(no subject)
Because sometimes the internet is horrible, I knew some things going into this movie that I did not want to know. However, that did not ruin the movie-going experience for me. Neither did going to a movie with a relatively new friend, which always makes me nervous, especially when the likelihood of crying during a movie is so high. There were annoying people, of course, like the two people in front of us who thought HP7 was a makeout movie. (It is not) Or the woman next to us who laughed at the oddest times. Or the small child who kept running to her seat in the very front, but we never saw her leave the seat. (Magic!) Or the woman next to us who got four phone calls during the movie and did not turn off her phone. (Seriously, this woman was the worst) Or the people behind us who kept repeating lines in stage whispers.
Anyway, documenting annoying people is one of my life's passions, but that is not the point of this post.
I have really strong feelings of love towards HP6, but this movie was pretty excellent for what it was: a perfect set up for the final installment. It might be my new favorite. Undecided, but will be rewatching soon, so whatevs.
It was good enough that I didn't feel a constant need to point out the glaring omissions/clumsy writing. Which were mercifully few in a long movie.
Things I loved:
- Kreacher with the fork. That was absolutely perfect. While I loved Kreacher + frying pan in the book, Kreacher + fork was almost as wonderful. And his turkey gobbler thing (as my friend Sara put it) was a little freaky, but overall, they managed to preserve my love for my third favorite character. (For those of you who care [read: no one] my favorite characters, in order, are Severus Snape/Neville Longbottom (tied for first), Rita Skeeter, Kreacher/Luna Lovegood (tied for third). Harry Potter comes in at dead last.)
- The reuniting of Ron with Harry and Hermione. So well done. I can't really expand on it, I just thought the balance of humor and sadness was perfect.
- The balance of humor and sadness throughout the film. Really. It's a dark book, spotted with a few moments of laughter, and the writers/directors did a really wonderful job of bringing those moments to the fore.
- Mad-Eye Moody. I still think that's one of the best casting choices the movie has ever made. He is so completely perfect.
- Where they chose to end this installment. When I took my Harry Potter course last year, my professor said that this is where he thought they would stop, and lo and behold, he was correct. It's a nice ending, gives Dobby the respect he deserves, and then with the Voldemort moment, strikes the perfect chord that leaves the audience in suspense.
- Severus Snape. Alan Rickman is perfection personified, as usual.
- The terrifying scene with Bathilda Bagshot. Jumped out of my skin, as expected. Well-played, movie. Well-played.
- Malfoys/Blacks. Excellent, excellent acting on all their parts.
- "Georgie." My heart, it broke.
Things That Irritated Me:
- Diadem of Ravenclaw? Anyone? Anyone?
- Dursley good-bye. While I really, really liked that we got to see Hermione's good-bye/Obliviation Session with her parents (and then that moment where she had to cast Obliviate again, and my heart wrenched for Hermione [and it never wrenches for Hermione because of my dislike of Emma Watson]), I feel cheated that we did not get to see the final moments between the Dursleys and Harry, because I think that's one of the best parts of the entire book.
- Ministry of Magic. Not that it was wrong or bad, but I wanted the vindication of Harry taking Mad-Eye's eye.
- Seriously, did they just cut out any mention of Hufflepuff's cup? How are we going to learn the history of that? I'm still irked about that from HP6.
- The whole, "Hey, I'm Bill Weasley, we've never met" which in the movie world, we haven't, but in the books we have, and it felt weird and forced.
- Tonks. She is so far from everything I ever wanted Tonks to be in my head that I will never get over it. I think it's the worst casting the movie has ever done.
- We didn't get to see Lucius' white peacocks.
- We didn't get to see the monument erected at Godric's Hollow. Seriously, messages written to Harry during that make my heart hurt in the book.
I think there's this weird balance, where the movie both expects you to have read the books and doesn't, at the same time. Bill Nighy's all-to-brief stint as Rufus Scrimgeour was strange, especially as we didn't meet him in the last movie, so I was momentarily confused as to who he was when he opened the movie, but then I sorted it out for myself. And then Pius Thicknesse was kind of introduced in that scene with Voldemort, but I wonder how much of his importance people picked up, people who hadn't read the book. I mean, as soon as he said, "Pius," I was all, "Oh, okay, I see what's happening here." I mean, the movie pulls you along and makes you play catch up with it, and I could see that being really frustrating from a new fan's perspective. It's a really strange balance. And the thing with the radio. I don't know if they were hinting at Potterwatch (well, I'm sure they were), but it could have just been irritating for people who didn't know about the radio (also, Ron didn't actually know about the radio until he came back, but whatever, that's small). It's much more significant if you know that it's this one beacon of hope for the resistance, rather than Ron just listening. Although the narration of people who'd died did really strike a chord with me.
