Harry Potter fans break down into a few groups. There are the ones who’ve read the books and so they know how everything is going to end. Then there are the ones who haven’t read the books and are waiting for this movie to tie up all the loose ends. Whichever one you are, you’re going to see this film, especially if you’ve seen all the films that lead up to this. There’s no way you’re going to sit through seven films, and miss the eighth. It doesn’t matter if I say it’s good or bad, and it doesn’t matter if I liked it. You’re going to see this film.
With that in mind I felt there was little point in reviewing it. The review wouldn’t matter. Instead I’ll talk about it, assuming that you’ve seen it already. There will be plot spoilers from this point on. If you haven’t seen the film and don’t know how it ends the rest of this post will spoil it for you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. However if you have seen the film, or know how the story ends anyway then please follow me.
As I write this, I’m about an hour away from having seen the film. I’m not sure how I feel about it, and that can’t be a good sign. I think I’m going to go with “Satisfied” and not “Blown away”.
Obviously the film is going to be less than the book. All of the Harry Potter movies have been quite a compromise when it came to what actually made it into the films. So much so that to make The Deathly Hallows in just one film would have missed out so much that it would have been terrible. Even though the last book in the series was made into two films i can’t help but feel that this last one was rushed.
One of the great characteristics of some of the best film series of all time is how each film feels like a complete piece. Each of the Star Wars, Star Trek, James Bond, Back To The Future, Alien, Indiana Jones, films are complete films. You never get anything like that feeling from these last two Harry Potter offerings. Parts 1 and 2 are just one long film, roughly cut in the middle. Part 1 doesn’t end properly, and now Part 2 feels like you just arrived late to the cinema (which I did, thank goodness for too many trailers, and indecisive people are the concessions stand)
One of the sequences from the book I have been excited to see on film, is the bank robbery. As you know it has the dragon and that had great potential for awesomeness. What there was of it was amazing. It’s just that there wasn’t much. It felt like we spent more time with Harry trying to convince Kelly Macdonald to tell him where the dam tiara was, than we did with the fire breathing dragon. The bank was rushed, Julie Walters’ only line was rushed, as was the death of Bellatrix. Even the massive battle at the end felt rushed. We got to see the result of the battle, but we didn’t get to see much of it actually happening.
Speaking of Julie Walters, didn’t she have bugger all to do? It reminded me of a primary school nativity play, where there aren’t enough speaking parts to go around so some children end up being trees. Mark Williams obviously just turned up on occasion to stand in the back of shots with a concerned look on his face. Perhaps they just filmed him doing that once in front of a green screen and just pasted him into a few scenes later. Jim Broadbent had nothing to do, Helena Bonham Carter had nothing to do, Davide Thewlis had nothing to do but at least he got a line. Most of them appear as if from nowhere at the end, and proceed to run around not doing much really. So many actors playing trees.
I must break away from talking about the film briefly and talk about the cinema. I saw this film at Cineworld in Bradford, opting for the 2D version. It looked terrible. I found myself thinking that the film would be more enjoyable once I could see it better, so I’m already looking forward to the BluRay. The brightness of the image was shocking. Most scenes it was near on impossible to figure out what was going on.
Back to the film. I’m afraid I have to say now that I don’t really think that Daniel Radcliffe is a very good actor. Of the three main cast members he’s easily the worst. At his best he’s passable, at his worse he stinks the place up. I feel bad for saying that because I get the impression he’s quite a nice guy and tries his best. Perhaps he’s just not cut out for acting. He certainly doesn’t stir the bile in me that other more bloomy actors manage. Rupert Grint is excellent as usual, but sadly suffers from not having much to do. It happens to everyone in this film. He’s there to provide a sarcastic comment when needed and nothing more.
Man am I down on this movie.
I’ll be seeing this film again with Allison, who doesn’t know how it ends. I’m hoping that sharing that experience will go some way to improving how I feel about this film. The whole thing is over now and it didn’t end badly. It just didn’t end really well. I’m looking on the bright side.
Like I said you’ll definitely see this film and you’ll probably buy it when it’s available to own, but you’ll probably only watch it once or twice.
One more thing before I go, I didn’t like the old make-up at the end. Really didn’t think it worked at all.
Rich Movie Score: 3 out of 5
