Reviews
Unfortunately I'm having to review both Torchwood and Harry Potter in the same post. It's okay, I'll divide them up.
I've been rather apprehensive about a new series of Torchwood since it was announced that it would be done in conjunction with some American cable channel. Mostly because of the way Americans have been taking our best programmes and turning them into crappy plastic American ripoffs. I didn't want to see that happen with Torchwood, even though I've not been a huge fan of it - I enjoy it and will happily watch it, but not to the extent that I would with Doctor Who.
And I think I was right to be concerned. It was Torchwood, but it wasn't. It was American Torchwood. It was an American programme made by American people in America and yay America! *flag* *national anthem* Except for those ten minutes where we have to be in some weirdy other country that we thought was England but apparently isn't. It did not stop telling you how American it was.
The main thing I noticed that made it so vastly different from the original version was how big it was and how it was all about the situation. There's people that it's happening to, but the main focus is what is happening. In UK shows, it's usually the other way around and it's driven by the characters. I realised this about towards the end when I still didn't know any characters' names. There was prison bloke and black bloke and blonde girl and doctor lady. And Jack and Gwen and Rhys. I didn't care much about the American characters at all because I wasn't given opportunity to get to know them before stuff happened to them. I'll admit, I felt greatly relieved when Jack appeared the second time because I thought, 'Now things will start to make sense'. But they didn't. Because the other law of American shows came into effect which was 'let's blow shit up for no reason!' I swear more stuff was blown up in this episode than the entire last series of Torchwood.
There were a couple of things that niggled me. Firstly, I don't know where black bloke got his phone from, but I want one. It had an amazing battery life and brilliant reception, even in darkest Wales. Which leads me on to the other thing. Wales. Apparently, Wales is accessible by a bridge, and a toll bridge at that. Which makes it a seperate island? Perhaps it was referring to Angelsey which is an island and accessible by a bridge but it's not a toll bridge. And the remark about it being like Jersey sounded kind of offensive to me, knowing that New Jersey has a bad reputation. I find it hard to believe that RTD would write such stuff or that he'd approve it. And enough with the patronising, 'oh, it's just some quaint little British thing'. Would it hurt for you to give the UK some credit? If this America was so hot, you wouldn't need our quaint little Torchwood now, would you?
I was quite surprised by how many people had turned out for the midnight screening last night. The screen was about ¾ full and had a great buzz of excitement. The cinema hadn't made any effort for the occasion and no one was dressed up at all. I saw two girls with a Gryffindor scarf fastened to their handbags but that was it. I had on my Hairy Pawter and the Chamber of Dog Treats t-shirt, and although I'd taken my Slytherin scarf, I'd left it in the car. It was quite disappointing how little effort had been made, I felt like it should have been more of a special occasion. The audience did make up for it a bit. When the adverts started, there was a small cheer, and then when the lights dimmed slightly for the trailers, there was another cheer. Finally, the lights went down properly and the film actually began. As the WB logo appeared on the screen, there was an expectant hush over the entire audience. It was as if everyone was holding their breath. Then when the first shot of the film proper appeared, there was a large cheer. It was quite surprising but very cool. If a little inappropriate seeing as the first minute or so repeated the end of Part One where Voldemort opens Dumbledore's tomb to take the Elder Wand. I know they were cheering for the film itself but it did look rather as though they were cheering for Voldemort!
At the end of the film, as the last shot of the Trio was held, the atmosphere in the cinema noticeably changed and became kind of electrified and expectant. It felt obvious that as soon as the credits started to come up, the place would erupt with applause and cheering. The last shot faded to black, the lights came up, the first credit appeared on the screen and... a member of staff from the back of the auditorium yelled, "Please bring your rubbish out with you!" The mood snapped like a rubber band pulled too tight. There was then a palpable feeling of annoyance and disappointment, I heard a couple of people say that he'd ruined the mood and spoilt that last moment. There was a bit of a applause afterwards but it felt like people were trying to regain the atmosphere or make a point or something but it wasn't the same at all. It was such a shame, to have that be the last memory of the film.
The film itself was amazing. It's kind of hard to know what to say about it as a whole because it was pretty much the same as the previous films with regards to quality and effects and stupid Muggle clothing. There's a few particular things that stood out for me.
Helena Bonham Carter did very well playing Hermoine playing Bellatrix and actually managing to convey that she was a different character.
The Gemini Curse was nicely done although I did notice that the Flagrante part was not included so the objects didn't get hot as well as multiplying.
There seemed to be a very noticable leap forward in time after they left Gringotts. It was definitely daylight when they got out of the lake but when they arrived in Hogsmeade, it was pitch black. Was there a scene missing there? It seemed very odd how they suddenly missed a few hours. (Random aside but talking of the scene on the side of the lake there, I was so amused with the mention of how their plans never worked. Oh, Gryffindors and your plans. 'Everyone on the count of three' is not a plan.)
I was intrigued by the new addition to the Hogwarts curriculum: Marching101. I presume it was done to show oppression or how strict it was there now. It reminded me more of scenes from the film Metropolis. Also the students were all very nicely presented, even when being summoned from bed in the middle of the night they're all fully dressed in robes with neat and tidy hair, rather than being in jimjams with bedhead.
What happened to Crabbe? The scene in the Room of Requirement where Harry is looking for the diadem was the only time we saw Draco with his cronies and although that was definitely Goyle, the other one was not Crabbe. It looked like a darker skinned and much thinner boy. It probably explains why Goyle is the one who uses Fiendfyre rather than Crabbe.
I did like the stone soldiers! And McGonagoll's aside to Molly how she'd always wanted to use that spell was very amusing. None of that was in the book but it worked, it was a really nice addition and I think it did fit in.
The battle scene had some ridiculous moments. Voldemort had an obscene amount of Death Eaters, I'm sure there wasn't supposed to be that many! And none of them had hoods at all. Obviously not afraid of being identified any more. Inside Hogwarts, it was chaos but not because of fighting, more because of the students running around like headless chickens. There was just scene after scene of people running about in the background.
It was so good to see Neville come into himself in this part. He is one of the few characters who really grows throughout the series and it was so apparent in this last film. It's probably lucky that Matthew Lewis has grown from such a small tubby boy to a tall lanky thing! He does very well, and even though he's the figure of fun - even more so than Ron - he's such a great character.
The little tagged on ending came across as even more tagged on. It was amusing to see the attempts at aging, especially Draco's goatee and Ron's little beerbelly. Hermoine didn't seem to look any different to me though.
I'm sure there were other bits but those are the ones I can remember right now. That's probably enough anyway.
So, anyone else got any thoughts on either Torchwood or the last ever Harry Potter film?