HPDH2 thoughts
So I just got back from seeing the last Harry Potter movie. I'd never gone to a midnight release before; it just didn't seem important. But something about it being the *last* one, and I suppose a combination of opportunity and availability, made me want to do it this time. So I went. Alas I only got to the theatre an hour and a half early -- I was delayed with glitches in my fannish t-shirt making process -- and so we were at the back of the line and all the good seats were taken when they finally opened the door. "Only" an hour and a half. Have I made my sarcasm apparent enough?
So it was...good but not really good. More than ok, less than awesome, definitely not bad. I don't know that I'd really like to see it again -- though I expect I will, just for the fannish fix -- and that strikes me because I really rather liked the first half, enough even to watch it more than once (though not in theatres - and as it happened when I did see it the first time in theatres, it was like three weeks after it had been released).
They didn't mess up anything I was really worried about -- they adjusted the Snape stuff quite a bit, but I thought they did a relatively good job with the memories. The one with him cradling Lily's dead body while baby Harry cried in the background I did not like at all. But at least they got the patronus/always bit mostly right. Except then they went and screwed it up with having Lily use always incongruously. But still, other than those things and the manufactured scene where Harry confronts Snape in the great hall, I was happy with the way they handled everything related to him. Which is, if you couldn't tell, what I was most worried about. Oh, and the shift from the Shrieking Shack to the boathouse actually didn't seem like it made much difference after all, which is good.
I like that they set the Ron/Hermione kiss after the fang-snatching adrenaline rush; it made sense, so even though I liked the idea of the optics of the middle of the battlefield...it was a major change that I thought worked.
I am most relieved that it was indeed Neville who killed the snake, and annoyed that Harry never actually asked him to as he did in the book. His speech before doing it was kind of cute, and also kind of deliciously gritty, and I know there's a better way of putting that but damned if I can come up with it now. Oh and though I don't ship Neville/Luna and though it contradicts what JKR has said, I thought the bits of it woven throughout were fun. I mean, it was meant for comic relief and lightheartedness and hope, and I think it succeeded at that. And at being believable, and consistent with the relative time allocated to different characters through the series.
They took many cinematic liberties with the Harry-Voldemort final confrontation, some of which was cool, some of which was bizarre (the jumping off the tower was kind of ok, but the dialogue immediately preceding - augh). Maybe it would've been better from a different angle; we were too close to the screen, really. But gaaaaah I don't like that they left out Harry clearing Snape's name! "Severus Snape wasn't yours" - too good a line to have missed. But the final confrontation was pretty much wordless, le sigh.
The Malfoys - aaah gigglesnort adorable bit with Lucius at the end, hesitantly but decidedly walking away from the battle, with his family. The bit with him whispering Draco over was lolz too -- but it rubs me the wrong way that Draco actually did cross over and that they included that at all. Not leaving him grey enough for my tastes. Oooh but I felt that they got the bits that I really wanted to see of the Room of Requirement scene -- Harry et al rescuing Draco et al from the Fiendfyre -- very right. I'm glad I knew ahead of time that one of Crabbe/Goyle wouldn't be there because the actor is dealing with drug charges -- otherwise I'd probably be more indignant that they chose Blaise as a replacement. And I thought they got the Narcissa-checking-on-Harry scene pretty much right, though I would've preferred him to have whispered yes instead of giving an ambiguous head movement.
Augh also HATE McGonagall consigning Slytherins to the dungeon like that -- so heavy-handed compared to the books, where really they were just supposed to lead the procession out of the hall. Bah.
Love the subtitled Parseltongue scene. Too good. And the gratuitous Scabior bits. And actually including Fenrir/Lavender, which I barely registered in the book. It was glancing enough to not be too graphic, but strongly set up enough to be clear for what it was. I think later though they imply she's died, with Trelawney and one of the Patils covering a body. Sadface if that is so!
I actually booed a bit when the epilogue started - not that anyone heard me, because a good many other people were cheering. They did not succeed at aging the actors at alllll. But at least they kept it to the point. And I adore the kid they got playing Albus Severus, even though his hair was too neat. Umm but I think they got an actual middle-aged adult to play Asteria, which made the unsuccessfully made-to-look-aged Tom Felton even more obviously wrong.
The Gringotts scenes were close enough to the book to mollify me, while also having a kind of realistic look.
Am muchly pleased that they appear to have gotten back all the original actors that they could - James and Lily were I think the same as in their first-movie cameos, and Gary Oldman came back and was a satisfactory Sirius for once! Hah.
What else? My brain is slowing and this is all just impression-dumping anyway. Compulsive and without purpose. Ultimately the last movie isn't the end for me - I'm still at least ankle-deep in fic these days. And of course fanon in its various permutations has long taken over my brain, so I've been detached from these movies in comparison to how into them I probably would have been if I loved the books as much as I do but didn't like fanfic at all. Right.
