Voldemort.
Of course there are dozens of tiny changes they made that focused the plot of the movie, made finer points on things so even the uneducated audience member could understand. I won't be able to list them all. The rest of these are the significant ones that I noticed and made the movie either better or didn't make sense to me.
They also made Voldemort a little smarter in the movie than the book. In the book he threw his tantrum about the horcruxes, then ran around to check on the ones he'd left everywhere. He didn't do that here. He went right to the source first off.
Oh yes. The "Harry Potter and Voldemort's Magical Megaphone" moment was tweaked a little, thank heavens. Rather than having his voice echo over the grounds, like an over enthusiastic PE teacher, everyone heard his voice inside their heads. Much more preferable.
One change that I greatly apreciated, maybe more than the rest, was that it was Ron and Hermione that Harry spoke with before going into the Forbidden Forest to meet his fate, as it were. (Neville still gets his bad ass moment, so don't worry about that. The circumstances are just slightly different.) They tried to stop him, of course. But Harry stopped them, by hinting at the fact now known to him, that he is also a horcrux and needs to be destroyed.
"I've been suspecting it for a while now, and I think you have too." Speaking to Hermione, of course.
Hermione starts to cry and squeaks out, "I'll come with you." He refuses, of course, and she hugs him. That was amazing. That killed me. It kills me now just thinking about it. Yes, I'm sleep deprived, but it really was just heart wrenching.
And why in the hell did Hermione NOT figure that out? She so would have figured it out and would have known, given her history.
I have to say that there was one change that I didn't like, that I didn't quite understand the reasoning behind. Unfortunately, it's rather big. Harry comes back from the dead, and is chased around the castle by Voldemort. It is a weakened Voldemort, so I suspect the writers and director here wanted to portray that in Voldemort's weakened and worried state, Harry was more of a match for him. Although we don't hear the words of the spells, it was green flash after green flash from Voldemort that Harry blocked. *ahem* No. Avada Kedavra is unblockable as is stated several times through all of the series. And the whole point was that Harry was NEVER a match for Voldemort, (Heh, I first typed it out "Voldemrot".) even at his weakest.
I remember reading the book for the first time and thinking, "How is he going to do this? He can't beat him in a duel." In the movie, the actual destruction of Voldemort was rather anti-climactic. They were alone in the courtyard rather than in the Great Hall. There was no one around watching, supporting Harry. Voldemort continued to weaken, and because the Elder Wand never worked well for him, Harry was able to expelliarmus it away from him. And then... I was kind of confused after that. Voldemort dies. I'll have to watch it again. There are no witnesses, and there is no body. He sort of... dissolves into dust, like the rest of his horcruxes did. And even Bellatrix for that matter.
I almost expected Harry to wander into the Great Hall after it was over and sort of point over his shoulder, "Did anyone just see that? Did you guys see what I did there?"
It wasn't up to snuff. It wasn't even up to the awesome that was the rest of the movie. It moves at such a fast clip the entire time, to that moment which slows everything down and sort of "kills the mood" if you know what I mean. I get the idea behind it, but it didn't work. That sequence was not up to par with how epic everything else had been leading up to it. In a word, it wasn't satisfying. Thank heaven's we still have the book.
All right. Onward to stuff that I loved about it:
The award for just being amazing and wonderful in this movie goes to Alan Rickman. It was a unanimous vote with Daniel Radcliffe as a close runner up. Oh Alan, you are my effing HERO! I could literally kiss you - like lots. No, we didn't get everything that was seen in the pensive. We got a beautifully edited, shortened version of Snape and his deeds. In those cuts and clips that were strung together so well, Alan freaking Rickman plastered us to the wall! That sequence from when Snape was killed (rather horribly) to when Harry was "killed" was the one time the entire audience in that theater (That audience stuffed with sugar and caffeinne mind you.) was dead silent. That little chunk of the story is what we all were waiting for. Our wait for that was definitely not in vain.
The big things that stick out to me after the craziness was last night were the parts that the audience most reacted to, I'd say.
- The lines that were perfectly verbatim ("Not my daughter, you bitch!", "Harry, you wonderful boy. You brave, brave man. Let us walk.")
- Hermione and Ron kiss. It's very different, but still fun.
- Neville killing Nagini. Again, different circumstances, but same result.
Those were all cheering moments, of course.
- McGonnogall bringing the school statues to life to guard the school. And all of the teachers putting up protective spells around the castle. That was fantabulous!
