In which I say way too much about Deathly Hallows, Part 2

[emmagrant01]

I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 twice in the first 14 hours of release. I thought I'd be super emotional throughout it, but I wasn't. I came prepared with tissues, but I just got a little teary here and there, and didn't really cry at all. That didn't change on the second viewing, though there were extenuating circumstances. (See below.)

I tried to remember all the stuff I wanted to comment on, but I know there are lots of things I forgot. I may come back and edit. I'm not expecting anyone to read this, really. It's mostly for my own reference, and it's insanely long. :-)



• First, awesome slashy preview for the new Sherlock Holmes movie. :-D

• I thought the quiet, ominous beginning was really interesting, with the spooky chorus and Snape staring out of a window in a tower of Hogwarts. It reminded me a lot of the start of part 1 with its shots of the Trio waiting and wondering what was ahead.

• I enjoyed the Shell Cottage scenes. I kept waiting to see if we were going to hear about Teddy's birth, and when we didn't I figured that had been cut out of the movie. Which it wasn't, of course -- maybe we'll get this as a deleted scene?

• I liked Harry's quiet resolve with both Griphook and Ollivander, and the way they were both on a "need to know" basis, heh. I was glad they skipped all the stuff about who the sword really belonged to and why Griphook wanted it. I always thought JKR dropped the ball on the whole Goblin thing in the books. What were all those Goblin revolutions about, anyway?

• It's interesting that both parts of the movie didn't beat the viewer over the head with the fact that Harry's had one of the Deathly Hallows all along. It was assumed that we get that without having to be told.

• Ron: "Are you sure it's hers?" Hermione, staring at a single strand of hair: "Absolutely." I'm so glad I just noticed that part in the last movie! I also think it's cool that they didn't explain the scene at all, just put it there for those who'd read the book and moved right along. Cause at this point, if you don't know what they do with hair, why the hell are you even watching the movie, yanno?

• Helena Bonham Carter playing Hermione playing Bellatrix: OMG, made of win! That was so, so adorable.

• The closeup shots of Ron's face in the bank while they were waiting to get past the goblins -- wow. Rupert really blew me away in this film, as he did in the last. I've never been a fan of his acting, but he really came into his own in DH films. He portrayed Ron with a dark streak, but also as a man coming into his own, no longer in Harry's shadow. This is a Ron I can see becoming an Auror and changing the world.

• The ride down to the vaults was so cool in 3D. I loved the twisty track and the improvements in special effects since we last saw Gringotts back in the first film.

• The dragon was so well done, and it was easy to feel sorry for it.

• I had to go back and check the book to see if Harry could sense the presence of horcruxes, and that wasn't in the book. But wow, what a brilliant touch that is! It helped speed up the horcrux hunt for the film (no longer needed quite so much backstory) and also gave us a tangible hint about Harry's own fate. I thought that was so, so well done -- but more on that later.

• I was glad they took the Flagrante curse out, because that seemed like it would be really hard to film. I don't think we lost anything in that scene because of it.

• Dragon escape: Hermione's idea instead of Harry's to escape on the dragon, but I thought it worked nicely. One of the things that this film showed was the Trio working as a seamless unit and trusting each other completely. No more infighting, just getting the job done.

• The scene of Voldemort's bare feet walking through the blood in the lobby of Gringott's while Lucius and Narcissa look on in horror -- wow!

• The scene when the Trio climbed out of the lake and just kept going was awesome. I'm assuming that was Essence of Dittany that Hermione was wiping on their hands? I guess it's fair to assume their hands were a little raw after riding the dragon all that way, but it was cool that it was just there in that scene, in the middle of the frenzied dialogue, with no explanation. Just there for the readers to see. The easy way that they stripped off their clothes there was perfect, no awkwardness, just getting the job done. I still can't believe all of that was greenscreen.

• Harry: "Since when do our plans ever work out? We plan, we get there, and all hell breaks loose." Great line!

• Hogsmeade and Aberforth: I was wondering if we were going to get all of the backstory of Grindelwald and Ariana there, but instead Harry just said, "I'm not interested in what happened between you and your brother" with that determined, quiet air of power. It was a good way to keep the momentum going in that scene, and I appreciated the fact that the movie kept us focused on the job that needed to be done.

• Neville! Oh, BAMF!Neville, how excited I was to see you! I was looking forward to seeing what the movie did with the Hogwarts resistance, and I was a little disappointed that they basically skipped it. We did get a hint of it, along with a hint of Potterwatch, and I was glad for that. I know that they were really trying to keep the momentum going at this point, and they basically avoided dealing with anything that wasn't the horcrux hunt or the battle.

