Director: David Yates
Writers: J.K. Rowling (novel), Steve Kloves (screenplay)Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Cast:
[returning cast]
Harry Potter- Daniel Radcliffe
Ron Weasley- Rupert Grint
Hermione Granger- Emma Watson
Draco Malfoy- Tom Felton
Professor Snape- Alan Rickman (RIP 2016)
Bellatrix Lestrange- Helena Bonham Carter
Narcissa Malfoy- Helen McCrory
Voldemort- Ralph Fiennes
Ollivander- John Hurt (RIP 2017)
Luna Lovegood- Evanna Lynch
Matthew Lewis- Neville Longbottom
Albus Dumbledore- Michael Gambon
Professor McGonagall- Maggie Smith
[newcomers]
Aberforth Dumbledore- Ciarán Hinds
Helena Ravenclaw- Kelly Macdonald
Again... so many actors... I hope I got all of the most notable characters in this movie.
Oscar Nominations:
Best Make-Up
Best Visual Effects
Best Art Direction
Write-up:
The Start of an Unfortunate Trend
Well, finally coming to the end of all these movies... it's been a long time coming.
I mentioned in my post on the last part that I'd only read through the book maybe three times ever... and my mom refuses to watch the first part unless there's a promise to watch this movie in the immediate future, whether it's within a week or the same day. (No joke- there was one time we watched the movies back to back with a brief intermission in the middle)
Although they could have easily turned the last Harry Potter book into one movie (nothing really happens for much of it...), it was ultimately good that they split this into two movies. It's conducive to the plot and the characters. Emphasizing how impossible it was to find the Horcruxes to destroy and ultimately beat the villain of the whole franchise, Voldemort.
Unfortunately, this kicked off a really annoying trend in Hollywood... splitting the final installment EVERY YA film series into two movies.
Breaking Dawn (Twilight) could have probably have been handled in one movie, but ultimately, it worked out that it was split into two movies.
But with the Hunger Games... bleck... I really liked the first two books in the series, but I didn't like Mockingjay at all. Part 1 was kinda like part 1 of the Deathly Hallows... very little happened... Katniss did propaganda videos and they rescued Peeta, but Peeta is now a mindless killing machine. At least things happened in the second part... but I just wasn't a fan. It could have been done in one movie easily...
And the whole Divergent series got hi-jacked, doing what was nothing short of a money grab that failed miserably. It got compared to The Hunger Games a lot when the two franchises are completely different and by this point, apparently there was a lot of "fatigue" involving YA adaptations. In other words, they tried to split the last book of a trilogy into two movies and the first movie did so badly in the box office that they never did a part two... then they were going to do it as a TV movie and all of the main actors said they weren't doing it... I don't know if it's still happening, but why bother without the main cast? No Shailene Woodley, no Theo James, not even Miles Tiller wants anything to do with it anymore.
I mean, the book was a really disappointing ending. Confusing and I died inside as I was reading it. So maybe that was all for the best....
At least 50 Shades Freed didn't get split into 2 movies... but I don't think anyone wanted any more of those movies than were necessary. (Although that technically wasn't an Young Adult book series... and neither is the Avengers series, Infinity War being the first of two parts).
Adaptation
Because I'd only read this book maybe three times, I can't say too much on how well it was adapted. But from what I remembered from the book, they nailed it.
one final SPOILER ALERT... if you read the books, you'd already know this, but so you're warned..
There was one part of the book that really confused me and seeing it on the big screen really helped explain it. There was this hunt for the Horcruxes, items where Voldemort stashed pieces of his soul. It goes back to the big question about the series ever since the prophecy was revealed in The Order of the Phoenix- "Neither can live while the other survives"... meaning Harry or Voldemort dies at the end of the series. And I thought for sure that Harry would live and things would be fine. But then Voldemort uses the Killing Curse on Harry and Harry dies... and then he's actually still alive. Reading the book in this part was so confusing: how could Harry get killed but still live...
