Deathly Hallows Part 1
I just got back from seeing the seventh and penultimate Harry Potter movie, Deathly Hallows part one.
I really enjoyed it! It was pretty faithful to the book, with all the good and bad that implies.
Only one scene with Snape, early on when the Death Eaters are having their shindig at Malfoy's mansion. No complaints; it was a delicious scene with Snape calmly lying to Voldemort's face while the rest of the DEs flaunt how gosh-darn eeeevil they are. Alas, there wasn't much Snape action in the book, either, so no big surprise that he wasn't onscreen much.
There were plenty of camping scenes, but it didn't really drag or anything. The scenery was beautiful.
Poor Neville only got one very short appearance. They better keep his big moment with Nagini in the next one.
Xenophilius Lovegood wasn't nearly as brightly-dressed at home as I imagined him, although his outfit at the wedding was perfect. Overall he was pretty close to my mental picture of the character. I continue to like Luna a lot.
Peter Pettigrew's demise was even more anticlimactic onscreen than it was in the book, if that's possible. I'm honestly not even sure if he was supposed to have died in that scene, or just been knocked out. It was played for a laugh how he got conked in the noggin and keeled over. His silver hand never even came into play. Maybe they're saving that for the second movie or something. Still, quite odd.
The Trio's acting skills really have improved over the years. Hermione being tortured by Bella was painful to watch. Ron did a great job of looking drained/in pain/aggravated by the One Ring locket horcrux.
Poor unshaven Lucius really showed his desperation in the scene where he begged Draco to identify the swollen-faced Harry. Narcissa was a non-entity, alas. I have a feeling her crowning moment in the woods at the end, lying to Voldemort hoping to get Draco out of Hogwarts alive, will be cut from the next movie. Her only other big scene in the books, pleading with Snape to take the Unbreakable Vow, had her so overshadowed by her raving sister that she was pretty forgettable.
Speaking of whom, nothing new from Bella in this movie. She's just as wild-eyed batshit insane as usual. She does it well, but there's not a lot of depth there.
The Silver Doe was well done. I still have to snicker at the thought of Snape chucking the sword in that frozen pond, thinking, "Fine, I'll help you because you're Lily's kid, but because you're also James' son, I'm making you freeze your nuts off in the process!" That's probably the happy thought he used to conjure that patronus... Heehee...
Bathilda Bagshot was appropriately hideous. I had to stifle nervous giggles from the moment she showed up, and despite knowing it was coming I still jumped when Nagini popped up. Ugh!
Some good laughs amid the rather dark storyline. I can't remember many specifics but they were there. Harry and Ginny's snogging being interrupted by Fred's teasing was funny. (Oh geez, that was Fred, wasn't it? Or was it George? I honestly don't know, heh...) The part where everyone took polyjuice to look like Harry was also good. When Fleur took her bra off of Harry's body and wailed to Bill "Don't look at me, I'm hideous!" I majorly LOLed.
The way they showed the tale of the three brothers reminded me very much of the mythology sections of the Watership Down movie.
I got slightly misty-eyed when Harry found his parents' graves. None of the deaths in the movie itself really affected me, though. I felt bad for Hedwig, "meh" for Moody, and Dobby was sad but I never liked the character much so I felt bad for Harry but that was about it.
The final scene of Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore's tomb was awesome. Creepy, but awesome.
Young Grindelwald was handsome but not nearly as foppish as I imagined him. No long, blonde curly hair. In fact, he didn't look particularly Aryan at all, which watered down part of the heavy-handed Nazi parallels from the book. (Nuremgard, Jo? Really?)
I always try to imagine how someone who's never read the books will view the movies, and as usual I'm afraid you'd be very confused without the knowledge from the books. It wouldn't be quite as horribly bewildering as the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, but still left a lot unclear.
The movie only reinforced my belief that JKR pulled the Deathly Hallows out of her ass sometime while writing book six. No matter how well she planned out the series from the beginning, you simply cannot tell me that she knew about the Hallows while writing the first four or five books. If she had, she would have foreshadowed them and integrated them into the Potterverse seamlessly instead of tacking them on at the eleventh hour. If they're supposedly such a famous children's tale, known and beloved by every child raised in a wizard household, there would be plenty of opportunities for it to be naturally worked into the story.
With all the in-depth analysis and theorizing the fandom did in last several years prior to book seven's release, some hint should have come to light that Harry's invisibility cloak, Dumbledore's wand, and the Philosopher/Sorcerer's Stone were more than they appeared. "Gee, Harry, this cloak your father left you is really well-made! You rarely see one this good! If I didn't know better I'd think it was one of the Deathly Hallows! Haha!"
It really wasn't fair that after encouraging the fans to scour the books for clues, deftly weaving in foreshadowing and symbolism, and adding mind-bending twists, that JKR kept the final plot device completely unknown until they were put into play. To put it another way, we the readers didn't know Chekhov even owned the gun, much less that it was present and could be fired. Hell, we didn't even know guns existed in this universe!
That, and the lack of closure between Harry and Snape, are the two most glaring problems for me with Deathly Hallows. A film adaptation can smooth over some lesser hiccups, but the different medium can only do so much.
Having gotten that rant out of my system, I have to reiterate that I really did enjoy the movie. It was fun, and exciting, and well filmed. Can't wait to see the second part next summer!
