must gloat while I still can!
Jul. 11th, 2011 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulJust got home from a FREE preview screening of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.
It was a Harry Potter film. No more, no less.
Seriously, I disliked the way this series ended SO much. But I did think the movie improved upon the book in a few ways.
The biggest is, MORE NEVILLE!
He is a BAMF in this movie.
And he's adorable.
Seriously, I want one.
OH, and it's not worth seeing it in 3-D. There was nothing added to the film with 3D. And, I'm pretty sure it was not shot in 3D originally.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Things I liked:
It just STARTS! There's about 30 seconds of "previously on Harry Potter" and then they are sneaking into Gringots. Not a lot of down time in this movie. Makes the 130 minutes go by fast.
BAMF NEVILLE!!!!!!!!! The *new* sequence (or, at least, I think it's new, I can't remember it from the books) totally makes up for him not getting to kill Bellatrix (though they didn't play up how evil she really was in the movie, in the book Rowling never let us or Neville forget that Bellatrix tortured his parents into madness)
The battle sequences - very well done. I think Neville's role was increased to give us a character to focus on since R/H/H were elsewhere.
Snape's death - not that I liked him dying, but I felt Nagini's attack was very visceral and malicious, something we hadn't really seen much of in the films. This would be a part I would not let a young child see, even off screen it was upsettting.
I think a lot of the story worked better on film than in the book, especially the Voldemort/Harry battle sequence at the end. In the book, I just sorta remember *zap* you're dead, I win! But this has some great fighting and wand stuff. More epic.
McGonigal - she was also a badass, even if she was barely in the movie. Maggie Smith is awesome. (And I think she was sick when they were fliming this? Is that right? Undergoing treatment for something? Yet she still was like "zap zap* take that Snape!
They downplayed the Nazi metaphor a bit -- it was pretty heavy handed in the last movie so I was surprised it wasn't in this as much...but I didn't really miss it.
Things I did not like:
The Matrix/White Room/Dumbledore the White - this sequence was still just as cheesy on film as in the book. And SEEING Dumbledore dressed in white robes, all pale, just was too Gandalf for me not to roll my eyes.
Smoothing out Snape's skin for the flashbacks - this effect is always distracting to me. And I swear at one point they smoothed so much, Alan Rickman's eye was in the wrong spot! Again, distracting.
And WHY WHY WHY DID THEY INCLUDE THE 19 YEARS LATER??? That shit was just CREEPY! And how pissed is Rupert Grint? Daniel looks distinguished, Emma still neat and tidy, and he's HOMER SIMPSON! *facepalm* The whole aging-up effect was just weird and upsetting...and that is on top of a sequence that I still find weird and upsetting.
Not addressing the whole Slytherin issue (this always bugged me in the book since the inference is made that they are ALL EVIL except for Snape and Malfoy.) I would have liked for them to have shown that your good/bad-ness was not based on your house.
GAH! Just lost power for a few minutes there, long enough for me to run around and unplug everything then have it turn back on. Thought I'd lost this post but autosave WINS the day. But now my brain is completely done thinking about HP and more in the "Wow, hope that didn't fry anything"
It was a Harry Potter film. No more, no less.
Seriously, I disliked the way this series ended SO much. But I did think the movie improved upon the book in a few ways.
The biggest is, MORE NEVILLE!
He is a BAMF in this movie.
And he's adorable.
Seriously, I want one.
OH, and it's not worth seeing it in 3-D. There was nothing added to the film with 3D. And, I'm pretty sure it was not shot in 3D originally.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Things I liked:
It just STARTS! There's about 30 seconds of "previously on Harry Potter" and then they are sneaking into Gringots. Not a lot of down time in this movie. Makes the 130 minutes go by fast.
BAMF NEVILLE!!!!!!!!! The *new* sequence (or, at least, I think it's new, I can't remember it from the books) totally makes up for him not getting to kill Bellatrix (though they didn't play up how evil she really was in the movie, in the book Rowling never let us or Neville forget that Bellatrix tortured his parents into madness)
The battle sequences - very well done. I think Neville's role was increased to give us a character to focus on since R/H/H were elsewhere.
Snape's death - not that I liked him dying, but I felt Nagini's attack was very visceral and malicious, something we hadn't really seen much of in the films. This would be a part I would not let a young child see, even off screen it was upsettting.
I think a lot of the story worked better on film than in the book, especially the Voldemort/Harry battle sequence at the end. In the book, I just sorta remember *zap* you're dead, I win! But this has some great fighting and wand stuff. More epic.
McGonigal - she was also a badass, even if she was barely in the movie. Maggie Smith is awesome. (And I think she was sick when they were fliming this? Is that right? Undergoing treatment for something? Yet she still was like "zap zap* take that Snape!
They downplayed the Nazi metaphor a bit -- it was pretty heavy handed in the last movie so I was surprised it wasn't in this as much...but I didn't really miss it.
Things I did not like:
The Matrix/White Room/Dumbledore the White - this sequence was still just as cheesy on film as in the book. And SEEING Dumbledore dressed in white robes, all pale, just was too Gandalf for me not to roll my eyes.
Smoothing out Snape's skin for the flashbacks - this effect is always distracting to me. And I swear at one point they smoothed so much, Alan Rickman's eye was in the wrong spot! Again, distracting.
And WHY WHY WHY DID THEY INCLUDE THE 19 YEARS LATER??? That shit was just CREEPY! And how pissed is Rupert Grint? Daniel looks distinguished, Emma still neat and tidy, and he's HOMER SIMPSON! *facepalm* The whole aging-up effect was just weird and upsetting...and that is on top of a sequence that I still find weird and upsetting.
Not addressing the whole Slytherin issue (this always bugged me in the book since the inference is made that they are ALL EVIL except for Snape and Malfoy.) I would have liked for them to have shown that your good/bad-ness was not based on your house.
GAH! Just lost power for a few minutes there, long enough for me to run around and unplug everything then have it turn back on. Thought I'd lost this post but autosave WINS the day. But now my brain is completely done thinking about HP and more in the "Wow, hope that didn't fry anything"
