Deathly Hallows, Part II
This was my post from last November about the first seven HP films. To be consistent, I will attempt to follow the same format in examining the eighth film.
Areas:
A. Pacing
B. Coherent storyline
C. Acting
D. Special effects
E. Judicious exclusions of book material
F. Judicious inclusion of new material
G. Visual artistry
H. Characterization
I. Disruptive WTF moments
J. Disruptive anti-canonical stuff (as opposed to non-canonical)
Here we go!
Deathly Hallows, Part II
A. I have to say, the pacing wasn't as well-done as in the seventh film. The jerkiness of going from the peacefulness of Shell Cottage to the rambunctious bank job gave me whiplash, and everything from there to the end of the film was all extremely high-tension, no relief whatsoever (which could have been provided by things like the full Dumbledore backstory from Aberforth, the Dumbledore's Army backstory from Neville while they walked to the castle, and retaining a little more--if not all, which probably wasn't practical--of Harry's speech to Voldemort before the Killing Curse rebounded on Voldemort, which, as his cause of death, was never stated clearly).
OTOH, the bulk of the film was WAR WAR WAR so I do get why it was so hyper the bulk of the time. To be generous I'll give this one 7 out of 10.
B. Yes and no on "coherent storyline". There could have been more emphasis or a clearer emphasis on the why of the Gringotts break-in. It was almost an afterthought and, the way it was presented, seemed like a pretty thin reason to do something as audacious as break into the bank. We also didn't really get Harry "hearing" the other Horcruxes before this (the locket they all spent so much time wearing, for instance), so it wasn't clear that he really knew that he had a way to identify the Horcrux once they were in the vault. I'm not quibbling with the hearing-the-Horcrux thing, which isn't canon but a not-bad change that helps make up for a lot of script omissions in the sixth film; I'm quibbling with this not really being introduced until they are actually IN THE VAULT, instead of prior to that. The way the bank job is planned out it's incredibly risky with no expectation of a payoff, and then bingo! Once in the vault, Harry can HEAR the Horcrux! This needed to exist in the previous film, at the latest. (It probably couldn't have been in the fifth or sixth films since I doubt that they came up with the idea until after deciding to cut out so many of the Tom Riddle Pensieve scenes from HBP.)
They also relied a bit too heavily on the info-dump again, the most egregious example being that there was no mention of Teddy Lupin's existence until AFTER Lupin was dead! Honestly, at that point, why mention the kid? He wasn't in the epilogue, after all, and neither was Victoire. It seemed like a pretty weird time to bring him up.
For all of the chaos of the Battle of Hogwarts, that was actually not bad on coherence, story-wise, so if I knock off points mainly for the bank job and the info-dumping we'll call this 7 out of 10.
C. Not once was I distracted by scenery-chewing or any other evidence of clunky acting. Everyone truly and thoroughly inhabited their characters. Top of the heap, far and away the best in this regard. Special notice to Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman--they were just aces, and the HP franchise has been lucky to have them from the start, and also lucky that Michael Gambon was available to step into Dumbledore's shoes starting in the third film. Also a special notice to Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Hermione. Brilliant! And little Albus Severus was such a woobie; Harry's talk with him was the height of father-son adorableness. 10 out of 10! I'd do 11 if I could, but I'm not Spinal Tap. ;)
D. What special effects? That was a real freaking dragon, wasn't it? And it really came out of the dome at Gringotts? And that really was a bunch of giants destroying our beloved Hogwarts, wasn't it? :snerk: My goodness, the effects were the best they've ever been. No plastic centaurs, no lame-ass werewolves. They pulled out all the stops and it was SO worth it. 10 out of 10!
E. Bear in mind that the word I chose was "judicious" when it comes to the exclusion of book material. I do think good judgment was shown on this point multiple times--as well as bad judgment.
The good ones were: omitting the love story between Helena Ravenclaw and the Bloody Baron; leaving out having Voldemort going on his trek to look for each Horcrux, seen through Harry's mind (unnecessary because of a new inclusion, see F, below); omitting the house-elf motivation for the Ron/Hermione kiss (since the house-elf liberation story has pretty much dropped out of all of the films); not letting us see Fred's death (even though this means omitting Percy's return--poor Chris Rankin's role has been virtually nonexistent for a while, but this is at least consistent with earlier films); not seeing Grawp helping to fight against the other giants; not seeing Trelawney lobbing crystal balls at Death Eaters (I would have loved it, but you can't have everything); leaving out the scene in the Ravenclaw common room; omitting Pensieve scenes that were already omitted in OotP (although it would have been nice to have them there); and leaving Teddy and Victoire out of the epilogue.
