In conclusion...
I don't actually have much to say about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 but feel like I should do a post on it to put it to rest... I know a lot of fans have got very emotional about this being "the end" of the series but I think for me it ended with the books, and knowing there were a few films left to come out at that point was just a way not to be too upset about it. Clearly not everyone is as ready to let go though, as I went to the loo during the ads (plannning! So I wouldn't have to go during the film!) and a grown man in there said to me sadly "it's almost over!" Personally, I was too busy hoping that the puddle covering the entire men's room floor was just rainwater to muse wistfully over the end of childhood. Admittedly the fact that I was wearing my "Neville would have done it in four books" T-shirt might have made him think I was more invested in things than I was. As with the last few films I went with Evil Alex and his husband, and it was an enjoyable afternoon at the cinema, nice to see how the final part of the story was translated to the screen. So just a few thoughts:
- Evil Alex and I were talking before the film started about how people are mentals when they cheer the ratings card announcing the film, and then applaud at the end as if the actors can hear them. So then we sniggered to each other when the audience did exactly that.
- I see JKR's attempts to get DanRad to reenact Equus in the King's Cross scene were thwarted, but some extra topless Dan and Rupert was added instead.
- My T-shirt was a good choice, since with the collapsing bridge scene they made Neville even more of a badass in the film than he is in the book. And I see Steve Kloves is a Neville/Luna shipper, since that never happened in the books or when JKR was asked about the characters' fates.
- I didn't mind most of the changes made, although one that annoyed me was that Voldemort could feel the horcruxes being destroyed. No of course he can't, or he'd have realised what was going on a couple of years ago when Dumbledore destroyed the ring. I also didn't love that Harry destroyed the diadem - I liked the fact that in the books it's very specifically a different person who destroys each one. It's not like they couldn't have made it clear that the fire had destroyed it, since they had established a "horcrux destruction" special effect by that point.
- Bless Steve Kloves and David Yates for trying to make the bit about the Elder Wand's loyalty make sense. They didn't manage it, but you can only do so much. (For the record I did, on the second reading of the book, figure out how it became Harry's. I just don't think it follows that blasting a completely different wand out of Draco's hand transferred the Elder Wand to Harry.)
- Don't think I didn't notice, Yates, the numerous excuses to get the trio wet and then zoom in on Watson's cleavage. It was Peter Davison's regeneration all over again.
- And there, I think, we have it.
- Evil Alex and I were talking before the film started about how people are mentals when they cheer the ratings card announcing the film, and then applaud at the end as if the actors can hear them. So then we sniggered to each other when the audience did exactly that.
- I see JKR's attempts to get DanRad to reenact Equus in the King's Cross scene were thwarted, but some extra topless Dan and Rupert was added instead.
- My T-shirt was a good choice, since with the collapsing bridge scene they made Neville even more of a badass in the film than he is in the book. And I see Steve Kloves is a Neville/Luna shipper, since that never happened in the books or when JKR was asked about the characters' fates.
- I didn't mind most of the changes made, although one that annoyed me was that Voldemort could feel the horcruxes being destroyed. No of course he can't, or he'd have realised what was going on a couple of years ago when Dumbledore destroyed the ring. I also didn't love that Harry destroyed the diadem - I liked the fact that in the books it's very specifically a different person who destroys each one. It's not like they couldn't have made it clear that the fire had destroyed it, since they had established a "horcrux destruction" special effect by that point.
- Bless Steve Kloves and David Yates for trying to make the bit about the Elder Wand's loyalty make sense. They didn't manage it, but you can only do so much. (For the record I did, on the second reading of the book, figure out how it became Harry's. I just don't think it follows that blasting a completely different wand out of Draco's hand transferred the Elder Wand to Harry.)
- Don't think I didn't notice, Yates, the numerous excuses to get the trio wet and then zoom in on Watson's cleavage. It was Peter Davison's regeneration all over again.
- And there, I think, we have it.