The first half - slow though it was - had more to savor, and obviously more momentum. This half doesn't stand so well on its own - I wonder what it would be like to watch them spliced together. Maybe the end would be less disappointing that way? IDK. Our tickets cost less than I expected to - about the same as for regular tickets, I think -- so I've no complaints for value-for-money. I feel kind of maxed out this moment, so if I see it again, it'll probably be...after the DVD is released. Aha.
So it was...good but not really good. More than ok, less than awesome, definitely not bad. I don't know that I'd really like to see it again -- though I expect I will, just for the fannish fix -- and that strikes me because I really rather liked the first half, enough even to watch it more than once (though not in theatres - and as it happened when I did see it the first time in theatres, it was like three weeks after it had been released).
They didn't mess up anything I was really worried about -- they adjusted the Snape stuff quite a bit, but I thought they did a relatively good job with the memories. The one with him cradling Lily's dead body while baby Harry cried in the background I did not like at all. But at least they got the patronus/always bit mostly right. Except then they went and screwed it up with having Lily use always incongruously. But still, other than those things and the manufactured scene where Harry confronts Snape in the great hall, I was happy with the way they handled everything related to him. Which is, if you couldn't tell, what I was most worried about. Oh, and the shift from the Shrieking Shack to the boathouse actually didn't seem like it made much difference after all, which is good.
I like that they set the Ron/Hermione kiss after the fang-snatching adrenaline rush; it made sense, so even though I liked the idea of the optics of the middle of the battlefield...it was a major change that I thought worked.
I am most relieved that it was indeed Neville who killed the snake, and annoyed that Harry never actually asked him to as he did in the book. His speech before doing it was kind of cute, and also kind of deliciously gritty, and I know there's a better way of putting that but damned if I can come up with it now. Oh and though I don't ship Neville/Luna and though it contradicts what JKR has said, I thought the bits of it woven throughout were fun. I mean, it was meant for comic relief and lightheartedness and hope, and I think it succeeded at that. And at being believable, and consistent with the relative time allocated to different characters through the series.
They took many cinematic liberties with the Harry-Voldemort final confrontation, some of which was cool, some of which was bizarre (the jumping off the tower was kind of ok, but the dialogue immediately preceding - augh). Maybe it would've been better from a different angle; we were too close to the screen, really. But gaaaaah I don't like that they left out Harry clearing Snape's name! "Severus Snape wasn't yours" - too good a line to have missed. But the final confrontation was pretty much wordless, le sigh.
The Malfoys - aaah gigglesnort adorable bit with Lucius at the end, hesitantly but decidedly walking away from the battle, with his family. The bit with him whispering Draco over was lolz too -- but it rubs me the wrong way that Draco actually did cross over and that they included that at all. Not leaving him grey enough for my tastes. Oooh but I felt that they got the bits that I really wanted to see of the Room of Requirement scene -- Harry et al rescuing Draco et al from the Fiendfyre -- very right. I'm glad I knew ahead of time that one of Crabbe/Goyle wouldn't be there because the actor is dealing with drug charges -- otherwise I'd probably be more indignant that they chose Blaise as a replacement. And I thought they got the Narcissa-checking-on-Harry scene pretty much right, though I would've preferred him to have whispered yes instead of giving an ambiguous head movement.
Augh also HATE McGonagall consigning Slytherins to the dungeon like that -- so heavy-handed compared to the books, where really they were just supposed to lead the procession out of the hall. Bah.
Love the subtitled Parseltongue scene. Too good. And the gratuitous Scabior bits. And actually including Fenrir/Lavender, which I barely registered in the book. It was glancing enough to not be too graphic, but strongly set up enough to be clear for what it was. I think later though they imply she's died, with Trelawney and one of the Patils covering a body. Sadface if that is so!
I actually booed a bit when the epilogue started - not that anyone heard me, because a good many other people were cheering. They did not succeed at aging the actors at alllll. But at least they kept it to the point. And I adore the kid they got playing Albus Severus, even though his hair was too neat. Umm but I think they got an actual middle-aged adult to play Asteria, which made the unsuccessfully made-to-look-aged Tom Felton even more obviously wrong.
The Gringotts scenes were close enough to the book to mollify me, while also having a kind of realistic look.
Am muchly pleased that they appear to have gotten back all the original actors that they could - James and Lily were I think the same as in their first-movie cameos, and Gary Oldman came back and was a satisfactory Sirius for once! Hah.
What else? My brain is slowing and this is all just impression-dumping anyway. Compulsive and without purpose. Ultimately the last movie isn't the end for me - I'm still at least ankle-deep in fic these days. And of course fanon in its various permutations has long taken over my brain, so I've been detached from these movies in comparison to how into them I probably would have been if I loved the books as much as I do but didn't like fanfic at all. Right.
The first half - slow though it was - had more to savor, and obviously more momentum. This half doesn't stand so well on its own - I wonder what it would be like to watch them spliced together. Maybe the end would be less disappointing that way? IDK. Our tickets cost less than I expected to - about the same as for regular tickets, I think -- so I've no complaints for value-for-money. I feel kind of maxed out this moment, so if I see it again, it'll probably be...after the DVD is released. Aha.