Dumbledore more or less explained that Harry was the final Horcrux Voldemort never intended to make. Killing people rips away part of your soul, so when Voledmort killed Harry's parents, part of his soul was ripped from him and somehow attached itself to Harry. And the killing curse killed *it* instead of Harry himself.
That's about as out there as "of course, this is happening inside your head, Harry, but why should that mean it isn't real?"
Harry lives in the end, so there's nothing to really question. But it was pretty cool how they did that part of the movie.
As a film, it was really well paced. The first couple of times I watched it, the movie went so fast. The first part is getting another Horcrux, which happens to be the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange- explaining why she was extra mean in the previous movie when she thought that they had been in her vault. So they break into the Gringotts with the help of Griphook the Goblin... and of course stuff happens and it's not as easy as it seems at first.
But the bulk of the movie is spent in Hogwarts- as it should be- trying to find the final Horcruxes. And all the Death Eaters and Voldemort are there. It's a very intense situation, how much the school had changed since they moved in and Snape is the new Headmaster.
In fact, the pacing of the movie makes it feel like all of this is happening in real life. Particularly the scenes in Hogwarts- it feels like it's within a single night and that gives it a different feel than the movies before it. I can't quite put it into words, but it gives the movie a cool vibe I really like. Makes things seem more real and serious- as if they weren't already, taking everything into account.
Character Appreciation
Another thing I liked about this movie was that they show us more about our favorite characters that we hadn't gotten to see.
It wasn't in the book, but McGonagal does an epic spell to help protect the school from the impending invasion of the Death Eaters and almost bursting with pride, face all aglow, she says "I've always wanted to use that spell."
But there is one notable thing in this movie and the book in general... a point that has been often discussed and debated for the duration of the series. Whether or not we can trust Snape. My mom had said for years that he's being made out to be the bad guy, but he really isn't. I thought for sure the fact Snape killed Dumbledore and left the school with the Death Eaters at the end of the Half-Blood Prince was all the proof we needed.
Apparently, she was right this whole time... and I had to admit it.
Plain and simple: the story arc with Snape, his entire life and what ultimately happens to him... that was the biggest motivation for me to watch through the movies and read through the books again, almost as soon as the last movie came out. Not the fact that the whole thing was over and there was nothing left to do (except wait for the last Twilight movie, I think at that time)... I wanted to read through the books and see the movies again purely to watch Snape and reanalyze all of his actions with his motivations finally clear.
The short version: Snape was in love with Harry's mom and he knew her before they went to Hogwarts. And he hated Harry's dad because they ended up together and also because his dad and his friends bullied him all the time. He was working with Voldemort, a former Death Eater, but he turned spy for the Order of the Phoenix when he discovered the Potters were going to be killed. And in the memory of Harry's mom, Snape watched over Harry. Which wasn't the easiest thing because he saw too much of his father in him. But in the end, he was redeemed.
[I'm sorry, I know I said that was the short version... but I just couldn't manage that]
Probably the coolest part was learning that J.K. Rowling actually told Alan Rickman what was going to happen with his character and he acted accordingly. The fact he brought that much to the character... just wow...
On a smaller scale, it was kinda cool that Neville and Luna got to go above and beyond. I think J.K. Rowling also told Matthew Lewis that big things were in store for Neville. Luna has this reputation for being a little extraordinary, thinking in different ways and she says a lot of things that aren't taken completely seriously. Not only is she right about who to ask about the last Horcrux, but she demands that Harry listen to her and damn- does he take notice.
Also- Helena Ravenclaw, aka the Grey Lady aka daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, the founder of the Ravenclaw house... she's played by the actress who did the voice of Meirida in "Brave"... I just found that out and that blew my mind.
...I'm trying to think if there were any storylines within this movie that I missed before addressing something that wasn't done justice.
