Harry Potter
Yeah – I was at the theater at 8:55 (9:30am showing). There was the usual collection of red and gold scarves, witches hats (I hope they took them off when the film started), and hogwarts robes and wands. I tried to look inconspicuous.
(There be spoilers ahead!)
So – the film was good, overall. My biggest complaint was the editing – if I remember correctly, Ootp was the longest book. The fourth film did a good job of cutting things down, if the plot was somewhat unrecognizable from the book. This film follows the original plot more closely (yay!) but sooo much is gone. I understand when Mick LaSalle says that its a good visual aid for those who already know the story but incomprehensible if you haven’t (and seriously, who is going to see the films who hasn’t read the books by this time?? I mean, really.)
It didn’t feel like 3 hours at all. They should have left more in.
The film is dark – and that is awesome. And the biggest thing it has going for it is a really good performance by Daniel Radcliff. Ron and Hermione are totally bit parts. The boy has learned to act – guess Equus wasn’t a fluke. (Does anyone else remember that painful scene in the 3rd film where Harry’s supposed to be mad and upset, and everyone just thought he needed to go work on his angst? He must’ve.) The occlumency and nightmares were handled really well. I’m still a bit torn by Harry’s possession at the end. Most of it was done well, but it was a little off. Ralph Fiennes was good though, as was Helena Bonham Carter. And this is the first film where Daniel Radcliff turned in a better performance than Emma Watson.
The ending is… a little weak. In part because there isn’t really a satisfying conclusion – the kids just get ready for the 6th year. Also there were a couple of lines at the end that I thought the screenwriter could have done better. Actually, now that I think about – it felt a little rushed. They should’ve drawn it out a teensy bit.
Gary Oldman is awesome – they handled his part really well (*sniff*).
OK – JK Rowling told them to leave in Kreacher or there’d be continuity problems later. However, there was no mention of Regelus during the tapestry scene. Ummm… I’m just guessing here – but mightn’t that cause problems for the 7th?
The movie also did feel like a primer to getting ready for the last book. GOD – I want to know what happens! When I get up to Cairns I have to order a copy.
I want to go reread the 5th book now…
I feel like there were a couple of small points towards the beginning I wanted to make, but I don’t remember now. The political overtones were more subdued than I expected, given the trailers, but they still did a good job of weaving in the themes of fear and choices. (Oh – I didn’t like how they changed Cho’s story.) The wizarding duels were great, as were the patronuses. It still amazes me though – that given the time and money (and other awesome effects), the centaurs still look like crap. What’s with that?
I think the 3rd and 4th movies might’ve worked a little better overall, but I think the tone of this one was right on, and I’m glad they’re keeping the director.
Snape remains murky. I feel like he had a line that hinted at his allegiances (that wasn’t in the books), but I forget it now… Alan Rickman was good as always though. Oh and so were Fred and George, although they aren’t allowed to return to quite the heights they had in the 4th film. (They left in the brilliant, “don’t bottle it up” although Harry hadn’t really been yelling enough for it to make as much sense in the film).
Oh- and is Daniel Radcliff turning out really short? Fred and George just towered over him.
So yeah – overall really good. I wonder what the awesome dueling scene would’ve been like in 3-d IMAX.
** I remembered what it was in the beginning that bugged me. I thought Mrs. Figg was properly unconvincing in the wizagamot trial, but she wasn’t nearly hysterical enough after the dementors attacked! She should have been angry and scared! Also – I would’ve liked one “wotcher, Harry” from Tonks.**
***Even more later musings: The James comment at the end – I’m torn about this. Yes, it shows some of Sirius’ problems, but since they really didn’t go very far into depth as to why Sirius was desperate to leave the house, it felt like an odd moment to throw that in. I would’ve preferred Mrs. Weasley reminding Sirius earlier on that Harry isn’t James. However – here’s another thing I forgot and Cleolinda summarized perfectly:
“You know how good this movie was? It made me like Grawp.” ***
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jwdmeow
I liked Grawp the minute he peered down and croaked, “her-my-nee!”
Ooh! You saw it?? What’d you think?
Speaking of grawp, I thought the special effect were all over the map. The thestrals were awesome (as in I didn’t really notice them as special effects at the time) the centaurs still awful.
Now I wish I’d seen it in IMAX – not so much for the duels, but for Voldemort possesing Harry – I think it might have come across better in 3-d… Cleolinda says she loved that scene for the IMAX technology and the way it was handled.
No, I haven’t seen it. I’m going this weekend, to see it in IMAX. It’s showing in Natick, which is where Ross is (about 45 minutes from my house). I don’t think he’s planning to go, though. I asked him if he wanted to be a geek and go when it opened, and he said, “no”.
I’ll let you know what I think of it.
Re: the comment above, Grawp says that in the book….
(Also, when Ron gets hurt in Book 6, he also croaks, “her..my…nee” but no one seems to catch on that he’s calling for her. This is when Ron is dating Lavender, but obviously loves Hermione.)
I saw it! Opening night! I thought it was the best so far – short, true, but they managed to make it 2 hours and 18 minutes, which is a really NORMAL movie length (if not short). I feel like the director really did get the tone and he was able to make a really slow book move as quickly as possible. Remember, when the book came out, everyone was like “WTF, this isn’t fun or exciting and there’s no action and Harry’s a jerk”. Anyhow, I think they FINALLY got the paronuses (patroni?) right. And everything here in terms of casting and tidbits was good for setup.
I agree about the Cho storyline, but it really was the easiest way to cut out a really unimportant character (and they did give her the out of the veritaserum). I think it worked, even if I like the book version better.
I think the tone was right on. Although I think Harry has every right to be a jerk for big chunks of the book.
As for Cho, the problem I had – yes, it works in the movie – but it changes the dynamic of their relationship ending. She becomes this tragic figure who had no choice. It’s a worse betrayal in the book because the girl chose.