ETA: I remembered this when I saw someone somewhere else complaining about it: the fact that the objects in the Lestrange vault only multiplied and didn't also burn. I liked the omission of the burning aspect, frankly; I think that JKR made the obstacles in the vault a bit over-the-top in the book, and when you actually SEE the trio up to their noses in multiplied objects and think about what that would be like if they were also BURNING them at the same time--yeah. Multiplying is enough. Yes, the burning seems appropriate to the Lestranges, but I honestly don't see how they could plausibly present Harry, Ron and Hermione surviving this incident and not ending up in the burn-ward at St. Mungo's if the burning were kept.
Neutral changes (since something was included from the book, but somehow changed): Shell Cottage being a Weasley family property that they use as a safe-house; Ron putting Imperius on the bank manager instead of Harry (ETA: nmalfoy is correct--Harry did it first, but Ron did it later); the way they did the McGongall/Snape duel was a little different but fine, although we didn't quite get our Snape-shaped hole in the window, LOL; Luna telling Harry about Helena Ravenclaw's ghost on the stairs instead of in the Ravenclaw common room; Zabini instead of Goyle with Draco and Crabbe in the Junk Room of Requirement (due to the actor playing Goyle being unavailable); Snape dying in the boathouse instead of the Shrieking Shack; and destroying the diadem with a basilisk fang instead of with FiendFyre.
The bad ones were: no Dumbledore backstory from Aberforth (just a LITTLE more, please?); no Dumbledore's Army backstory from Neville (again--just a bit, you know?); no mention, anywhere, of the fact that Harry has had, since his first year, one of the Deathly Hallows (his Invisibility Cloak); Harry dropping the Resurrection Stone too soon and not walking to his death with Lily, James, Sirius and Remus around him; Harry not walking to his death WEARING THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK and then removing it, just like Ignotus Peverell, and WELCOMING DEATH LIKE AN OLD FRIEND; Harry not flashing back to all of the things and people he loved in his life before accepting that he was going to die (they did it in OotP when he was possessed, after all); Snape's TEARS being what Harry pours into the Pensieve instead of memories flowing from all of his head's orifices (had they used up the special effects budget or something?); no mention from Dumbledore (at King's Cross) about WHY Harry can choose to "go back" or "go on", even though HE IS FREAKING DEAD--absolutely nothing about the blood of Harry's that Voldemort used to resurrect himself, we're just supposed to "know" that Harry can choose to still be alive because he is Harry Potter and he is SPESHUL; not having Neville kill the snake in front of everyone so that Harry knows for certain it is dead before he starts the final duel with Voldemort; no speech from Harry about Snape being Dumbledore's Man Through and Through; no speech from Harry about the fact that the wand Voldemort was using PROBABLY RECOGNIZED HARRY AS ITS MASTER; No Killing Curse vs. Disarming Charm in the final duel (it's kind of IMPORTANT); no WITNESSES to the final duel; Harry not repairing his old wand before breaking the Elder Wand; and Harry not deciding to put the Elder Wand back "where it belongs".
So, IMO, there are slightly fewer good or neutral omissions/changes than bad ones, giving us middling score here of 4 out of 10.
F. The judicious inclusion of new material wasn't too bad great.
Good: Harry being able to hear the Horcruxes was a good thing, since he didn't see all of those Tom Riddle Pensieve scenes in HBP; ditto Voldemort knowing that his Horcruxes were being destroyed; I actually didn't like at first and have grown to like that when the defenses around the castle were breached, this included a breach of the charm or curse or whatever that prevents Apparating on the grounds of Hogwarts, which then took place liberally throughout the ensuing battle; poor Filch trying to single-handedly clean up the mess afterward. :sporffle:
Bad: Ron and Hermione trying to kill the basilisk; McGonagall SENDING ALL SLYTHERINS TO THE DUNGEON (I had hoped that we'd see fleshed out in the film the return of the Slytherins with reinforcements, which we only know about because JKR said so, and instead they made the anti-Slytherin bias in the film MANY TIMES WORSE); Tonks and Remus reaching for each other (I actually like the Tonks/Remus ship, but what purpose did this really serve? And we still hadn't been told about Teddy!).
Bad to the Nth Degree: Having only Hermione hug Harry when he is clearly GOING TO HIS DEATH while Ron sits by looking sullen about it instead of CONCERNED FOR HIS FRIEND; having Harry break the Elder Wand and throw it away without repairing his old wand or acknowledging that the Elder Wand belongs in Dumbledore's grave, followed by the trio just standing stupidly, with their eyes closed, holding hands. Bah, Kloves is still COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF WRITING ENDINGS. What the hell was that?
