FILM REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
I've actually been putting off writing this blog post for two reasons: one, I could never write a review that would do this movie justice and two, writing it would be admitting that the last, ever, Harry Potter film has actually been released and that this marks the end of an era in my life and in the lives of fans all over the world.
Obviously, I knew that this movie was going to be pretty spectacular, but nothing could have prepared me for the astounding special effects, absolutely brilliant acting and the emotional intensity conveyed by the actors. Surprisingly, I would say that this is the funniest out of the 8 Harry Potter movies, possibly to balance out the darkness of the final battle. I did find that almost after every sad or intense moment ended with some humour. I'm not sure if I like this or not as most of the time I was crying my eyes out, and yet laughing at the same time. I guess this makes the movie better as it reminds that Harry Potter isn't all about doom and gloom.
The most notable performance during the entire movie was Alan Rickman's portrayal of Snape. It truly was one of the most touching things I have ever watched and it was really interesting to see a completely different side of Snape. This part of the movie was so much better than I thought it would be. Obviously I knew that Alan Rickman is an incredibly talented man, but to see him take on an entirely different persona of Snape was truly magical (no pun intended).
The much anticipated line: 'Not my daughter you bitch!' was excellent, though in my opinion it could've been said with a little more conviction. Ginny doesn't play a very big role in this movie, not that I expected her to, but the brief moments that she was on screen were rather disappointing and I think so much more could've been added to Ginny and Harry's relationship. Ron and Hermione finally get together, of course, though perhaps their first kiss was a little inappropriately timed, though it was rather comic. I'm thinking that that moment is all set to win 'Best kiss of the year award'.
Tom Felton keeps Draco's character much the same with both his commanding and cowardly personality. He doesn't play a particularly large role in the movie either but when he is on screen he brings across Draco's rapidly changing emotions quite well. (I have to say he looks hilarious after he's been put through the ageing machine. Perhaps he and Rupert Grint can battle it out for who looks the funniest).
Rupert Grint is the man who brings most of the comic moments to this movie and he does it in true Ron-like fashion. Grint shows many different sides to Ron's personality in this film. He shows his loyalty to his best friend, Harry, his love for Hermione, his grief over his brother's, Fred's, death, his hilarity when wimpering and running away from Goyle's fire charm gone wrong, his brave side when trying to kill Nagini and protect Hermione, and last but not least, his clever side (for once) when he remembers that Basilisk fangs can destroy Horcruxes. Now that's a whole lot of emotion to be cramming into one movie.
I was slightly disappointed with Helen Bonham Carter's perfomance when she was pretending to be Hermione under the influence of Poly-juice potion, at times I thought she captured Hermione's character perfectly, at others, I didn't. Or perhaps it wasn't Bonham Carter's performance, but the way that Hermione was scripted to act in those scenes.
We can really see that Emma Watson is the thread that keeps the three friends together and drives them forward in this movie. She really makes a stand for Hermione and girls everywhere by showing that we can be powerful and influential and a 'warrior' (quote Emma Watson). It's good to see Hermione with a bit of blood on her face. To be honest, I don't think there's any actor in this movie who doesn't have blood on his or her face at some point in this movie.
And let's not forget Daniel Radcliffe, the man of the hour. There were a couple of moments when I thought that he hadn't quite captured Harry's ways but on the whole there was some excellent acting from Radcliffe through out this movie. Harry goes through a lot of intense emotions during this half of the book as he finds out many things about his mother, father, Snape, Dumbledore etc. and also the realisation that in the end he has to die. When Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother, questions Harry as to why he's bothering to hunt horcruxes, he stands his ground, saying that he trusted Dumbledore and Harry shows his determination to see this through to the end, not only to free himself but also the rest of the wizarding world, from Lord Voldemort's clutches. We see just how brave and loyal Harry Potter is and Daniel Radcliffe definitely manages to show just how good a person Potter is.