• I thought it was cute when Ginny ran in and she and Harry just stared at each other for a moment. I kind of like that the movies didn't break them up officially. Seamus: "Well, there's only one Harry Potter" when Ron complained Ginny didn't even say hi to him.

• From here on out the movie really differed from the book, perhaps the most of any of the films. It was an interesting spin, and it didn't upset me. It was actually cool to see a different interpretation of it. Harry stepping out in his school robes (one last time, aw!) to confront Snape was definitely cool.

• The students marching around the grounds in formation was an interesting touch.

• Smoky-eyes!Snape, LOL. Maybe it's magic, or maybe it's Maybelline…

• Loved McGonagall stepping in front of Harry, like she'd just been waiting for her chance to take Snape down. It was interesting too that he didn't cast anything against her; he only blocked her spells.

• Voldemort speaking into everyone's minds was spooky. The girls screaming seemed right out of Torchwood.

• Pansy: "Quick, someone grab him!" Ginny: *grabs Harry, but for an entirely different reason*

• Filch for comic relief! "Students out of bed!"

• Harry: "Neville, hold down the fort." I liked that little acknowledgment that Neville is the leader at Hogwarts now.

• Hermione and Ron off to the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry just being all, Yeah, great, go take care of that. Again with the teamwork.

• The battle begins. This was one of the first moments when I got a little teary at seeing the castle statues come to life. I loved McGonagall in this scene. I loved her telling Neville and Seamus to blow the bridge (Neville: "You want us to blow it up? Boom?" McGonagall: "BOOM!") and her giggly "I've always wanted to use that spell." And this is about the halfway point of the movie, crazy as it seems!

• The shot of the adults casting the protective spells around the castle was cool. I didn't realize until this film that Slughorn was never actually associated with Slytherin House in the movies. The music under this scene was really fantastic, gloriously ominous.

• Voldemort's army on the bluff overlooking the castle was right out of Return of the King.

• The guys being vaporized as they ran through the shield was cool. Even better was Neville's "Oh yeah? You and what army?" So much win!

• Did anyone not feel a little stab in the heart at the shot of Fred and George standing together, ready to defend the castle?

• Luna yelling, "Harry Potter, you listen to me!" And he did, cause you know, Luna never gets mad. I've always thought there was more movie chemistry between Harry and Luna than between Harry and Ginny.

• Ron speaking Parseltongue to open the Chamber of Secrets, and of course the awesome line, "Harry talks in his sleep. Haven't you noticed?" Hermione, shocked: "No, of course not!" I love that it's not only movie canon that Harry speaks Parseltongue in his sleep, but that Ron sleeps close enough to Harry to notice. Bwahaha!

• It was cool to see the Chamber of Secrets again, and I'm so glad they inserted this scene into the movie. The kiss between Ron and Hermione was just perfectly done, and I liked it SO much better than the way it was done in the book. That just seemed awkward and ill-timed to me, which was maybe completely intended, but this worked for me so much better. And their little giggle-grin afterwards! Aw…

• Harry convincing Helena Ravenclaw to tell him where the diadem was. That scene seemed to go a bit longer than necessary, but it was still shorter than the book, so props there. And then it took forever for Harry to get to the Room of Requirement, reminding us just how big Hogwarts is.

• Voldemort and Harry both collapsing when the cup was destroyed. Every destroyed horcrux affects Harry more, which is really cool. I think this is the moment in the movie when Dan shows Harry starting to realize the reason why.

• Pissed-off!Voldemort takes down the shield with one spell, whoa. I loved the elder wand starting to crack. Nice touch there.

• And then the battle begins in earnest. Loved Neville running down the bridge and setting off the explosives, with the bad guys right on his heels. That is probably one of my favorite additions to canon, right there! And then barely escaping with his life, and being all cool about it. *falls in love with Neville*

• Somewhere in here was the scene where Neville says he's "hot for Luna" (that's what I heard, anyway) and he's going to go find her and tell her before they both die. That was a total surprise for me, and I squeed! Actually, on the first viewing, the entire theater went, "Awwwww" at that. Neville/Luna was always a ship I wanted to happen SO BAD in canon, and I was so disappointed when it didn't. I LOVE that the screenwriter added that in. We know who Kloves ships, I guess. (That and Harry/Draco, because seriously?)