On this one I can't go above 3 out of 10. Blergh.
G. The visual artistry on this was superb, I have to say. I watched it on a 70' diameter IMAX screen and was lucky enough to sit at the top of the theatre. This distorted some things at the edges (Shell Cottage appeared to be as round inside as the Lovegood home, and full of rounded furniture designed to fit against the rounded walls) but overall it is a beautiful, beautiful film. Special shout-out to the Gringotts sequence, and I agree with whoever said this will probably soon be a ride at the park in Orlando! 10 out of 10.
H. When someone was given characterization at all, it was generally fine (Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Voldemort, Snape, McGonagall, Draco, Narcissa, Lucius, and, surprisingly, Griphook). Most of the other characters were fairly two-dimensional, but that's bound to happen when the film is basically one long battle sequence. Still, it suffered from Harry not being allowed to be the sort of person who's going to inform Voldemort, "Hey, you're probably going to lose this fight because your wand likes me better than it likes you," and also encouraging him to show remorse, to heal his soul. He also comes off as cavalier about breaking the Elder Wand and throwing it away and doesn't keep his loved ones close to him until the end. Mainly because of neglecting these somewhat crucial character-moments for Harry I'd give this 8 out of 10.
I. There actually weren't a lot of disruptive WTF moments in this film, despite the above scores on E and F. GoF was the worst for this kind of thing, with HBP not far behind, but all I can think of is Bellatrix shattering like glass for some inexplicable reason; the sudden, visceral view we got of Greyback (who is barely mentioned) looking more like a vampire than a werewolf in human form; and (ETA) Harry taking only a few tears from Snape and then looking like he's pouring and pouring and pouring to get them into the Pensieve. Bzuh? But these aren't a huge deal, so, in the main, I'll give it 9 out of 10.
J. I also didn't feel overwhelmed by a slew of anti-canonical stuff, things that actually run counter to the philosophy JKR presents in the books (like Harry being a good Seeker because it's in his blood, erk). 10 out of 10.
Overall, that means that my score for this film is a 78, which is high for me, if not quite as high as the seventh film (which I gave an 86). Call it an 82 average for the seventh and eighth films together, which still places them at the top of the heap for me!
Areas:
A. Pacing
B. Coherent storyline
C. Acting
D. Special effects
E. Judicious exclusions of book material
F. Judicious inclusion of new material
G. Visual artistry
H. Characterization
I. Disruptive WTF moments
J. Disruptive anti-canonical stuff (as opposed to non-canonical)
Here we go!
Deathly Hallows, Part II
A. I have to say, the pacing wasn't as well-done as in the seventh film. The jerkiness of going from the peacefulness of Shell Cottage to the rambunctious bank job gave me whiplash, and everything from there to the end of the film was all extremely high-tension, no relief whatsoever (which could have been provided by things like the full Dumbledore backstory from Aberforth, the Dumbledore's Army backstory from Neville while they walked to the castle, and retaining a little more--if not all, which probably wasn't practical--of Harry's speech to Voldemort before the Killing Curse rebounded on Voldemort, which, as his cause of death, was never stated clearly).
OTOH, the bulk of the film was WAR WAR WAR so I do get why it was so hyper the bulk of the time. To be generous I'll give this one 7 out of 10.
B. Yes and no on "coherent storyline". There could have been more emphasis or a clearer emphasis on the why of the Gringotts break-in. It was almost an afterthought and, the way it was presented, seemed like a pretty thin reason to do something as audacious as break into the bank. We also didn't really get Harry "hearing" the other Horcruxes before this (the locket they all spent so much time wearing, for instance), so it wasn't clear that he really knew that he had a way to identify the Horcrux once they were in the vault. I'm not quibbling with the hearing-the-Horcrux thing, which isn't canon but a not-bad change that helps make up for a lot of script omissions in the sixth film; I'm quibbling with this not really being introduced until they are actually IN THE VAULT, instead of prior to that. The way the bank job is planned out it's incredibly risky with no expectation of a payoff, and then bingo! Once in the vault, Harry can HEAR the Horcrux! This needed to exist in the previous film, at the latest. (It probably couldn't have been in the fifth or sixth films since I doubt that they came up with the idea until after deciding to cut out so many of the Tom Riddle Pensieve scenes from HBP.)
