Confession
After leaving Deathly Hallows II I was having a conversation with two of my friends about 19 Years Later.
After 2 years of writing how many thousands of words about him, it took me ten minutes of long, hard, "don't interrupt me" thought before I could remember Teddy Lupin's name.
Clearly this isn't my primary universe anymore...
Anyway, on to it:
- Great movie. Great adaptation of the book. Like Part I, not a great sequel to the HBP movie, just a great adaptation.
- Not a great sequel. I still wonder how lost some of the non-readers are coming into this one. There are so many unexplained bits that just kinda come out of nowhere. The mirror and its shard, Aberforth & Ariana (especially Ariana), Hufflepuff's cup, Bill/Fleur. All things that are very well explained if you've read the book, but just become a step beyond random if placed within the context of the movies. I know that I'm in the minority on this one, but I would have much rather seen Kloves and Heyman twist the plot around these pieces rather than confront them head-on to the confusion of most of the viewers.
- That being said, they do do a good job fixing a lot of JK's plot holes or convoluted bits. I LOVE how Harry can "hear" the Horcruxes rather than just guessing at their locations. And showing something as simple as the Sword of Gryffindor disappearing from Griphook's dead hand? Wonderful. Plus, I can see it both ways, but just completely ignoring the "adults only!" bit during the final battle really kept things going along smoothly.
- The additional battle scenes, with one exception, were amazing. The Apparition Fight was a bit "didn't have to be there", but otherwise...
- Rowling has veto power. She didn't veto this. Which means that Neville/Luna is canon. Thank you, JK!
- Neville sits up as a man on fire flies past him.
- I was very afraid that they'd take away his bad ass moment. They didn't. Too bad they just made Nagini disappear rather than allowing his bloody severed head to hit the floor, thus completing Bad Ass Moment, but otherwise YES!
- "I've always wanted to use that spell!" Holy shit. IMPROVEMENT.
- I still haven't decided if I'm sad or relieved that we didn't see Fred, Lupin, or Tonks's deaths.
- Snapping the Elder was great. Too bad they didn't show Harry fixing his wand first. It was a nice little "I liked things they way they were" bit in the book.
- I was really hoping that Draco would have stayed where he stood rather than cross the battleground.
- Is watching the Malfoys slink off a good character choice? I think preferred them sitting in the Great Hall afterwards, looking around like they didn't know why the hell they were there, but the people I saw the movie with thought otherwise.
After 2 years of writing how many thousands of words about him, it took me ten minutes of long, hard, "don't interrupt me" thought before I could remember Teddy Lupin's name.
Clearly this isn't my primary universe anymore...
Anyway, on to it:
- Great movie. Great adaptation of the book. Like Part I, not a great sequel to the HBP movie, just a great adaptation.
- Not a great sequel. I still wonder how lost some of the non-readers are coming into this one. There are so many unexplained bits that just kinda come out of nowhere. The mirror and its shard, Aberforth & Ariana (especially Ariana), Hufflepuff's cup, Bill/Fleur. All things that are very well explained if you've read the book, but just become a step beyond random if placed within the context of the movies. I know that I'm in the minority on this one, but I would have much rather seen Kloves and Heyman twist the plot around these pieces rather than confront them head-on to the confusion of most of the viewers.
- That being said, they do do a good job fixing a lot of JK's plot holes or convoluted bits. I LOVE how Harry can "hear" the Horcruxes rather than just guessing at their locations. And showing something as simple as the Sword of Gryffindor disappearing from Griphook's dead hand? Wonderful. Plus, I can see it both ways, but just completely ignoring the "adults only!" bit during the final battle really kept things going along smoothly.
- The additional battle scenes, with one exception, were amazing. The Apparition Fight was a bit "didn't have to be there", but otherwise...
- Rowling has veto power. She didn't veto this. Which means that Neville/Luna is canon. Thank you, JK!
- Neville sits up as a man on fire flies past him.
- I was very afraid that they'd take away his bad ass moment. They didn't. Too bad they just made Nagini disappear rather than allowing his bloody severed head to hit the floor, thus completing Bad Ass Moment, but otherwise YES!
- "I've always wanted to use that spell!" Holy shit. IMPROVEMENT.
- I still haven't decided if I'm sad or relieved that we didn't see Fred, Lupin, or Tonks's deaths.
- Snapping the Elder was great. Too bad they didn't show Harry fixing his wand first. It was a nice little "I liked things they way they were" bit in the book.
- I was really hoping that Draco would have stayed where he stood rather than cross the battleground.
- Is watching the Malfoys slink off a good character choice? I think preferred them sitting in the Great Hall afterwards, looking around like they didn't know why the hell they were there, but the people I saw the movie with thought otherwise.