I'm sure I have more thoughts, but I don't know what they are, as it's only been about an hour since I got out of the movie.
Anyway, documenting annoying people is one of my life's passions, but that is not the point of this post.
I have really strong feelings of love towards HP6, but this movie was pretty excellent for what it was: a perfect set up for the final installment. It might be my new favorite. Undecided, but will be rewatching soon, so whatevs.
It was good enough that I didn't feel a constant need to point out the glaring omissions/clumsy writing. Which were mercifully few in a long movie.
Things I loved:
- Kreacher with the fork. That was absolutely perfect. While I loved Kreacher + frying pan in the book, Kreacher + fork was almost as wonderful. And his turkey gobbler thing (as my friend Sara put it) was a little freaky, but overall, they managed to preserve my love for my third favorite character. (For those of you who care [read: no one] my favorite characters, in order, are Severus Snape/Neville Longbottom (tied for first), Rita Skeeter, Kreacher/Luna Lovegood (tied for third). Harry Potter comes in at dead last.)
- The reuniting of Ron with Harry and Hermione. So well done. I can't really expand on it, I just thought the balance of humor and sadness was perfect.
- The balance of humor and sadness throughout the film. Really. It's a dark book, spotted with a few moments of laughter, and the writers/directors did a really wonderful job of bringing those moments to the fore.
- Mad-Eye Moody. I still think that's one of the best casting choices the movie has ever made. He is so completely perfect.
- Where they chose to end this installment. When I took my Harry Potter course last year, my professor said that this is where he thought they would stop, and lo and behold, he was correct. It's a nice ending, gives Dobby the respect he deserves, and then with the Voldemort moment, strikes the perfect chord that leaves the audience in suspense.
- Severus Snape. Alan Rickman is perfection personified, as usual.
- The terrifying scene with Bathilda Bagshot. Jumped out of my skin, as expected. Well-played, movie. Well-played.
- Malfoys/Blacks. Excellent, excellent acting on all their parts.
- "Georgie." My heart, it broke.
Things That Irritated Me:
- Diadem of Ravenclaw? Anyone? Anyone?
- Dursley good-bye. While I really, really liked that we got to see Hermione's good-bye/Obliviation Session with her parents (and then that moment where she had to cast Obliviate again, and my heart wrenched for Hermione [and it never wrenches for Hermione because of my dislike of Emma Watson]), I feel cheated that we did not get to see the final moments between the Dursleys and Harry, because I think that's one of the best parts of the entire book.
- Ministry of Magic. Not that it was wrong or bad, but I wanted the vindication of Harry taking Mad-Eye's eye.
- Seriously, did they just cut out any mention of Hufflepuff's cup? How are we going to learn the history of that? I'm still irked about that from HP6.
- The whole, "Hey, I'm Bill Weasley, we've never met" which in the movie world, we haven't, but in the books we have, and it felt weird and forced.
- Tonks. She is so far from everything I ever wanted Tonks to be in my head that I will never get over it. I think it's the worst casting the movie has ever done.
- We didn't get to see Lucius' white peacocks.
- We didn't get to see the monument erected at Godric's Hollow. Seriously, messages written to Harry during that make my heart hurt in the book.
I think there's this weird balance, where the movie both expects you to have read the books and doesn't, at the same time. Bill Nighy's all-to-brief stint as Rufus Scrimgeour was strange, especially as we didn't meet him in the last movie, so I was momentarily confused as to who he was when he opened the movie, but then I sorted it out for myself. And then Pius Thicknesse was kind of introduced in that scene with Voldemort, but I wonder how much of his importance people picked up, people who hadn't read the book. I mean, as soon as he said, "Pius," I was all, "Oh, okay, I see what's happening here." I mean, the movie pulls you along and makes you play catch up with it, and I could see that being really frustrating from a new fan's perspective. It's a really strange balance. And the thing with the radio. I don't know if they were hinting at Potterwatch (well, I'm sure they were), but it could have just been irritating for people who didn't know about the radio (also, Ron didn't actually know about the radio until he came back, but whatever, that's small). It's much more significant if you know that it's this one beacon of hope for the resistance, rather than Ron just listening. Although the narration of people who'd died did really strike a chord with me.
I'm sure I have more thoughts, but I don't know what they are, as it's only been about an hour since I got out of the movie.