• Harry finally makes it to the ROR. Again, there's no unnecessary exposition; it's just assumed that the viewer knows what's going on. The audience in both showings went "Whoa" at the sight of all the stuff in the room, and the editing there was really well done. Here again we see the device of Harry using the Force his horcuxy senses to find the diadem (which btw looked so much more awesome than I had imagined). Which brings us to…

• The confrontation scene with Draco and Harry. I'd seen that one already, of course, so I wasn't surprised. But I LOVE the way the DH films have made it clear that Draco did indeed recognize Harry at Malfoy Manor and then chose not to act against him. JKR left that unclear in canon, but the movies clarified that detail, just like they clarified Draco's dark mark. I loved the dialogue, especially the "It doesn't understand me. Know what I mean?" Heh. And then the other guys give Draco a look of astonishment when Harry asks him why he didn't identify him to Bellatrix, and Draco looks totally panicked. And of course, we have Goyle's "Do him!" And then poor Draco gets disarmed again.

• Loved Ron running after them and yelling, "That's my girlfriend!" while Harry and Hermione scramble for the diadem. And then Ron's frantic run back, right past Harry, but grabbing Hermione and dragging her with him. Very Han Solo in Episode 4.

• The Fiendfyre scene was really awesome. The special effects there were fantastic! Watching Draco, Goyle, and the other guy (was that Blaise?) climbing up the huge stack of furniture was really cool, and Goyle falling into the fire was dramatic. If I might be self-serving for a moment, I was totally thinking there about a fic I wrote where Draco fell into the flames (and then traveled forward in time, rather than dying).

• Broomstick ride. 'Nuff said. Except that I wanted it to go on a hell of a lot longer. ;-)

• I liked that they stabbed the diadem with the basilisk fang and then kicked it into the Fiendfyre. It saved us any need to explain that Fiendfyre is one of the few things that can destroy horcruxes. And of course, this horcrux loss affects Harry the most of all, which should really be a big hint for people who haven't read the books.

• Voldemort being so off-balance now that he AK's someone just for annoying him at the wrong moment. That was kind of funny, actually.

• Lucius Malfoy in the boat house, looking like hell. Voldemort: "How can you live with yourself, Lucius?" Lucius, utterly honestly: "I don't know." PERFECT.

• The Trio making their way down to the boat house was a really awesome scene. There's all this horrific stuff going on all around them, people dying left and right, spiders crawling over the rocks, and the music underneath it all was perfect. I got teary when Aberforth conjured the huge patronus to repel all the dementors. *sniffle*

• I pulled out my tissues for Snape's death scene, but it didn't affect me like I expected it to. I'm not sure why. Voldemort slitting his throat and Nagini attacking him were appropriately violent, and I REALLY like the change of venue. The Shrieking Shack always seemed like a weird location to me, being so far from Hogwarts.

• I do have to say that Harry touching Snape's neck, trying to stop the bleeding, with such a look of sorrow and sympathy on his face, was the moment when I started tearing up. And of course, the lines "Look at me" and "You have your Mother's eyes" were so heartfelt. Harry's look of pained befuddlement was perfect there.

• Back to the castle after Voldemort's final threat, and the dreaded scene of Fred's death. I was expecting we'd see it, but the emotion there worked. The Weasleys were all so distraught, and Rupert was fantastic there. I thought the way Harry just turned his head slightly and saw Tonks and Lupin lying there, hands reaching toward each other, was well done. It was perfectly devastating, and you could see Harry almost at the point of breaking from all of the loss, already taking it all on his shoulders. All of it for him.

• The Prince's Tale: so much better than I expected. I wasn't sure what to expect, but they did a great job with it. I know everyone is probably going ballistic over little Lily having brown eyes, but whatever. She was adorable. And wee Snape? God, I wanted to cuddle him. SO CUTE!! Wee James and Sirius were so obnoxious too, heh. They special effects of de-aging Alan Rickman to make him look 17 years younger were fantastic. I have no idea how they did that, but wow. Lily whispering to Baby Harry that she loved him, Dada loves him, and so on were the point where I had actual tears. And of course, Snape finding Lily's body and clutching her to his chest while Baby Harry looks on was both touching and a little creepy. So does that mean Snape brought Harry to Dumbledore, or did he sit there until Dumbledore came, or did he just walk away and leave a helpless infant alone in the ruins of a house?

• The lines about raising Harry as a pig for slaughter were delivered so well, and I heard a reaction in the theater to that. Harry's reaction when he came out of the pensieve was perfect. Dan did SUCH a good job there.

• The long walk out of the castle. I was relieved that he ran into Ron and Hermione and had a chance to say goodbye. That was something I was sad about in the book, and it was a nice touch here. And they don't tell him no -- they've been fighting this battle all along, and they know it has to be done. I do wish he'd hugged Ron, but Ron looked a little numb at that point -- he'd been through so much hell already.

