Redundant, ill-timed Deathly Hallows musings
Not that I have time to be writing this or anything, but by next weekend when I can see this movie again my thoughts won’t be fresh. For a few minutes at least, DH should get to take precedence over my fucking Spanish oral report and the additional tarea for tomorrow which mi querida profesora hasn’t bothered to email to me after five days. I really don’t care that it’s a holiday weekend. I’m not on holiday. Why should she get to be? /bitterness
I thought the movie was a rousing success on two major fronts, easily overwhelming the inevitable quibbles. One was the fact of its being a great (the best so far) Trio movie. Two was the visuals.
The interaction amongst H-R-H held the screen so well on its own that I scarcely missed Hogwarts, which represents a significant one-upping of JKR by Yates. Nor did I miss the adult acting royalty while they were away. Yeah, DanRad and friends are riding a huge cumulative wave of audience affection, goodwill and haircut envy by now, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that The Kids Really Brought It.
Asymmetrically buttoned sweater jackets FTW!
Though it contained some unintentionally (?) awkward and ambiguous moments that threatened to derail the scene, I vote “aye” on the Harry/Hermione dance. I fear that even when it’s confined to the platonic level, DanRad’s chemistry with EmWat is greater than whatever he’s got going with Bonnie Wright, so there’s that. Although, actually, I admit to finding their blurrily topless kiss during the Horcrux exorcism scene rather sexy. Maybe it’s just that the Trio are so bursting with pulchritude lately that I’m dying to see them get it on with someone, anyone; even uninspired and/or canon ships would seem OK to me at this point. Even so, I was startled by and not necessarily on board with the amount of skin Bonnie Wright flashed DanRad in the highly unsubtle “zip me up” scene. It was kind of a good job that earless George walked in on them when he did, IMO.
With the possible exception of certain hairstyle decisions (and honestly, I’m not in a mood to begrudge Snape a little uncanonical fluffiness; maybe he moved up his monthly shampoo in order to pay proper homage to Charity Burbage), everything visual in this movie worked: the staging, the lighting, the locations, the Lovegoods’ place from top to bottom, the exquisite framing of many individual shots, the wardrobe. Even sets we’d seen before suddenly had a heightened, it’s-the-finale grandeur: the Ministry of Magic struck me as particularly fantastic, from the lobby to Umbridge’s office to the obviously recently upgraded lifts. There was a parting shot of the Dursleys’ house in its normally oppressive suburban row that I thought was beautiful, as if Yates was pointing out that all normalcy by now was precious. The camping locations were amazingly varied yet uniform in their gorgeous bleakness - actually most all of the outdoor stuff was great. That shot of the Hogwarts Express chugging undaunted through an ominously gray and grim landscape gave me chills. (And when we saw Neville on board, taking no Death Eater shit, I grinned like an idiot. Part Two, among so many other recommendations, will have so much Moar Neville! *rubs hands*)
Though it teetered on the edge of being too noticeably stylish and flattering, I was diggin’ Hermione’s wardrobe throughout. The just-right amount of cleavage she sported in that red dress! That blousy tunic thing she wore tucked into belted jeans! Her fitted coat! DanRad, meanwhile, was looking fine in his black vest, not to mention Fleur’s bra. (I was also interested to note in the sword-diving scene that the Chosen One apparently favors black boxers.) Umbridge’s entire wardrobe is an ongoing piece of visual satire. Weirdly, I didn’t really notice the Xenophilius Lovegood Coat o’ Wonders that I now realize my whole friends list is raving about. Next time!
From the moment he assumed material form, Snape was filmed like a hero: the way he mounted those stairs, the many close-ups, the actually sensitive play of emotions on his face during the Malfoy Manor scene. I enjoyed this thoroughly, and only afterward wondered about the wisdom of this decision on the part of the filmmakers. I know everyone in the entire world is coming into this movie knowing what Snape really is, but should it have been visually reflected this early? (Though actually, come to think of it, it seemed to me that the sensitive-ization of Snape was already beginning to happen in HBP.)
At times the landscapes in this movie had an almost LOTR level of majesty.
Random quibbles and bits:
More comments after a second viewing, maybe. Gotta run now, for in the deathless words of the Clash, “Monday’s comin’ like a jail on wheels.”
I thought the movie was a rousing success on two major fronts, easily overwhelming the inevitable quibbles. One was the fact of its being a great (the best so far) Trio movie. Two was the visuals.
The interaction amongst H-R-H held the screen so well on its own that I scarcely missed Hogwarts, which represents a significant one-upping of JKR by Yates. Nor did I miss the adult acting royalty while they were away. Yeah, DanRad and friends are riding a huge cumulative wave of audience affection, goodwill and haircut envy by now, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that The Kids Really Brought It.
Asymmetrically buttoned sweater jackets FTW!
Though it contained some unintentionally (?) awkward and ambiguous moments that threatened to derail the scene, I vote “aye” on the Harry/Hermione dance. I fear that even when it’s confined to the platonic level, DanRad’s chemistry with EmWat is greater than whatever he’s got going with Bonnie Wright, so there’s that. Although, actually, I admit to finding their blurrily topless kiss during the Horcrux exorcism scene rather sexy. Maybe it’s just that the Trio are so bursting with pulchritude lately that I’m dying to see them get it on with someone, anyone; even uninspired and/or canon ships would seem OK to me at this point. Even so, I was startled by and not necessarily on board with the amount of skin Bonnie Wright flashed DanRad in the highly unsubtle “zip me up” scene. It was kind of a good job that earless George walked in on them when he did, IMO.
