53.
Lucky for me, my college offers midnight movie premier tickets to a different movie every month for a SERIOUSLY reduced price, and this month it was HARRY POTTER! Of course me and james were super excited and very lucky to have gotten tickets because they sold out fast. So yesterday was the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. Oh my goodness was it pretty damn amazing, and not as long as I expected it to be. Anyway, I'd rather be the nice person that doesn't spoil things, so my thoughts are under the cut.
As far as following the book went, from what I remember it did PHENOMENAL! The movie starts off where Harry and Hermione are in the midst of leaving their homes to prepare for the uprise of Voldemort. I was really disappointed that they didn't include the scene where Harry and the Dursleys part. I was really looking foreword to the little scene where Dudley shows that he might miss Harry a little. Otherwise the whole departing scene was very well done. I really love Mad eye moody as a character so much! He single handedly added so much humor to that scene. The thing that really bothered me was the following scenes. To be honest Hedwigs death was very emotional for me in the book and obviously very emotional to Harry as well. Hedwig was, in my opinion, a symbol of Harry's induction into the wizarding world. I really believe that scene should have been a bit more emotional. It seemed like hedwigs death was a little bit too brushed off.
I really went into this movie wondering how they were going to pull the first half off. Honestly, I thought the first half would be boring because all of the really exciting stuff happened during the second half of the book. A lot of the first half of the book was traveling and all their frustrations with not having any leads, figuring stuff out, that sort of thing. I really enjoyed the way they pulled off those monotonous scenes. The first was how they explained the tale of the deathly hallows. During that scene I was SO prepared to get up and go to the bathroom because I was sure they were just going to talk through the tale. I love how they actually decided to pull the audience into the story. The illustrations during that scene were just so lovely that I sat back down and was glued to the screen.
Another thing that I really liked (this applies to the books as well) is how little things are thrown in to remind the viewers (and readers) that the characters are still teenagers. The scene where Harry zips up Ginny's dress and in the tent where Harry grabbed Hermione's hands and started dancing with her really made me remember those little moments in the book that made it real.
Speaking of which I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Harry/ Hermione love thrown into the mix! When I was younger I was a big Harry/Hermione shipper. Only when I got older and the movies started coming out did I start shipping Ron/Hermione (I think it was only Emma Watson and Rupert Grint themselves that made me ship that couple. They really have a lot of chemistry together because honestly, I never saw it coming in the first 3 books). Later on I preferred Harry with Luna Lovegood, but anyway seeing him giving Hermione a little love was just UMMPHFF <3
Brought me back to my old childhood ship!
AND OH GOD! THE SCENE WHERE RON AND HARRY ARE DESTROYING THE HORCRUX! JESUS! I was practically bursting in the movie theater! I got both my Ron/hermione and my Harry/Hermione fix all in one scene! That scene was just wonderful! AND JESUS! They really went at it too! Where they naked!? God! That was just... Fanatics dream come true. Ron was just furious and it made me so happy. I love when men defend and fight for their women. That's just so sexy to me. Something about that just makes me so happy
Click to viewYes I did find a very horrible copy of the scene on youtube... Oh god. Fangasm! :)
Anyway, the rest of the movie was really spectacular. The action scenes were done a little differently from previous movies (from what I remember) but I didn't really mind that. While I thought the movie was going to be a bit more emotional than it was, it definitely got me close to crying a couple times. The first was when Ron left and the second was the scene where Dobby declared himself to everyone as a free elf. I really thought I was going to cry when Dobby actually died but surprisingly I really think when Dobby stood up in front of his old masters and told them he could help who he chooses was such a powerful scene. Much more powerful than his actual death scene.
Overall the movie was 5 stars. I think the second half is going to be wonderful. It's the end of an era. The end of my childhood. I really can't see myself coming out of the second half with dry eyes.