NO SPOILERS, GC (well, a very minor one)
So last night, I took my GF, and mine and her daughters, to the midnight showing of HP7a. Did my huge Potterphile daughters love it?
Yes, they did. I liked it a lot, too. It suffers in many ways from the same thing that "The Empire Strikes Back" did. It is essentially a set-up for the last film, ending on a dark note. In the story, the characters are just about at their lowest. It's the middle of the book, and things look bleak. The filmmakers did a great job of capturing the plot of the book though, without the excessive abridgement of the stories that the last three films suffered. They had to make a few corrections to get there; a minor one being Harry's meeting the oldest Weasley son, Bill. In the books, they'd met a few years previously.
Be warned, the MPAA has rated the film PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality. This is not necessarily a movie for young children. A five-year-old sitting behind us was upset by several disturbing and/or frightening scenes.
The special effects were seamless and very realistic, as is to be expected by now. No real gee-whiz moments, but neither did they detract from the experience. The tone and feel of the movie is perfect for the first part of the book. Like I said, I liked it and am really looking forward to the last film. I never listen to critics anymore. They have no clue what I enjoy in a movie. But I don't need to tell you that, Dear Reader. If you're not a Potterphile like me and my family, this might could wait for DVD or Blu-Ray. If you are, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is a must see.
Juuuust in case, I didn't read this until I came back from seeing it tonight. I agree, the film strove to stay loyal to the book and succeeded for the most part. However, while the hopelessness and depression came off well in prose form, it didn't translate so well on screen. I got what they were trying to do, but the entire middle chunk of the movie still dragged. It was a valiant attempt, but just didn't do it for me. I was very happy and impressed with the action parts though.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree the middle part dragged. So did that part of the book, frankly. I wish they had made more of an effort to included legitimately exciting parts of the books in the other movies, instead of cutting out sooo much. It's my understanding that the fifth film was the shortest, even though the 5 book was the longest. The next film should fairly exciting. As I recall, the book picked up after the section where the movie ends.
ReplyDeleteSo the spoilers aren't too bad, are they?
No, not too bad.
ReplyDeleteRe: the cutting, I felt that the Half Blood Prince was the worst. I mean, the book and movie is called "Half Blood Prince" for crying out loud, you'd think they'd include more of that story. Instead, Snape just turns to Harry at the end and goes, "I AM the half-blood prince!" and that was that. I was like, WTF, if I hadn't read the book I would have had absolutely NO idea why. And that bit was such a revelation in the book too, and such a heart wrenching story.
Oh yes, you're right. Both Voldemort's backstory and Harry's interaction wiuth the Potions book were chopped to the point of incoherence, I thought. Perfect example. IIRC there was no mention of the Hufflepuff Cup in the last movie, no apparent rhyme or reason to the Horcruxes. So how are Harry and the others supposed to know to look for it? And even in this one, Harry shows no real sympathy to Kreacher, a key point in the book that led to Kreacher helping the trio and leading the house-elf defense of Hogwarts.
ReplyDelete