Deathly Hallows Part Two

I imposed a delay on myself of discussing any specifics from the Deathly Hallows Part Two on the internet. I wanted to wait until after the second weekend. That should be enough time for anyone desperate to avoid movie specific spoilers to have seen it. So:

Spoiler Alert








I'm going to end up sounding like I'm just raging on the movie. I actually did enjoy it. I was choked up from the trio's arrival at the Hog's Head Inn until Harry went into the Forest. I think splitting the final book into two parts was a really good move. It really helped it translate from the book better and some of the others films would have definitely benefited from getting the same treatment.

I have mixed feelings about the Gringotts break-in. I thought the events that got them back into the vaults were well done. It was annoying that Griphook was made to betray them much earlier in the film and more so that Goblin views on ownership were never explained in the movie so one could understand his motivations. That said, the scene as a whole was pretty cool, so it makes up for that annoyance. As an aside, did anyone else think Bellatrix looked better when it was a polyjuiced(?) Hermione? I think there are some notions about inner beauty in the series and this could be an example or I could be insane.

I wasn't too upset at the changes made to "The Sacking of Severus Snape." Of course, I prefer the books, but I think the movie added the action that movie producers want, but I think the gist of that series of events remained. I also like the preparations for the battle particularly McGonagall's lines. I thought the visuals of the Death Eaters attacking the protections was excellent.

The battle was exciting as one might expect. I'm not too terribly disappointed about the lack of Fred's death though. I didn't really want to have to watch him die. Also, without the Percy storyline it would have been hard to fit in. The thing I feared most about this movie was that they would put in death scenes for Tonks and Lupin and I was thankful they didn't. It was hard enough just seeing their bodies for a second.

I believe that the most sacred part of the series is Chapters 33 and 34 "The Prince's Tale" and "The Forest Again." I thought those were beautifully done in the movie with one major exception. They did cut a lot from the memories with Lily, but I understand that. It is a movie and going too in-depth there can bog it down. It is clear enough that we get the true motivations of Snape. However, this also contained the part I hated most about the movie.

Snape holding the dead Lily just pisses me off. It wasn't the thing I was most upset about right after seeing the film, but it definitely is now. That's just not how it went down. I'm not sure if Snape could've even gotten into the Potter's home that night, but that's a minor detail. Hagrid got Harry. Sirius arrived shortly afterward and gave Hagrid his motorcycle. That's how that night went down after the attack. For one thing Snape would've had to have shown up and totally ignored the baby. Second, if Snape had actually been there when Sirius showed up, they would've dueled and one of them would have killed the other.

The Forest was my favorite scene in the movie. It was as close as I came to full-on crying even though I know that Harry isn't actually about to go die. It's hard to really quantify, but it is just a really powerful part of the story.

The final duel was probably the most disappointing part of the movie. I wasn't really angry with it. I get that if you're going to release a movie is 3D you're going to make the climax as climatic as possible with lots of movement and shit, but what was done really took away from it. My friend Kathy made an excellent point about it. She said it made Harry look cowardly. In the book Harry chases Voldemort into the great hall, but in the films he ran from him. Harry is too much of a Gyrffindor for that to be a fair representation of him.

It did annoy me that the final duel didn't take place in the great hall with everyone to witness and Harry protecting them with a shield charm. It also denied us hearing the great lecture Harry gave Voldemort before they exchanged spells. I also think the film really failed to make it clear that Harry didn't actually kill Voldemort, but it was Voldemort's own spell rebounding.

I wasn't in love with the way they handled the ending in the film, but I didn't despise it either. I would have preferred if they had returned to the Headmaster's office and talked to the Portrait of Dumbledore. However, the film still had close to the same point in the ending as book did.

Here's the Epilogue in a nut-shell: Old Ron= fat, Old Harry= James, Old Hermione= Young Hermione in different clothes.

Now for some random notes:

Lavender Brown's death scene: I'm not sure if they just wanted to kill her since she was so annoying. However, in the books she is rescued from Fenrir by Trelawney dropping a crystal ball on his head. It's not clear if she had been badly injured of if she survived the rest of the battle. Her book status is: Fate Unknown. It just seems odd that she would warrant a death scene in the battle.

Neville and Luna: This was the thing that I was initially most upset with from the film. I still don't like it all. Just I keep seeing all these damn Snape/Lily gifs on Tumblr. Ugh. I just never saw in the movies or the books any inclination of a Luna/Neville romance.





No More Spoilers

This was the first film I've seen in 3D. I didn't get a headache, which was nice. I supposed it added to the experience. There was an annoying bit though. There was this kid behind us with light up shoes. For a while he was kicking his legs up into the air and the lights reflected in our glasses. Never have I wanted to yell at a child so badly. Fortunately he stopped when the action picked up with the battle.

I think I liked Deathly Hallows Part One better the second part, but I think both are the best films of the franchise.

Let me know your thoughts about the movie in the comments.

Thanks for reading and please comment

-Michael