With the possible exception of certain hairstyle decisions (and honestly, I’m not in a mood to begrudge Snape a little uncanonical fluffiness; maybe he moved up his monthly shampoo in order to pay proper homage to Charity Burbage), everything visual in this movie worked: the staging, the lighting, the locations, the Lovegoods’ place from top to bottom, the exquisite framing of many individual shots, the wardrobe. Even sets we’d seen before suddenly had a heightened, it’s-the-finale grandeur: the Ministry of Magic struck me as particularly fantastic, from the lobby to Umbridge’s office to the obviously recently upgraded lifts. There was a parting shot of the Dursleys’ house in its normally oppressive suburban row that I thought was beautiful, as if Yates was pointing out that all normalcy by now was precious. The camping locations were amazingly varied yet uniform in their gorgeous bleakness - actually most all of the outdoor stuff was great. That shot of the Hogwarts Express chugging undaunted through an ominously gray and grim landscape gave me chills. (And when we saw Neville on board, taking no Death Eater shit, I grinned like an idiot. Part Two, among so many other recommendations, will have so much Moar Neville! *rubs hands*)
Though it teetered on the edge of being too noticeably stylish and flattering, I was diggin’ Hermione’s wardrobe throughout. The just-right amount of cleavage she sported in that red dress! That blousy tunic thing she wore tucked into belted jeans! Her fitted coat! DanRad, meanwhile, was looking fine in his black vest, not to mention Fleur’s bra. (I was also interested to note in the sword-diving scene that the Chosen One apparently favors black boxers.) Umbridge’s entire wardrobe is an ongoing piece of visual satire. Weirdly, I didn’t really notice the Xenophilius Lovegood Coat o’ Wonders that I now realize my whole friends list is raving about. Next time!
From the moment he assumed material form, Snape was filmed like a hero: the way he mounted those stairs, the many close-ups, the actually sensitive play of emotions on his face during the Malfoy Manor scene. I enjoyed this thoroughly, and only afterward wondered about the wisdom of this decision on the part of the filmmakers. I know everyone in the entire world is coming into this movie knowing what Snape really is, but should it have been visually reflected this early? (Though actually, come to think of it, it seemed to me that the sensitive-ization of Snape was already beginning to happen in HBP.)
At times the landscapes in this movie had an almost LOTR level of majesty.
Random quibbles and bits:
- I assume they cast Bill Nighy for that hawkishly canny quality he projects so well, but then why did they omit all scenes of Scrimgeour acting hawkish and canny? He gave a quick pep talk, executed Dumbledore’s will, pronounced Harry’s name oddly, and then he was dead.
- Was it just me, or was Ralph Fiennes in specially good form here, particularly at the Death Eater board meeting? I’m starting to think he feels proud of being cast in this series. Would that I were similarly sure about Alan Rickman!
- Did they really need to insert a car chase into the Seven Potters battle?
- A pretty poor send-off for Mad-Eye if you ask me, and a dramatically ineffective one for Hedwig. The audience wanted a clear-cut moment at which to gasp in dismay over the latter, and it didn't get one.
- Why in the world would Bill and Fleur have their wedding at night under circumstances like these? Anyway, wouldn’t it have been even more dramatic if Death Eaters had appeared to cast their dark pall on a bright and shiny day, as per canon? Also, they really blew the entrance of Kingsley’s Patronus, which could have been spine-tingling. As it was, you couldn’t even tell what the animal was.
- I kind of loved the dude they got for Mundungus Fletcher. Not at all how I pictured him from the books, but since I’ve always found him boring in the books, this guy was an enjoyable improvement. On a more down note, I still do not like the dude they’ve got for Kingsley. Is this the guy you’d look to to bring the wizarding world back from the brink, an FDR with a silvery lynx in tow? No.
- I didn’t mind that Snape’s appointment as headmaster was announced via radio rather than in the Daily Prophet, but the lack of reaction to the news on the part of the Trio, especially Harry, did bug me. (And if they were going to feature the radio so prominently, why oh why no Potterwatch?)
- Ditto Harry’s lack of indignation at the publication of Rita Skeeter’s bio, though maybe we’ll get that in Part 2.
- The Trio were seemingly held captive at Malfoy Manor for all of three minutes. Prolonging this scene a little would have raised the stakes, yes? And I echo the flistie who complained that Luna, at least, looked amazingly clean and chipper for someone who'd been stuck there for weeks.
- I’m not a Dobby enthusiast and it would have taken a cinematic miracle to make me choke up over his passing, but I was bummed not to see the gravestone reading “Here Lies a Free Elf.” Even more anticlimactic was the handling of Lily and James’ grave. The monument with the “You go, Harry” graffiti was almost the only thing I enjoyed about the Godric’s Hollow sequence in the book. Here, there was no graffiti, no monument, nothing special at all: you would think Lily and James’ death had no significance for anyone but Harry.
More comments after a second viewing, maybe. Gotta run now, for in the deathless words of the Clash, “Monday’s comin’ like a jail on wheels.”