They also relied a bit too heavily on the info-dump again, the most egregious example being that there was no mention of Teddy Lupin's existence until AFTER Lupin was dead! Honestly, at that point, why mention the kid? He wasn't in the epilogue, after all, and neither was Victoire. It seemed like a pretty weird time to bring him up.
For all of the chaos of the Battle of Hogwarts, that was actually not bad on coherence, story-wise, so if I knock off points mainly for the bank job and the info-dumping we'll call this 7 out of 10.
C. Not once was I distracted by scenery-chewing or any other evidence of clunky acting. Everyone truly and thoroughly inhabited their characters. Top of the heap, far and away the best in this regard. Special notice to Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman--they were just aces, and the HP franchise has been lucky to have them from the start, and also lucky that Michael Gambon was available to step into Dumbledore's shoes starting in the third film. Also a special notice to Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Hermione. Brilliant! And little Albus Severus was such a woobie; Harry's talk with him was the height of father-son adorableness. 10 out of 10! I'd do 11 if I could, but I'm not Spinal Tap. ;)
D. What special effects? That was a real freaking dragon, wasn't it? And it really came out of the dome at Gringotts? And that really was a bunch of giants destroying our beloved Hogwarts, wasn't it? :snerk: My goodness, the effects were the best they've ever been. No plastic centaurs, no lame-ass werewolves. They pulled out all the stops and it was SO worth it. 10 out of 10!
E. Bear in mind that the word I chose was "judicious" when it comes to the exclusion of book material. I do think good judgment was shown on this point multiple times--as well as bad judgment.
The good ones were: omitting the love story between Helena Ravenclaw and the Bloody Baron; leaving out having Voldemort going on his trek to look for each Horcrux, seen through Harry's mind (unnecessary because of a new inclusion, see F, below); omitting the house-elf motivation for the Ron/Hermione kiss (since the house-elf liberation story has pretty much dropped out of all of the films); not letting us see Fred's death (even though this means omitting Percy's return--poor Chris Rankin's role has been virtually nonexistent for a while, but this is at least consistent with earlier films); not seeing Grawp helping to fight against the other giants; not seeing Trelawney lobbing crystal balls at Death Eaters (I would have loved it, but you can't have everything); leaving out the scene in the Ravenclaw common room; omitting Pensieve scenes that were already omitted in OotP (although it would have been nice to have them there); and leaving Teddy and Victoire out of the epilogue.
ETA: I remembered this when I saw someone somewhere else complaining about it: the fact that the objects in the Lestrange vault only multiplied and didn't also burn. I liked the omission of the burning aspect, frankly; I think that JKR made the obstacles in the vault a bit over-the-top in the book, and when you actually SEE the trio up to their noses in multiplied objects and think about what that would be like if they were also BURNING them at the same time--yeah. Multiplying is enough. Yes, the burning seems appropriate to the Lestranges, but I honestly don't see how they could plausibly present Harry, Ron and Hermione surviving this incident and not ending up in the burn-ward at St. Mungo's if the burning were kept.
Neutral changes (since something was included from the book, but somehow changed): Shell Cottage being a Weasley family property that they use as a safe-house; Ron putting Imperius on the bank manager instead of Harry (ETA: nmalfoy is correct--Harry did it first, but Ron did it later); the way they did the McGongall/Snape duel was a little different but fine, although we didn't quite get our Snape-shaped hole in the window, LOL; Luna telling Harry about Helena Ravenclaw's ghost on the stairs instead of in the Ravenclaw common room; Zabini instead of Goyle with Draco and Crabbe in the Junk Room of Requirement (due to the actor playing Goyle being unavailable); Snape dying in the boathouse instead of the Shrieking Shack; and destroying the diadem with a basilisk fang instead of with FiendFyre.
The bad ones were: no Dumbledore backstory from Aberforth (just a LITTLE more, please?); no Dumbledore's Army backstory from Neville (again--just a bit, you know?); no mention, anywhere, of the fact that Harry has had, since his first year, one of the Deathly Hallows (his Invisibility Cloak); Harry dropping the Resurrection Stone too soon and not walking to his death with Lily, James, Sirius and Remus around him; Harry not walking to his death WEARING THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK and then removing it, just like Ignotus Peverell, and WELCOMING DEATH LIKE AN OLD FRIEND; Harry not flashing back to all of the things and people he loved in his life before accepting that he was going to die (they did it in OotP when he was possessed, after all); Snape's TEARS being what Harry pours into the Pensieve instead of memories flowing from all of his head's orifices (had they used up the special effects budget or something?); no mention from Dumbledore (at King's Cross) about WHY Harry can choose to "go back" or "go on", even though HE IS FREAKING DEAD--absolutely nothing about the blood of Harry's that Voldemort used to resurrect himself, we're just supposed to "know" that Harry can choose to still be alive because he is Harry Potter and he is SPESHUL; not having Neville kill the snake in front of everyone so that Harry knows for certain it is dead before he starts the final duel with Voldemort; no speech from Harry about Snape being Dumbledore's Man Through and Through; no speech from Harry about the fact that the wand Voldemort was using PROBABLY RECOGNIZED HARRY AS ITS MASTER; No Killing Curse vs. Disarming Charm in the final duel (it's kind of IMPORTANT); no WITNESSES to the final duel; Harry not repairing his old wand before breaking the Elder Wand; and Harry not deciding to put the Elder Wand back "where it belongs".
