Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

[ElectricSheep]

As an 'adult' Harry Potter fan I've read/watched each book/film as soon as they've been released. I'm what you might label a 'die-hard'.

To prep myself for the release of Deathly Hallows Pt 1, I re-read the entire book before going to see it ... mmm ... now not sure if that was the right thing to do - every scene etc is fresh in your mind and, rather than just enjoying the film, you tend to be distracted by missing (or additional) scenes.

Overall? A bit disappointed - from the opening scenes where the make-up dept couldn't decide on how to deal with Voldemort's 'nose' and obviously handed things over to the special effects dept - who couldn't think of anything other than to apply Photoshops' Blur tool , to the lack of 'pace' during the woodland scenes. I know they were following the book (almost) to the letter, but in a movie like this, too much time spent in one place can become tedious. Books can fill things out with observations, emotions etc, etc, that keeps the tension level high - the producer should have been wise to this imo.

Despite this I've high hopes for Pt 2. The story will really come together so stick with it! I'll just have to remember not to read the book again before I see it

One parting shot ... we've all had the benefit of following Harry & Co in 'real' time as the books were released - young readers effectively grew up alongside the main characters - they started off at say, 7 yrs old and by the time they were reading the final book they'd hit 17. Unfortunately, newer generations of readers will have it all to hand in one fell swoop - new 7 yr old readers of book #1 won't pace themselves and could well find they are finishing the series by the time they are hitting 10 (or sooner). With the books getting darker and language become more complex and mildly 'adult' at times I'm not sure if the 'junior' fiction to 'teen' fiction premise that JK alluded to is relevant - in a sense it was a flawed concept. The same of course could be said for the films as can be seen from misseypootle's earlier post re a frightened youngster.

By the way, I watched the film in the same cinema JK had her private showing the night before its release ... and ... I could tell I was in the very seat she'd used - initials scratched on it and discarded Knipschildt choc wrappers still under the seat

[raj101]

sneaked into Potter aftrer Machete (naughty, i know, but its hard to resist a wizard battle, and i only wanted a quick peak). Couldnt stay for the movie, but got a 45 minute glimpse.

Lovely scenery to replace a lovely Hogwarts. Was this film made in conjunction with the english tourism companies? It seemed like i was watching a long advert for it sometimes. A very English feel to the film then, although theres no way that Harry could travel to all those places inthe space of the movie...maybe its England for foreign tourists, then, who have no concept how far these places are apart? IOt was very dark and airy, without a theme tune/soundtrack often, and i wonder if that was the right way to film it. Apart from that, there are some fine background settings that live up to previous potter environments, like the creepy nighttime village house.

The special effects get better with every movie, and are glorious to watch. Its like eating a box of thorntons all on your own!(but without the glucose downer afterwards lol)

On the downside, Emma's acting is improved but still pretty lame (you can see where her scenes have been endlessly shot and reshot becos shes still cant act naturally). And Radcliffe, whenever he's without a soft focus, looks more and more like a young unshaven university lecturer rather than a teenager. Surely they made a mistake in not recasting years ago? i mean, there are plenty of good teen actors around who can do fantasy - i was thinking of the Golden Compass girl (she was outstanding) for instance, or even (lol) Americans would do better than this pair. I think theres this recent trend in films like the Twilight trilogy et all towards below par acting becos the audience will p*y regardless, which really destroys the parent material. Very unfair, because Magician stories deserve an adult telling, into a tv series maybe. They put our imaginnation into 6th gear just by merely existing.

and i'd be glad to see a Harry Potter (or Timothy Hunter, the original idea of the boy wizard) tv series made one day with some depth of characters and some decent dialogue.

More when i see the whole thing!

[andrews]

We went to see this a week ago, and were most underwhelmed. It is an age since I read the book, and feel that a considerably long time was spent building up the tension - for the remainder of the film which we will see next year. It did not do enough to rate as a stand alone film. Anyone who is not familiar with the Harry Potter books will be left wondering what on earth is going on.