I really enjoyed it! It was pretty faithful to the book, with all the good and bad that implies.
Only one scene with Snape, early on when the Death Eaters are having their shindig at Malfoy's mansion. No complaints; it was a delicious scene with Snape calmly lying to Voldemort's face while the rest of the DEs flaunt how gosh-darn eeeevil they are. Alas, there wasn't much Snape action in the book, either, so no big surprise that he wasn't onscreen much.
There were plenty of camping scenes, but it didn't really drag or anything. The scenery was beautiful.
Poor Neville only got one very short appearance. They better keep his big moment with Nagini in the next one.
Xenophilius Lovegood wasn't nearly as brightly-dressed at home as I imagined him, although his outfit at the wedding was perfect. Overall he was pretty close to my mental picture of the character. I continue to like Luna a lot.
Peter Pettigrew's demise was even more anticlimactic onscreen than it was in the book, if that's possible. I'm honestly not even sure if he was supposed to have died in that scene, or just been knocked out. It was played for a laugh how he got conked in the noggin and keeled over. His silver hand never even came into play. Maybe they're saving that for the second movie or something. Still, quite odd.
The Trio's acting skills really have improved over the years. Hermione being tortured by Bella was painful to watch. Ron did a great job of looking drained/in pain/aggravated by the One Ring locket horcrux.
Poor unshaven Lucius really showed his desperation in the scene where he begged Draco to identify the swollen-faced Harry. Narcissa was a non-entity, alas. I have a feeling her crowning moment in the woods at the end, lying to Voldemort hoping to get Draco out of Hogwarts alive, will be cut from the next movie. Her only other big scene in the books, pleading with Snape to take the Unbreakable Vow, had her so overshadowed by her raving sister that she was pretty forgettable.
Speaking of whom, nothing new from Bella in this movie. She's just as wild-eyed batshit insane as usual. She does it well, but there's not a lot of depth there.
The Silver Doe was well done. I still have to snicker at the thought of Snape chucking the sword in that frozen pond, thinking, "Fine, I'll help you because you're Lily's kid, but because you're also James' son, I'm making you freeze your nuts off in the process!" That's probably the happy thought he used to conjure that patronus... Heehee...
Bathilda Bagshot was appropriately hideous. I had to stifle nervous giggles from the moment she showed up, and despite knowing it was coming I still jumped when Nagini popped up. Ugh!
Some good laughs amid the rather dark storyline. I can't remember many specifics but they were there. Harry and Ginny's snogging being interrupted by Fred's teasing was funny. (Oh geez, that was Fred, wasn't it? Or was it George? I honestly don't know, heh...) The part where everyone took polyjuice to look like Harry was also good. When Fleur took her bra off of Harry's body and wailed to Bill "Don't look at me, I'm hideous!" I majorly LOLed.
The way they showed the tale of the three brothers reminded me very much of the mythology sections of the Watership Down movie.
I got slightly misty-eyed when Harry found his parents' graves. None of the deaths in the movie itself really affected me, though. I felt bad for Hedwig, "meh" for Moody, and Dobby was sad but I never liked the character much so I felt bad for Harry but that was about it.
The final scene of Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore's tomb was awesome. Creepy, but awesome.
Young Grindelwald was handsome but not nearly as foppish as I imagined him. No long, blonde curly hair. In fact, he didn't look particularly Aryan at all, which watered down part of the heavy-handed Nazi parallels from the book. (Nuremgard, Jo? Really?)
I always try to imagine how someone who's never read the books will view the movies, and as usual I'm afraid you'd be very confused without the knowledge from the books. It wouldn't be quite as horribly bewildering as the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, but still left a lot unclear.
The movie only reinforced my belief that JKR pulled the Deathly Hallows out of her ass sometime while writing book six. No matter how well she planned out the series from the beginning, you simply cannot tell me that she knew about the Hallows while writing the first four or five books. If she had, she would have foreshadowed them and integrated them into the Potterverse seamlessly instead of tacking them on at the eleventh hour. If they're supposedly such a famous children's tale, known and beloved by every child raised in a wizard household, there would be plenty of opportunities for it to be naturally worked into the story.
With all the in-depth analysis and theorizing the fandom did in last several years prior to book seven's release, some hint should have come to light that Harry's invisibility cloak, Dumbledore's wand, and the Philosopher/Sorcerer's Stone were more than they appeared. "Gee, Harry, this cloak your father left you is really well-made! You rarely see one this good! If I didn't know better I'd think it was one of the Deathly Hallows! Haha!"
It really wasn't fair that after encouraging the fans to scour the books for clues, deftly weaving in foreshadowing and symbolism, and adding mind-bending twists, that JKR kept the final plot device completely unknown until they were put into play. To put it another way, we the readers didn't know Chekhov even owned the gun, much less that it was present and could be fired. Hell, we didn't even know guns existed in this universe!
That, and the lack of closure between Harry and Snape, are the two most glaring problems for me with Deathly Hallows. A film adaptation can smooth over some lesser hiccups, but the different medium can only do so much.
Having gotten that rant out of my system, I have to reiterate that I really did enjoy the movie. It was fun, and exciting, and well filmed. Can't wait to see the second part next summer!