The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Last night was one of the most intense, heartbreaking, and absolutely wonderful things to have ever happened to me. Ever.
I'd sort of fallen out of the Harry Potter fandom for a couple of years, and only recently really got back into it within the last week to prepare myself for the movie. And after last night I know now that I can never ever let it go again.
I haven't cried like that in a long time, and I certainly have never cried like that during a movie. I lost it more times than I can even tell you. Things made me cry that didn't make me cry in the book. Parts in the book where I wept like a baby, I didn't cry during the movie, at least not really. And honest to God I'm still trying to fight back tears now.
I'm going to try and talk about the actual movie now, if I can remember everything I wanted to say. I'm on such sensory overload and sleep deprivation right now, I don't know that I can do a review of it justice, but we'll try.
Overall it was an absolutely stunning film. David Yates is the only director to actually get the atmosphere right. Some of the things he does are a little melodramatic (especially in the 5th movie), but he absolutely knows what he's doing. And I don't care how many times it's been said, and will be said, this was the best movie. It was practically flawless. No, it WAS flawless. Regardless of whether it followed the book perfectly or not (and I honestly can't be the judge of that because I didn't finish re-reading it, and I haven't read the whole of it since the book first came out, so I can't remember exactly how things went down), it rounded out the story brilliantly.
The movie's only downfall--really the book's only downfall as well--was the epilogue. The whole "19 Years Later" part was completely and disgustingly uncalled for from day one. I will never forgive Rowling for writing it, and I'll hate hate hate it until the day I die. The movie was perfect, from start to finish, until that goddamnmotherfucking "19 Years Later" popped up on screen. That part ruined the perfect ending that we were given, and I'll never watch it again. If I see it again in the theaters I'll be sure and leave before that scene starts. I'll never read that part in the book again. And I'll always hit stop on the dvd remote when I watch it at home.
My problem with it, is that sometimes things need to be left unsaid. Things need to be left up to the imagination, and I thought it was extremely self-indulgent of Rowling to tack that onto the end of this gorgeous story she'd created. It was more like a bad fanfiction than anything that should have been taken seriously as part of this world we were living in.
There's this theme of "life goes on" throughout the whole story, and in this last installment especially, and it was so poignantly conveyed throughout the entire film, blow after blow, "life goes on, see?" It was silently, yet effectively there, and then the whole "19 Years Later" happens and it's like...Well, it's like those kid's shows they have on tv these days. You sit through a 30 minute show, watching whatever, and then at the end they go, "Now what was today's lesson about?" "What have we learned from [insert character's name]?" "What is the moral of this story?" That's exactly what it was like! It's like, okay I'm going to cleverly sneak in all these well-developed and insightful themes, and then at the end I'm going to sit you down and review those themes in the cheesiest way possible and blatantly spell them out for you just in case you didn't catch them the first time around. UGH! It's disgusting! I get angrier the longer I think about it, so I'll just stop now before I lose you all completely (if I haven't already).
Oh, also. The actor's all looked really lame during the epilogue too. You can't take 20 year olds and believably turn them into 40 year olds without it looking extremely cheesy. I'm sorry, but you ruined the mood, whoever's lame idea it was to include that scene in the movie. Congratulations.
*sigh* Okay. Now that I've gotten myself all agitated, let's move on.
Bonnie Wright ruined Ginny Weasley. I'm just putting that out there. Ginny was pretty kickass in the books, but Bonnie is...incredibly dull and emotionless, and I'm sorry but I will never like Ginny after seeing her played out so awfully on screen. So, thanks for that, Bonnie.
I hate Harry/Ginny more than anything else in this world. I thought it was a really stupid relationship, and I rolled my eyes when people cheered and clapped when they kissed on screen.
Of course I generally roll my eyes when people cheer and clap for anything that happens on screen. I don't like it. And I hate it when people clap at the end of a movie. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does. Wow, I'm complaining a lot.
People predictably cheered when Mrs. Weasley uttered her (completely awesome, btw) line of "Not my daughter, you bitch!" But, then they cheered again when Bellatrix died. I personally felt a little pang of sadness. I loved Bellatrix. Partly because she's just a really fantastic villain, and partly because Helena Bonham Carter is so fucking boss I can't stand it.
I can't tell you how happy I was that they stuck true to the scene in the Room of Requirement where Harry pulls Draco onto the back of his broom when they escape. I'll ship Harry/Draco until the day I die, so maybe I'm just biased, but that was one of my favorite scenes in the book, and I'm SO happy they kept it in the movie.
Alan Rickman blew me away. He's not my ideal Snape, but he's handled the character beautifully. He's not been dreadfully spot-on with a lot of the scenes in the previous films, but in this one his performance was flawless. That scene where he finds Lily dead was so heartbreaking. I just loved that whole twist in the books, of finding out Snape and Lily had this really deep relationship, and Snape being forever completely in love with her. Just *sigh*...good stuff.
Tom Felton is beautiful.
Jason Isaacs needs to get inside me right now.
Matthew Lewis grew up gooooooood. And Neville Longbottom will forever be more badass than everyone else.
And that's the end. That's all my brain can come up with at the moment. I wish I was back in the theater watching the movie right this second. I want to be watching it always. It was just that damn good.