Of course, this movie is the definition of epic. It is massive, and dazzling to watch. It wasn't an overload like Transformers was. This movie just blew me away with the scale and the detail, especially during the battle sequences - when Voldemort and his army first broke through the castle's protection. My jaw was in my lap for most of it, it was so spectacular! I loved every second of it. My crazy fantasy nerd was out in full force making whispered exclamations to itself the entire time.
Okay. That covers it for now. It was most beneficial to watch Part 1 right before Part 2. I'm so glad we decided to do that. I'm also glad because when I got to the theater last night the lines were insane for the other midnight showings. There were blankets, chairs, and tents all set up by these crazily dressed people. (Honestly, I felt underdressed, if there is such a thing. lol) The costumes were amazing! One of our favorites was Dobby with a knife in his stomach. lol
One last note. Before Part 1, they showed the trailer for Part 2 and that's it. Weird. Before Part 2, we had Breaking Dawn and Sherlock Holmes. Heh. For BD, everyone knew what it was from the first second. The "Boos" outnumbered the "Yays" from where I was. Until Jacob took off his shirt in anger at receiving the wedding invitation and ran into the forest. Then it was all "YEAH! WOOOOO!" the men included. LOL We basically just laughed through the rest of it. It was awesome.
What's even more awesome is that I feel a little more awake now. I should probably do some more work.
Okay, I'm quite sure this will be the first of many discussions I'll have regarding Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. As of right now, I've seen it once, and that was in the wee mushy hours of the morning, so we'll see how coherent I am about this.
I'd say within the first fifteen or twenty minutes, we're at Hogwarts. Gringotts happens ridiculously fast, and BAM, we're at the castle. It seemed quick, but it was greatly necessary because there is a lot that goes down once things get moving there.
There are subtle changes in the plot in order to make things move faster so that there would be more squished into this movie. As a fan of the books first and foremost, I understand most of the changes made. As for the changes not included in that group, I'll address them in a moment.
Instead of previously having a shrewed idea as to what objects the horcruxes might be, Harry was able to find them by sensing where they were with the bit of Voldemort inside him. They emphasized his connection with the horcruxes, which made sense as far as what they were going for in the movie. So, I was cool with that. He figured out where the others were hidden by pure deduction, and once he was in that place, he was able to sense them. I can just hear the horcrux speaking to him:
"Warmer... warmer - oh, colder! Colder, FREEZING! Yes, yes, warmer, warmer, you're in the tropics now..."
It sort of simplified it for everyone.
One of the biggest changes they made was focusing more on the horcruxes and the destruction of Voldemort rather than Dumbledore and his history. To be quite honest, if you don't mind spoilers at all, we really only get a few lines from Aberforth referencing Dumbledore's past, and then it is left alone. Even when Harry speaks with him in near!death. You know what? I find that I'm perfectly okay with that in the movie. Dumbledore's past was a lot of information that would have been difficult to convey amongst everything else, even in two movies. In the end, it's not terribly important. In the book, it was more of another obstacle for Harry to work through when on his own.
With each destruction of a horcrux, it physically and emotionally showed on Voldemort's person, which I greatly appreciated. After the Hufflepuff cup, you knew he was worried, and feeling a little under the weather, because it showed. I suppose that would happen to anyone who split their very "selves" into several pieces over the years. I'd feel rather stretched, wouldn't you?
Even Harry and Nagini, the other sentient horcruxes, could feel it when one was destroyed. Even though that was never really specified in the book, I kind of liked that. I especially liked that it showed on Voldemort.
Of course there are dozens of tiny changes they made that focused the plot of the movie, made finer points on things so even the uneducated audience member could understand. I won't be able to list them all. The rest of these are the significant ones that I noticed and made the movie either better or didn't make sense to me.
They also made Voldemort a little smarter in the movie than the book. In the book he threw his tantrum about the horcruxes, then ran around to check on the ones he'd left everywhere. He didn't do that here. He went right to the source first off.
Oh yes. The "Harry Potter and Voldemort's Magical Megaphone" moment was tweaked a little, thank heavens. Rather than having his voice echo over the grounds, like an over enthusiastic PE teacher, everyone heard his voice inside their heads. Much more preferable.
One change that I greatly apreciated, maybe more than the rest, was that it was Ron and Hermione that Harry spoke with before going into the Forbidden Forest to meet his fate, as it were. (Neville still gets his bad ass moment, so don't worry about that. The circumstances are just slightly different.) They tried to stop him, of course. But Harry stopped them, by hinting at the fact now known to him, that he is also a horcrux and needs to be destroyed.
"I've been suspecting it for a while now, and I think you have too." Speaking to Hermione, of course.