Having said that, I am eagerly anticipating the final resolution next year, which I know will be immensely satisfying.


6/10 from me.

[y2jmocho]

i watched the movie but i feel they are ripping us off a bit, i think they could have made the two parts into 1 movie (yes maybe like 3 hours but potter fans wont complain).

[raj101]

i finished the whole film. i dont think we should be surpised that its a bit crap, when most of the films have been crap, but nevertheless their are some eye goggling special effects to watch and beautiful scenery. i also think the movie started off qute well with a wedding and voldermort's takeover.

theres a rather annoying contrast between the marvellous older actors (Helena Bonham Carter is loving the insane Bellatrix role) and the rather crap young actors who are on par with actors in school plays ( the scene were emma watson and helena bonham carter share the screen are indicative of the talent gap between them) but i guess its too late to recast them now. How on earth the guy playing Malfoy can still be cast as a 16 year old is beyond me, he looks older than his teacher. in contrast, Voldermort is chillingly well acted by Fiennes.

unfortunately.... theres so much bad script writing in the films and it hasnt stoped this year. Now i was really looking forward to seeing LunaLovegood's dad in the movie. Unfortunately the absolutely dire script turns a good actor into a gibbering wreck of a performance. its actually quite sick to watch. And if someone can please explain why three kid wizards (especially when one of them is the one Voldermort is constantly on the tail of!) are being sent after the horcruxes instead of the more powerful and far more competent adult wizards then this film would make a lot more sense. i understand the hobbit syndrome of tolkien (hobbits are sent to Mount Doom to destroy the ring because they are small and wont be noticed or considered a threat) but sending potter and co after the horcruxes really doesnt make the same sense when we know that the senior wizards could find them in a jif. i understand that a lot of these faults are down to the paucity of the source material but come on! make sense!

[TheDude]

Dobby the elf steals the show, otherwise it must be the dullest Potter outing so far, that whole camping trip really put me to sleep! Obvious cash-in making it a two-parter, one film would have been much better..

[alythonian]

Pretty faithful to the book and given it's the scene setting for the finale I agree it was a bit dull overall.

I am glad there were no kids at the screening we went to because I think they'd have been bored and perhaps frightened too. The serpent made me jump!!

The actors have come on hugely since the earlier films and they did try to keep up the tension and drama throughout and it does make you want to go and see the last episode!

6/10 from me.

[Beate]

I must admit I am pretty chuffed to have deciced to see this at 11:45am on Christmas Eve - there were hardly any people in the cinema and no kids at all!

The three main actors are still pretty lame although I think Rupert Grind has improved a lot, but the other two are beyond wooden. That dancing in the tent scene was cringeworthy! I didn't think it was too long and I liked the fact that there were no Hogwarts nonsense scenes in this instalment with Quidditch games and a cheery Hagrid - the story is getting darker and so should the films. I admit though that I thought the telling of the Deathly Hallows story was almost too dark - certainly not for the young ones! The serpent made me jump in fright too!

It's never going to be a satisfying movie as it has no conclusive ending (the others at least had the huge dinner at the end of every movie and "10 points go to Gryffindor" etc.), but it was nevertheless enjoyable (and poor Dobbie stole the film) so I give it a 7.5/10 and hope that the final chapter will be awe-inspiring - it better be.

[Spanner]

finally succumbed to the sadsacks and took em to see this today as their favourite aunt was busy. I bailed out of the whole potter thing at film 2 so can't say i know much about the storyline. That said i still found it pretty easy to follow, err except that i thought dobby was off a dfs advert (he's not btw) it's not my choice of film so i think it only fair that the boys do the scoring and they said 8/10.

[raj101]

i thought luna lovegood was going to say to harry


'now come on now, Harry, you know thats a rubber and plastic model you are clutching over and sobbing. dont be silly now.'

apologies for laughing out loud once again at the pivotal scene.