I liked the new Harry Potter movie, you guys.
[Begin Spoiler for The Deathly Hallows, .5 — Highlight to view]
I mean, don't get me wrong. I will nitpick the hell of out it. However, contingent upon the second half maintaining and hopefully surpassing the quality of the first half, this is the best Harry Potter movie. BETTER THAN AZKABAN, OKAY.
This is due, in enormously large part, to the pacing. In that there is some. I think what made HBP suck so much (ps you guys HBP sucked quite a lot) is that it had slow, plodding scenes connected by quick transitions. It was like: Scene.Scene.Scene.Scene.Scene. It doesn't matter how good the scenes were (some of them were okay), that's not a movie.
This is a movie. Just like a real movie! And not a visual SparkNotes. A couple bits were a little Yates-y (i.e. slow to the point of being uncomfortable), like Dumbledore's will unfolding or Xenophilius drawing the Deathly Hallows symbol or ... well, we'll get to the dance. But mostly that crap was kept to a minimum. Atmosphere was attained! Themes were developed! Emotions were evoked!
This is sounding like a lot of backhanded praise. Honestly, though, one of my major feelings is relief that this picture didn't suck when I could easily imagine the ways in which it would suck. So, there's that. On top of that relief, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, but that was maybe a given. I mean, I don't know if you've noticed this about me, but I like Harry Potter.
Now, here's some shit: That dance was stupid, David Yates. I read a review already that said of it, "it's supposed to be tender and heartfelt but comes off awkward and forced in". Or, you know, sentiments to that effect. So true. And I was already annoyed by that point because of the following anecdote I'll relate.
On Thursday, a certain comm I'm in posted an early review that called HP "just like Twilight" because of the love triangle and whatall. Everyone laughed because clearly that writer is unfamiliar with either story. Then I went and I saw the movie, and it dawned on me, "Oh shit, that guy is kinda right. They're even in a tent!" In the book, it's clear (to the literate) that it's Ron and Hermione, and that Ron's romantic jealousy is a manifestation of the fact that he's insanely jealous of his best friend and maybe he should deal with those issues. Not because there could actually be something there. But in the movie ... are they trying to make me think there could be something there? It seems like they are. I mean, not that Harry has any romantic chemistry with Hermione, but he doesn't have any chemistry with Ginny, either, so what message am I getting?
Sidebar: I can't pretend anymore. I wanted to deny. Harry and Ginny have zero chemistry and it's horrible. And I sorta-ship it! And I adore Bonnie Wright. She's gorgeous and I want to smish her. And it's not her fault! She had beautiful depth of emotion when she turned her back to him. Anytime they're facing each other, though, it's like a kid playing with Barbies and making them kiss. I'm terrified for the finale, because how can I suspend my disbelief long enough to believe these people made three kids??
Harry doesn't say anything to Ron after the locket thing. Awkward city. That locket scene in general was just a mess. Anyway. It really does feel like they threw in a last minute love-triangle subplot. I blame Steve Kloves.
Disappointing: Xeno was a bit of a creepster. I didn't get the emotions out of that scene that I wanted. Ditto the Hermione torture. She was good for her part, but Ron needed to freak out more. And ... some other things I forget.
Neutral: I really wanted to see a snake rip out of a corpse, but at least they kept the blood on Hermione's hands. The animated part was okay.
On the plus side: The Snatchers were effectively creepy. The Ministry scenes were excellent. Helena Bonham Carter makes up for most things. Neville is in this movie for two seconds and those two seconds are bad-ass.
And ... I cried over Dobby. I don't even know how! I assure you I kept my heart as stony as possible. He's a CGI bat for goodness sake! But then he's going on about how happy he is to be with his friend Harry and ... oh fuck, there's a leak in my face.
And then ... we paused the DVD to hit the lavs and get a snack. Seriously. The most evident problem with Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is that it's only half a movie. It is not the first half of a two-parter and it is not, as I have seen spouted in many places, a "setup" for Part 2. It's literally the first half of a movie. And sometime in July, we're going to hang up the phone, realize we left that movie on pause, and sit back down to it.
I HOPE IT'S AWESOME.
[End Spoiler]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I agree with you about most things! Of course, I have some nitpicks, too, but overall, this is definitely the best movie (I think because they didn't have to condense quite as much to incomprehensiblness).