Hermione starts to cry and squeaks out, "I'll come with you." He refuses, of course, and she hugs him. That was amazing. That killed me. It kills me now just thinking about it. Yes, I'm sleep deprived, but it really was just heart wrenching.
And why in the hell did Hermione NOT figure that out? She so would have figured it out and would have known, given her history.
I have to say that there was one change that I didn't like, that I didn't quite understand the reasoning behind. Unfortunately, it's rather big. Harry comes back from the dead, and is chased around the castle by Voldemort. It is a weakened Voldemort, so I suspect the writers and director here wanted to portray that in Voldemort's weakened and worried state, Harry was more of a match for him. Although we don't hear the words of the spells, it was green flash after green flash from Voldemort that Harry blocked. *ahem* No. Avada Kedavra is unblockable as is stated several times through all of the series. And the whole point was that Harry was NEVER a match for Voldemort, (Heh, I first typed it out "Voldemrot".) even at his weakest.
I remember reading the book for the first time and thinking, "How is he going to do this? He can't beat him in a duel." In the movie, the actual destruction of Voldemort was rather anti-climactic. They were alone in the courtyard rather than in the Great Hall. There was no one around watching, supporting Harry. Voldemort continued to weaken, and because the Elder Wand never worked well for him, Harry was able to expelliarmus it away from him. And then... I was kind of confused after that. Voldemort dies. I'll have to watch it again. There are no witnesses, and there is no body. He sort of... dissolves into dust, like the rest of his horcruxes did. And even Bellatrix for that matter.
I almost expected Harry to wander into the Great Hall after it was over and sort of point over his shoulder, "Did anyone just see that? Did you guys see what I did there?"
It wasn't up to snuff. It wasn't even up to the awesome that was the rest of the movie. It moves at such a fast clip the entire time, to that moment which slows everything down and sort of "kills the mood" if you know what I mean. I get the idea behind it, but it didn't work. That sequence was not up to par with how epic everything else had been leading up to it. In a word, it wasn't satisfying. Thank heaven's we still have the book.
All right. Onward to stuff that I loved about it:
The award for just being amazing and wonderful in this movie goes to Alan Rickman. It was a unanimous vote with Daniel Radcliffe as a close runner up. Oh Alan, you are my effing HERO! I could literally kiss you - like lots. No, we didn't get everything that was seen in the pensive. We got a beautifully edited, shortened version of Snape and his deeds. In those cuts and clips that were strung together so well, Alan freaking Rickman plastered us to the wall! That sequence from when Snape was killed (rather horribly) to when Harry was "killed" was the one time the entire audience in that theater (That audience stuffed with sugar and caffeinne mind you.) was dead silent. That little chunk of the story is what we all were waiting for. Our wait for that was definitely not in vain.
The big things that stick out to me after the craziness was last night were the parts that the audience most reacted to, I'd say.
- The lines that were perfectly verbatim ("Not my daughter, you bitch!", "Harry, you wonderful boy. You brave, brave man. Let us walk.")
- Hermione and Ron kiss. It's very different, but still fun.
- Neville killing Nagini. Again, different circumstances, but same result.
Those were all cheering moments, of course.
- McGonnogall bringing the school statues to life to guard the school. And all of the teachers putting up protective spells around the castle. That was fantabulous!
Of course, this movie is the definition of epic. It is massive, and dazzling to watch. It wasn't an overload like Transformers was. This movie just blew me away with the scale and the detail, especially during the battle sequences - when Voldemort and his army first broke through the castle's protection. My jaw was in my lap for most of it, it was so spectacular! I loved every second of it. My crazy fantasy nerd was out in full force making whispered exclamations to itself the entire time.
Okay. That covers it for now. It was most beneficial to watch Part 1 right before Part 2. I'm so glad we decided to do that. I'm also glad because when I got to the theater last night the lines were insane for the other midnight showings. There were blankets, chairs, and tents all set up by these crazily dressed people. (Honestly, I felt underdressed, if there is such a thing. lol) The costumes were amazing! One of our favorites was Dobby with a knife in his stomach. lol
One last note. Before Part 1, they showed the trailer for Part 2 and that's it. Weird. Before Part 2, we had Breaking Dawn and Sherlock Holmes. Heh. For BD, everyone knew what it was from the first second. The "Boos" outnumbered the "Yays" from where I was. Until Jacob took off his shirt in anger at receiving the wedding invitation and ran into the forest. Then it was all "YEAH! WOOOOO!" the men included. LOL We basically just laughed through the rest of it. It was awesome.
What's even more awesome is that I feel a little more awake now. I should probably do some more work.