Music has the power to affect me really strongly and emotionally and so many a time I cried during this movie purely because of the feelings that the soundtrack conveyed. It is definitely the best soundtrack yet and every single sound perfectly compliments the events going on on-screen. What also particularly struck me and tugged at my heartstrings was the sense of loyalty, friendship and love, that was conveyed the audience perfectly by all the actors. One actor in particular who has come into the spotlight this movie is Matthew Lewis (plays Neville Longbottom). He is the unspoken hero of this movie with one particularly brave moment when he stands alone facing hundreds and hundreds of Death Eaters. He has done a great job of bringing Neville from the frightened, but brave boy we saw in the Philosopher's Stone to the man willing to stand up to Lord Voldemort in the Deathly Hallows.
Speaking of Voldemort, something that I didn't really expect to see was the vulenerability of Lord Voldemort. I think that the movie makes Lord Voldemort appear a lot more weak and vulnerable than the books describe, but I prefer it this way. Ralph Fienes is such a brilliant actor and he show Voldemort's desperation and determination amazingly. Apart from the issue of Voldemort crying 'nyaaa' which has been a source of ridicule since the trailers were released he does an excellent job of playing the role of the 'darkest wizard of all time'.
The only thing that truly disappointed me, was the ending. After hearing a lot of hype about the '19 years later' scene, I thought that it was going to be really good and that the age-ing machine would've made the characters look very different. Alas, it did not. Personally, I thought that the characters looked much the same as they do now, especially Emma Watson. The entire audience laughed when we saw all their characters as adults but the only difference was that the men had developed beer bellies with grey-er hair and the women had changed their hair styles and there were of course a few wrinkles thrown in. I thought that this scene could've been a lot more detailed and more like the book; however, I understand the need for the producers to want to cut down the book as much as possible to be able to fit this in to a decent length movie. There was little interaction with any of the kids apart from Albus Severus Potter and the acting could've been a bit better, but then, they are just kids and they did a great job none-the-less.
And so, Harry Potter ends. This is it. There'll be no more trailers, no more midnight screenings, no more premieres. It really is heartbreaking. However, I firmly believe that this final, eight movie really does bring Harry's story to a close in a magnificent and magical way and it definitely does JK Rowling's books justice. There's not really much else that I can say except that if you haven't already seen HP 7 Part 2, get down to your cinemas NOW! You cannot miss this spectacular film, which, by the way, is even more excellent in 3D. I thoroughly believe that oscars should be given out for some of the performances in the final instalment of the Harry Potter series, don't miss out
I've actually been putting off writing this blog post for two reasons: one, I could never write a review that would do this movie justice and two, writing it would be admitting that the last, ever, Harry Potter film has actually been released and that this marks the end of an era in my life and in the lives of fans all over the world.
The most notable performance during the entire movie was Alan Rickman's portrayal of Snape. It truly was one of the most touching things I have ever watched and it was really interesting to see a completely different side of Snape. This part of the movie was so much better than I thought it would be. Obviously I knew that Alan Rickman is an incredibly talented man, but to see him take on an entirely different persona of Snape was truly magical (no pun intended).
The much anticipated line: 'Not my daughter you bitch!' was excellent, though in my opinion it could've been said with a little more conviction. Ginny doesn't play a very big role in this movie, not that I expected her to, but the brief moments that she was on screen were rather disappointing and I think so much more could've been added to Ginny and Harry's relationship. Ron and Hermione finally get together, of course, though perhaps their first kiss was a little inappropriately timed, though it was rather comic. I'm thinking that that moment is all set to win 'Best kiss of the year award'.
Tom Felton keeps Draco's character much the same with both his commanding and cowardly personality. He doesn't play a particularly large role in the movie either but when he is on screen he brings across Draco's rapidly changing emotions quite well. (I have to say he looks hilarious after he's been put through the ageing machine. Perhaps he and Rupert Grint can battle it out for who looks the funniest).