• The stone turns and his parents reappear. Harry reaching out for Lily's hand and not being able to touch her, still, OMG. More tears there. And of course, "Does it hurt?" *sigh*

• The AK scene felt tense in the theater, like people just didn't believe it was going to happen. It was totally clear who had read the book and who hadn't.

• I was worried that the train station scene would come across as cheesy, but I thought it worked. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get naked!Harry there, I have to say. ;-) Voldie-fetus was appropriately grotesque.

• I was SO looking forward to the scene where Narcissa finds that Harry is alive, and it didn't disappoint. I loved the music there, and the look on her face when she turned back around. It was totally, Suck it, Voldemort. You're going down. The last two books made me love her, and this movie only added to my fierce adoration of Narcissa Malfoy. More on that in a bit.

• Voldemort's "Silly girl" directed at Ginny was a nice echo of Tom Riddle in the CoS way back.

• I loved loved LOVED that Draco was standing with the rest of the students, and didn't even move when his father called him. It wasn't until Narcissa spoke that he moved, and even then it was more obeying his mother than anything else. I loved how she took him by the hand and pulled him aside, knowing all hell was about to break loose and wanting to be in position to get away when it did.

• OMG, why did Voldemort HUG Draco? Seriously, WTF?

• Neville being a BAMF, yet again. Awesome speech, and of course, sword-wielding Neville is completely awesome.

• And Harry's not dead! Voldemort's rage there was fantastic, thought I really wanted to see more of the reactions of Harry's friends. The battle ignites again.

• Narcissa takes Draco by the hand and just walks away. She doesn’t even check to see if Lucius is following, because he doesn't matter anymore. He got her family into this mess, and I have a feeling he's not going to be able to say boo to her ever again. She's held her family together, and dammit, she's taking them home. She knows how this is going to end, anyway. Loved the shot of Lucius running to catch up.

• And now we start on the last part of the film -- Get the Snake. I was surprised when the film didn't have Neville kill Nagini right away when he pulled the sword from the hat, but I liked the way it worked in the film. Nagini was the last obstacle to killing Voldemort, and it makes sense to stretch it out as long as possible. Once Nagini's dead, it's just a matter of time, right? We all know how all of this will end. I actually liked the way the Trio was super-focused on the snake. Voldemort was almost a distraction at that point to Harry. It was all about the snake.

• Harry and Voldemort's fight was very Return of the Jedi in places. There was that weird thing where they were flying and merged into some Joker-looking thing, and I wasn't sure what the point of that was, but it was a cool visual effect. It was also interesting how physical it was, with hitting and kicking. It was like they were trying to show that Voldemort was that far gone that he wasn't above physical violence.

• Did anyone else snicker when Voldemort had Harry bound hand and foot? Yeah, I didn't doubt it. ;-)

• The moment when Neville sat up in the middle of the Great Hall, shit flying all around him, and looked at the sword like he knew what he had to do. *flails*

• I think everyone was looking forward to Molly saying "Not my daughter, you bitch!" and then offing Bellatrix. The moment did not disappoint!

• And then, of course, we have Harry and Voldemort, scrambling for wands and facing off. Neville slicing Nagini's head off at the last second got an audience cheer both times. And then Harry turns around and just KNOWS it's over. I didn't miss the monologue from the book. Just a few more moments, and then that was it.

• Voldie-ash in 3D. Ew.

• So the next scene made me think. A lot. I actually delayed writing this post for a while because I needed to spend some time trying to understand that choice. And you know it was a carefully made choice, because there isn't a single second of this film that wasn't very carefully planned. Voldemort's death was very anti-climatic, and then Harry walks through the Great Hall and there's no indication that anyone is even aware that it's over. It took me a while to decide that I liked this, and I do. I like it. Here's why.

1. We all knew how this was going to end, and so celebrating it would be a classic cheesy Hollywood ending. The HP films are definitely not Hollywood, and it almost seems like a deliberate choice to do what Hollywood wouldn't do and not milk it for all it's worth.

2. War is hell, and all of those survivors have been to hell and back. Would they really have the energy to cheer and celebrate, or would they just be relieved that it was over and finally let themselves relax? They could turn their attention to the wounded, hug their friends, and start the long process of wondering what the hell just happened and why.

3. It always seemed contrived to me that the final scene in the book took place in the Great Hall, in front of everyone, with Harry and Voldemort monologing about all the reasons why. And then it ends in a flash, everyone cheers -- in the middle of all the dead and wounded. I never thought that worked particularly well. In fact, I thought it wasn't all that well-written and was almost action movie clichéd, like JKR was imagining what it would look like onscreen when she wrote it. Luckily the screenwriter had other ideas, and instead we got a very original, even realistic ending.