So, IMO, there are slightly fewer good or neutral omissions/changes than bad ones, giving us middling score here of 4 out of 10.
F. The judicious inclusion of new material wasn't too bad great.
Good: Harry being able to hear the Horcruxes was a good thing, since he didn't see all of those Tom Riddle Pensieve scenes in HBP; ditto Voldemort knowing that his Horcruxes were being destroyed; I actually didn't like at first and have grown to like that when the defenses around the castle were breached, this included a breach of the charm or curse or whatever that prevents Apparating on the grounds of Hogwarts, which then took place liberally throughout the ensuing battle; poor Filch trying to single-handedly clean up the mess afterward. :sporffle:
Bad: Ron and Hermione trying to kill the basilisk; McGonagall SENDING ALL SLYTHERINS TO THE DUNGEON (I had hoped that we'd see fleshed out in the film the return of the Slytherins with reinforcements, which we only know about because JKR said so, and instead they made the anti-Slytherin bias in the film MANY TIMES WORSE); Tonks and Remus reaching for each other (I actually like the Tonks/Remus ship, but what purpose did this really serve? And we still hadn't been told about Teddy!).
Bad to the Nth Degree: Having only Hermione hug Harry when he is clearly GOING TO HIS DEATH while Ron sits by looking sullen about it instead of CONCERNED FOR HIS FRIEND; having Harry break the Elder Wand and throw it away without repairing his old wand or acknowledging that the Elder Wand belongs in Dumbledore's grave, followed by the trio just standing stupidly, with their eyes closed, holding hands. Bah, Kloves is still COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF WRITING ENDINGS. What the hell was that?
On this one I can't go above 3 out of 10. Blergh.
G. The visual artistry on this was superb, I have to say. I watched it on a 70' diameter IMAX screen and was lucky enough to sit at the top of the theatre. This distorted some things at the edges (Shell Cottage appeared to be as round inside as the Lovegood home, and full of rounded furniture designed to fit against the rounded walls) but overall it is a beautiful, beautiful film. Special shout-out to the Gringotts sequence, and I agree with whoever said this will probably soon be a ride at the park in Orlando! 10 out of 10.
H. When someone was given characterization at all, it was generally fine (Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Voldemort, Snape, McGonagall, Draco, Narcissa, Lucius, and, surprisingly, Griphook). Most of the other characters were fairly two-dimensional, but that's bound to happen when the film is basically one long battle sequence. Still, it suffered from Harry not being allowed to be the sort of person who's going to inform Voldemort, "Hey, you're probably going to lose this fight because your wand likes me better than it likes you," and also encouraging him to show remorse, to heal his soul. He also comes off as cavalier about breaking the Elder Wand and throwing it away and doesn't keep his loved ones close to him until the end. Mainly because of neglecting these somewhat crucial character-moments for Harry I'd give this 8 out of 10.
I. There actually weren't a lot of disruptive WTF moments in this film, despite the above scores on E and F. GoF was the worst for this kind of thing, with HBP not far behind, but all I can think of is Bellatrix shattering like glass for some inexplicable reason; the sudden, visceral view we got of Greyback (who is barely mentioned) looking more like a vampire than a werewolf in human form; and (ETA) Harry taking only a few tears from Snape and then looking like he's pouring and pouring and pouring to get them into the Pensieve. Bzuh? But these aren't a huge deal, so, in the main, I'll give it 9 out of 10.
J. I also didn't feel overwhelmed by a slew of anti-canonical stuff, things that actually run counter to the philosophy JKR presents in the books (like Harry being a good Seeker because it's in his blood, erk). 10 out of 10.
Overall, that means that my score for this film is a 78, which is high for me, if not quite as high as the seventh film (which I gave an 86). Call it an 82 average for the seventh and eighth films together, which still places them at the top of the heap for me!