The "love triangle" and the dance. The dance was *really* awkward, but I feel like something to diffuse the tension a little was needed at that moment (because it's such a dark movie in general). The audience started laughing awkwardly in the theatre I was in (mostly at Daniel Radcliffe's awkward face). I kind of understand why they did throw some effort into making it seem like H/H was a valid reason for Ron to be jealous. Movies 3, 4, and 5 were pretty blatantly H/H skewed. HBP not so much (because H/R was a plot point as was H/G). It's a lot easier to explain to an audience that Ron is jealous because of love rather than because of... I dunno... implied inadequacy? Especially because that's what the locket is pushing in the book. So I'm going to pretend that it was supposed to be super-awkward. And I'm really happy with the locket scene (it was pretty much how I envisioned it), but it pisses me off that they didn't have the "Dude, she's like my sister, are you stupid?" moment afterwards.
I agree, Xeno was also pretty awkward (how many times can I use that word in this reply?). I LOVED the animation for The Tale of the Three Brothers, though. I loved the style of it and I think it engrossed you in what might have otherwise been a slow part of the movie (because we don't know why we care about those yet).
The three things that really bother me that they left out:
1. Why did no one mention that it was Snape that cursed George? I feel like that's such an important point (both for the pro-Snape being bad and for the anti- camps), I don't understand why it wasn't mentioned.
2. Lupin and his abandonment issues. I understand that it's because they cut out so much of Grimmauld Place, but I love the conflict between Lupin and Harry in the book so much and feel like it's part of what shows us how adult Harry's become emotionally that I'm sad it wasn't included.
3. The Potter Memorial. I mean, come on... I understand it would have been thousands of CG for seconds of screentime, but I would have been bawling at that moment.
Thing I'm not upset about because I think they'll have to put them in the next movie: The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. I feel like Harry's doubting of Dumbledore (and himself) is again, such an important part of the story. I'm thinking that during the planning at Shell Cottage, Hermione will sum up the Dumbledore/Ariana and Dumbledore/Gindewald plots.
Things that were awesome: Pretty much everything else. I think the camping was condensed very nicely and still allowed us to get some good Snatcher time (although Chris still didn't quite understand what they were doing). The Ministry was great! Bellatrix is batshit crazy and I love it. I also really liked the way they handled Harry's wand reacting on its own at the beginning. The added scene was Hermione's parents was heartbreaking.
I think you're right in that it comes down to the pacing. With the exception of those very few slow moments, everything was paced perfectly. I liked the light moments that we got (especially with them choosing to begin and end on SUCH dark moments). I agree, though, that no matter where they split it, it was always going to feel like they just got going wherever it ended. And the next six months are going to be so painful!
1. I think the point of that would be to let the Order (and the audience) reconfirm "Snape is totally a bad guy! For real!" I think that was covered with Charity Burbage, though.
Oh, I forgot to mention that that whole scene was also excellent!
2. I love everything about Lupin in the final book. (I understand many people didn't, but whatever on those people.) I understand why they didn't include it, though. I'll reserve feelings on it until I see how they deal with him in the second part.
3. I KNOW!
And yeah, I think my main issue is that they left out "she's like my sister", because the absence of that is tantamount to saying "YOUR CONCERNS ARE VALID. MAYBE I LIKE HERMIONE."
I am mostly really, really happy with it. I'm really surprised I don't have more to say about it than that because I feel like I probably could have written novels about the other ones but maybe it's because I did like it so much that I don't have a lot to say.
I think they stayed pretty true to the important things in the book and for some reason, the "love triangle" thing didn't bother me that much... I don't know. I think maybe it's because I never even considered for a second H/H as a possibility that even though the films are kind of pushing it that I don't see it? I don't know.
Also, unrelated to that, but I love Luna so much.
It really was very well-paced, though, and I hope they can keep that up in the second one even with all the exposition they're going to have to include. And I wish that it would come out like maybe next week damnit.
I liked it too! I'd write more, but the word verification is telling me that I am feeling some laseness, so I guess I won't.
I agree with you about more-or-less everything here, especially the pacing of this one compared with pervious outings.
I DO blame Kloves for the dance, and I agree it felt very awkward but also kind of sweet. I felt like they were dancing as Dan and Emma more than Harry and Hermione, but perhaps that's because the scene isn't even in the book.
Agree with Crystal - I very much missed the post-locket scene of "She's like a sister to me. I thought you knew."
I really enjoyed the Three Brothers animation and Emma/Hermione's narration. I came out feeling completely gipped that we had no dragon, but thinking about it since, I can understand why you'd want to keep that as a set piece for Part 2. I do NOT understand why they missed the Potter memorial scene, which was a lovely moment of hope before the shit hit the fan.
p.s. the Harry/Hermione silvery-coloud illusion was so ridiculous that I actually cracked up laughing. The OTT delivery of the lines, the way the camera lingered over Hermione's face, and then the kiss... hilarious, for all the wrong reasons. AWKWARD!
Post a Comment