• Neville and Luna sitting next to each other. It definitely looked like there had been an off-screen snog at some point. :-D

• Filch starting the cleanup of the rubble -- with a push broom! That got a huge laugh both times.

• I have to day I loved Harry breaking the Elder wand. Then there's no question what happens to it, that someone else might be tempted to take it from him. I was always bothered by that line in the book where Harry says that as long as he dies a peaceful death, the wand will never be won. I mean, seriously? He's going to go on to be an Auror, apparently. He's going to be fighting Dark Wizards for the rest of his life. Keeping the Elder wand would be really stupid.

• Aw, the Trio on the bridge, holding hands and looking off into the distance, realizing it's really over and they're going to survive. Of course, what I saw there was Ron shooting Harry a look that said, "Threesome?" Heh.

• Okay, so. The Epilogue. I liked it. I totally didn't expect to, but I did. It was really sweet, and cut down to its essence. Take away the bad writing and the extraneous stuff, and what's left is a sweet scene about The Trio watching their kids go off to Hogwarts. I thought the aging they did worked well, and I was really impressed with Dan's acting there again. The way he hugged Albus, the look on his face -- it killed me. We always just saw the kids going off to Hogwarts, and never saw the parents being left behind. I liked that we got to see that.

• I'm sure people are going to complain about the crazy beard on Draco (and I'm not referring to his wife), but I thought it was an interesting choice. What I saw there was a Draco embracing his son, clearly a very different kind of father than Lucius was, and possibly even trying his best to look nothing like the man who ruined his family. I see these films as redeeming Draco in a way JKR refused to do, and I loved them for that. I also like that he smiled at Harry. Even better than a nod, IMO.

• I thought it was cute that the few cars we saw in the outside shot of King's Cross were futuristic looking smart cars.

• Ron's belly -- I wanted to rub it! SO cute!!

And that's it. I liked it, overall. Yes, it was different than the book, but I expected it to be an interpretation. There were some things I wanted to see, but I understand why they weren't there. I'm already looking forward to the deleted scenes!


At the second viewing, I sat next to the asshole from hell, OMG.

We were in line in front of this couple and talked to them a bit. They were nice, but annoying. The kind of people who keep trying to talk to you even after you've dropped hints that you're not interested in talking to them. They ended up sitting next to us (us being me, pennswoods, and charlotteschaos) and told us it was their wedding anniversary.

Anyway, the movie started and they did not shut up. They talked loudly for the first half hour, and this was at a movie theater whose policy is that they'll kick you out if you disturb others. I shushed them a couple of times but didn’t report them because I just wanted to watch the movie, you know? I didn't want to deal with it.

They stopped talking when their food and drinks arrived (this theater has full service, which is awesome). But then the man, who was sitting next to me, was clearly drunk. He belched loudly every couple of minutes and was making all sorts of comments about the movie. In the scene where Harry faces Snape in the Great Hall, he was flipping off the screen with both hands. Clearly had no clue where this was going. Note that I was sitting next to pennswoods from snapecast. 0_o

When the Hogwarts teachers were preparing the school for the battle, he leaned over, elbowed me, and said, "They're gonna bring Dumbledore back! You watch!" This despite the fact we'd talked earlier about the fact that I'd read the book x times and had seen the movie once before already. When Ron and Hermione had their big kiss, he yelled, "Get some, Harry!" I mean seriously?

I had a brief break when he left the theater TWICE during the movie to go outside and smoke.

Thankfully, he passed out soon after. Unfortunately, he started snoring. During the FOREST SCENE. And then his wife started slapping him in the face and saying, "Wake up!" He didn't. She let him snore for the rest of the film.

During the Epilogue, he fell over ON ME. At that point, I lost my cool and shoved him off and said, "No,no no, get OFF OF ME." I turned back to pennswoods and charlotteschaos to see them gaping too. His wife didn't even apologize; she just started slapping him again. They left without saying a word to us.

And this was their anniversary? Damn, he was quite a catch, wasn't he?

Anyway, I'm just glad it wasn't the first time I saw the movie. I should have said something, but I just wanted to watch the movie, you know? I guess I have a story to tell now, right? :-P


And now I think I'll go read what other people thought. :-)

Comments

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I know, right? He was unbelievable! I forgot to mention here the thing about how we had to move down because we were in "their seats". Like the ones they always sit in. Ugh, so bizarre.

I didn't get a good view of the ferret at either viewing, bust OMG SO APPROPRIATE!!! :-D

It was cool to see you yesterday!