Rupert Grint is the man who brings most of the comic moments to this movie and he does it in true Ron-like fashion. Grint shows many different sides to Ron's personality in this film. He shows his loyalty to his best friend, Harry, his love for Hermione, his grief over his brother's, Fred's, death, his hilarity when wimpering and running away from Goyle's fire charm gone wrong, his brave side when trying to kill Nagini and protect Hermione, and last but not least, his clever side (for once) when he remembers that Basilisk fangs can destroy Horcruxes. Now that's a whole lot of emotion to be cramming into one movie.
We can really see that Emma Watson is the thread that keeps the three friends together and drives them forward in this movie. She really makes a stand for Hermione and girls everywhere by showing that we can be powerful and influential and a 'warrior' (quote Emma Watson). It's good to see Hermione with a bit of blood on her face. To be honest, I don't think there's any actor in this movie who doesn't have blood on his or her face at some point in this movie.
And let's not forget Daniel Radcliffe, the man of the hour. There were a couple of moments when I thought that he hadn't quite captured Harry's ways but on the whole there was some excellent acting from Radcliffe through out this movie. Harry goes through a lot of intense emotions during this half of the book as he finds out many things about his mother, father, Snape, Dumbledore etc. and also the realisation that in the end he has to die. When Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother, questions Harry as to why he's bothering to hunt horcruxes, he stands his ground, saying that he trusted Dumbledore and Harry shows his determination to see this through to the end, not only to free himself but also the rest of the wizarding world, from Lord Voldemort's clutches. We see just how brave and loyal Harry Potter is and Daniel Radcliffe definitely manages to show just how good a person Potter is.
Music has the power to affect me really strongly and emotionally and so many a time I cried during this movie purely because of the feelings that the soundtrack conveyed. It is definitely the best soundtrack yet and every single sound perfectly compliments the events going on on-screen. What also particularly struck me and tugged at my heartstrings was the sense of loyalty, friendship and love, that was conveyed the audience perfectly by all the actors. One actor in particular who has come into the spotlight this movie is Matthew Lewis (plays Neville Longbottom). He is the unspoken hero of this movie with one particularly brave moment when he stands alone facing hundreds and hundreds of Death Eaters. He has done a great job of bringing Neville from the frightened, but brave boy we saw in the Philosopher's Stone to the man willing to stand up to Lord Voldemort in the Deathly Hallows.
Speaking of Voldemort, something that I didn't really expect to see was the vulenerability of Lord Voldemort. I think that the movie makes Lord Voldemort appear a lot more weak and vulnerable than the books describe, but I prefer it this way. Ralph Fienes is such a brilliant actor and he show Voldemort's desperation and determination amazingly. Apart from the issue of Voldemort crying 'nyaaa' which has been a source of ridicule since the trailers were released he does an excellent job of playing the role of the 'darkest wizard of all time'.
The only thing that truly disappointed me, was the ending. After hearing a lot of hype about the '19 years later' scene, I thought that it was going to be really good and that the age-ing machine would've made the characters look very different. Alas, it did not. Personally, I thought that the characters looked much the same as they do now, especially Emma Watson. The entire audience laughed when we saw all their characters as adults but the only difference was that the men had developed beer bellies with grey-er hair and the women had changed their hair styles and there were of course a few wrinkles thrown in. I thought that this scene could've been a lot more detailed and more like the book; however, I understand the need for the producers to want to cut down the book as much as possible to be able to fit this in to a decent length movie. There was little interaction with any of the kids apart from Albus Severus Potter and the acting could've been a bit better, but then, they are just kids and they did a great job none-the-less.
And so, Harry Potter ends. This is it. There'll be no more trailers, no more midnight screenings, no more premieres. It really is heartbreaking. However, I firmly believe that this final, eight movie really does bring Harry's story to a close in a magnificent and magical way and it definitely does JK Rowling's books justice. There's not really much else that I can say except that if you haven't already seen HP 7 Part 2, get down to your cinemas NOW! You cannot miss this spectacular film, which, by the way, is even more excellent in 3D. I thoroughly believe that oscars should be given out for some of the performances in the final instalment of the Harry Potter series, don't miss out