I'd sort of fallen out of the Harry Potter fandom for a couple of years, and only recently really got back into it within the last week to prepare myself for the movie. And after last night I know now that I can never ever let it go again.
I haven't cried like that in a long time, and I certainly have never cried like that during a movie. I lost it more times than I can even tell you. Things made me cry that didn't make me cry in the book. Parts in the book where I wept like a baby, I didn't cry during the movie, at least not really. And honest to God I'm still trying to fight back tears now.
I'm going to try and talk about the actual movie now, if I can remember everything I wanted to say. I'm on such sensory overload and sleep deprivation right now, I don't know that I can do a review of it justice, but we'll try.
Overall it was an absolutely stunning film. David Yates is the only director to actually get the atmosphere right. Some of the things he does are a little melodramatic (especially in the 5th movie), but he absolutely knows what he's doing. And I don't care how many times it's been said, and will be said, this was the best movie. It was practically flawless. No, it WAS flawless. Regardless of whether it followed the book perfectly or not (and I honestly can't be the judge of that because I didn't finish re-reading it, and I haven't read the whole of it since the book first came out, so I can't remember exactly how things went down), it rounded out the story brilliantly.
The movie's only downfall--really the book's only downfall as well--was the epilogue. The whole "19 Years Later" part was completely and disgustingly uncalled for from day one. I will never forgive Rowling for writing it, and I'll hate hate hate it until the day I die. The movie was perfect, from start to finish, until that goddamnmotherfucking "19 Years Later" popped up on screen. That part ruined the perfect ending that we were given, and I'll never watch it again. If I see it again in the theaters I'll be sure and leave before that scene starts. I'll never read that part in the book again. And I'll always hit stop on the dvd remote when I watch it at home.
My problem with it, is that sometimes things need to be left unsaid. Things need to be left up to the imagination, and I thought it was extremely self-indulgent of Rowling to tack that onto the end of this gorgeous story she'd created. It was more like a bad fanfiction than anything that should have been taken seriously as part of this world we were living in.
There's this theme of "life goes on" throughout the whole story, and in this last installment especially, and it was so poignantly conveyed throughout the entire film, blow after blow, "life goes on, see?" It was silently, yet effectively there, and then the whole "19 Years Later" happens and it's like...Well, it's like those kid's shows they have on tv these days. You sit through a 30 minute show, watching whatever, and then at the end they go, "Now what was today's lesson about?" "What have we learned from [insert character's name]?" "What is the moral of this story?" That's exactly what it was like! It's like, okay I'm going to cleverly sneak in all these well-developed and insightful themes, and then at the end I'm going to sit you down and review those themes in the cheesiest way possible and blatantly spell them out for you just in case you didn't catch them the first time around. UGH! It's disgusting! I get angrier the longer I think about it, so I'll just stop now before I lose you all completely (if I haven't already).
Oh, also. The actor's all looked really lame during the epilogue too. You can't take 20 year olds and believably turn them into 40 year olds without it looking extremely cheesy. I'm sorry, but you ruined the mood, whoever's lame idea it was to include that scene in the movie. Congratulations.
*sigh* Okay. Now that I've gotten myself all agitated, let's move on.
Bonnie Wright ruined Ginny Weasley. I'm just putting that out there. Ginny was pretty kickass in the books, but Bonnie is...incredibly dull and emotionless, and I'm sorry but I will never like Ginny after seeing her played out so awfully on screen. So, thanks for that, Bonnie.
I hate Harry/Ginny more than anything else in this world. I thought it was a really stupid relationship, and I rolled my eyes when people cheered and clapped when they kissed on screen.
Of course I generally roll my eyes when people cheer and clap for anything that happens on screen. I don't like it. And I hate it when people clap at the end of a movie. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does. Wow, I'm complaining a lot.
People predictably cheered when Mrs. Weasley uttered her (completely awesome, btw) line of "Not my daughter, you bitch!" But, then they cheered again when Bellatrix died. I personally felt a little pang of sadness. I loved Bellatrix. Partly because she's just a really fantastic villain, and partly because Helena Bonham Carter is so fucking boss I can't stand it.
I can't tell you how happy I was that they stuck true to the scene in the Room of Requirement where Harry pulls Draco onto the back of his broom when they escape. I'll ship Harry/Draco until the day I die, so maybe I'm just biased, but that was one of my favorite scenes in the book, and I'm SO happy they kept it in the movie.
Alan Rickman blew me away. He's not my ideal Snape, but he's handled the character beautifully. He's not been dreadfully spot-on with a lot of the scenes in the previous films, but in this one his performance was flawless. That scene where he finds Lily dead was so heartbreaking. I just loved that whole twist in the books, of finding out Snape and Lily had this really deep relationship, and Snape being forever completely in love with her. Just *sigh*...good stuff.
Tom Felton is beautiful.
Jason Isaacs needs to get inside me right now.
Matthew Lewis grew up gooooooood. And Neville Longbottom will forever be more badass than everyone else.
And that's the end. That's all my brain can come up with at the moment. I wish I was back in the theater watching the movie right this second. I want to be watching it always. It was just that damn good.