The movie ends with Harry and his friends sending their kids to Hogwarts. While I understand why the kids were named what they were... I just thought it was kinda lame. Harry naming two of his kids after his parents... Once Upon a Time did something similiar, where Snow White and Prince Charming named their second child after Neal, Emma's boyfriend who did something that ultimately saved Storybrooke (for the third time, I think, by that point)... and Zelena named her baby Robin after Robin Hood... give me a break :roll: the homage is nice, but it makes it seem like the writers really weren't that creative.
And Harry naming another after two Headmasters of Hogwarts... dude... if this wasn't Hogwarts and his dad wasn't The Boy Who Lived and defeated Voldemort, his kid would have gotten beat up so bad for having such a silly sounding name.
One thing I didn't like about the movie... there were a lot of casualities... that goes without saying... but all of the significant deaths of good guys in the movie were shown in a montage with really sad music on the top.
Fred Weasley dies and we briefly see that.
Lavender Brown, I think, was attacked by Fenrir Greyback.
Then there's Lupin and Tonks... I think I said this in a previous post... I do not get how they were a couple or why they were a couple. It did not make sense.
And there was a storyline in this book that was almost completely overlooked... Lupin and Tonks were having a baby and Lupin was very uneasy about it. It was at the point where he visited Harry, Ron and Hermione at Grimmauld Place and asked to come with them to find the Horcruxes and Harry told him he had to be with Tonks and (paraphrasing here) stop being such a wuss about it. He was nervous about it because he's a werewolf and he was afraid that gene would be passed forward.
Anyway, both of them are killed in the Battle of Hogwarts and Harry only mentions they had a son in passing, telling this to Lupin's ghost that came out of the Resurrection Stone- oh yeah, the stone was what was inside of the Golden Snitch Harry got from Dumbledore's Will. If anything is to be learned from the Harry Potter world, all of the legends are true. Including the legend of the Deathly Hallows.
I don't know why, but it just annoyed me how that storyline was never really addressed in the movie. Almost like the movie was meant to be a companion piece to the books rather than an adaptation of it... but it wasn't like they got everything right all the time. My posts have addressed this.
It's a minor detail... but another change in the movie... there's a scene where Harry goes into the Room of Requirement to find another Horcrux and he's found out by Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. And Crabbe triggers a curse that not only burns down the room, but leads to his death.
Well, because the actor that played Crabbe got in trouble because he caught smoking marijuana and he was fired from the movies, instead of recasting him, they just gave this role to Goyle. I know it's very minor, but it still kinda bugs me that they made that change.
Going back to the positives... it's nice that the Malfoys do get a little repreive. They aren't the nicest people, but Voldemort really put them through hell. And because Harry has the decency (Ron might call it idiocy, considering they almost died doing so) of saving Draco, Narcissa Malfoy lied to Voldemort about Harry being alive. And the Malfoys, once reunited, discretely sneak into the back before all hell breaks loose upon the discovery that Harry's still alive. Like with Snape, the audience was predisposed (hope I'm using that right) to dislike Draco Malfoy and Lucius Malfoy based on the actions they did in the movies. But with Narcissa Malfoy, we saw so little of her in the movies. The first time was in the Half-Blood Prince where she asks Snape to make the Unbreakable Vow to watch over Draco. And only a few things since then... but we see that even though her family is full of Death Eaters and she's one herself, she's a mom underneath all that and that's ultimately the motivation of her character. She couldn't have been any more different from her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange.
By the way, her death scene... maybe even more satisfying than Voldemort's death despite the fact we waited the whole series for it to happen... if anything, I found it anti-climatic.
And there wasn't even a celebration scene at the end of the movie... after EIGHT movies, I at least expected something like Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. There weren't even any fireworks.
There was also a moment in the book where Harry used the Elder Wand to repair his old wand with the Phoenix tailfeather that broke in Godric's Hollow... unless he did it offscreen...
I know these things are a bit out of order from the headings, but I'm making this up as I go... as I often do.
...
And that's all of the Harry Potter movies...all that's left is to look forward to the next Fantastic Beasts movie... and based on the trailers, it looks like it's a lot of ground to cover.
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