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Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2: The Final Review.

Posted: July 18, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Film Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »
Emma Watson filming for Harry Potter and the D...

Image via Wikipedia

Fortunately for me I have read all of the Harry Potter books, but it’s unfortunate that in the past, my passion for the books has dampened my spirit when it comes to watching the films. I’m sure most of the readers felt frustrated in the past when certain parts of the storyline weren’t portrayed properly in the film or the most important key moments were not included. I voiced my frustration when I wrote ‘The problem between Harry Potter books and the films’ a week ago. However, since I learnt that J.K. Rowling herself, was one of the producers of both Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2, I decided to watch the films with an open mind. Because how could it fail when the author has more power in the making of the film?

The film starts off relatively slow,  I was half expecting it to go full speed right at the start after the ending of Part 1. I’m glad it started off slow because it shows they thought about how it was going to come together in two parts. You are immediately given the impression in the first 30 minutes of the film that there is going to be a lot of fast flowing magical action scenes. And with each minute passing by you can feel the end of an era. Even right at the start, the director David Yates, gives the audience the feeling of the inevitable closure of the story. I could actually feel my childhood slipping away with each second the film came closer to the end.
The battle scenes are impressive, being much better than I first imagined and longer too. The gasps of desperation and fight from the characters gave you goosebumps like no other Harry Potter film has given you before. It’s not as emotional as I thought it would have been, but it still engrosses you in to the point that you can’t keep your eyes off the screen. And if you didn’t understand Horcruxes  in part 1, which I get the feeling some people didn’t, well luckily you can’t get away from the term in this film because it drills it in your head that the Horcruxes are the key to defeating Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

In terms of dialogue, don’t expect a lot of close emotional talks between characters because you got all that in part 1. Expect fighting talk, wizard fighting talk if that’s what you want to call it. However, there are a few moments that will take you by surprise, you’ll see.

In terms of the storyline, I was shocked with the accuracy of the plot from the books. Not only did they manage to fit in the most important parts, but they executed it really well. And I can’t help but think it was J.K. Rowling’s input that sparked such a brilliant Harry Potter film, imagine if she had valuable input from the start…

I know I’ve criticized Daniel Radcliffe in the past for his acting, however there’s not much criticism on his part in the film. Maybe this is because most of the film involves action scenes. But he justifies an ending which is all we really asked from him. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson did their usual best and the love story  looked way more convincing between Ron and Hermione when the feeling of desperation was involved. You should also lift your hats to Alan Rickman, who has managed to stick consistently with his character’s motive from the start, doing so fantastically. What would Harry Potter be like without Severus Snape.

For book fans, non-book fans, adults and children, this film will feel like a real end of an era because that’s what the mood of the film gives you. For the first time since reading the books I felt like I’ve truly parted ways with the story, but I’m sure we will relive the story by watching the films and reading the books again. My only genuine criticism which some may argue against, is that the ending of part 2 could have been better, it felt like ‘oh that part of the story is done now, lets move on’, when they could have done so much more to make the audience feel more upset.

On the 30th June 1997, the first Harry Potter book ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ was released. November 4th 2001 the first film was released. July 21st 2007 the last book ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows’ was released to conclude the story. The last film to conclude the story was released on the 15th July 2011. What an era.

iHartmovies rating: 4.3/5

By Daniel Hart

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At Number 6…Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1

Posted: January 18, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Film Reviews, Top 10 of 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Image via Wikipedia

In 2010, the long awaited first half of the Harry Potter finale hit the cinemas. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Ruper Grint) return for the beginning of the end, in the first half of the Seventh adaptation of the books by J. K. Rowling. The trio return, along with the rest of the usual characters, in a desperate bid to find the last of the remaining Horcruxes, in the hope that they will finally be able to stop He Who Must Not Be Named…also known as the malicious, Dark Lord.. Voldermort. In his quest to find the remaining Horcruxes, Harry and pals stumble upon the existence of 3 items, which they soon realise are the most powerful items in existence, The Deathly Hallows. The race between Harry and Voldermort has just intensified, as Harry must now stop Voldermort from obtaining The Deathly Hallows, which will have inevitably dire consequences for the whole world, allowing Voldermort to subsequently become ‘‘The Master of Death’. Scary stuff.

I will be honest, I was quite excited for this, but by the time I had left the cinema, although happy, I did not really feel satisfied. However, upon thinking back on it, it was a great film, with just a few small areas which I found slightly disappointing. For one, the film was very slow, in that it took quite some time for things to kick off. There was a lot of slow progression, with not much really happening at many parts, which kind of got boring at times. However, I think these parts were quite important nevertheless, and in hindsight, were quite interesting in representing the development of each of the main characters, and how they slowly began to become overwhelmed by the importance of their journey, and how much is at stake, but also how they managed to endure through some of their hardest of times, and eventually, get back on track.

However, whenever the interesting scenes came, they were definitely enthralling, keeping your eyes glued to the screen. The movie was also quite heavy from a comical aspect, like the previous films, which I quite enjoyed, with some of the scenes having me involuntarily laughing out loud; and I felt that the comical aspect didn’t over-do itself into ruining the darkness of the film, as the gloomy feel to the storyline was still definitely there, and probably stronger than ever. I feel the action scenes and any crucial scenes were evenly placed within the storyline, which was also firm and present throughout the whole movie, making constant progress, towards Part 2 of the movie, although I do think it could have had a little more action like its predecessors..although I’m sure they’re saving the best for the second movie.

I haven’t really read any of the books as I’m not a huge reader. However, from what I have heard from avid Harry Potter fans, although many of the seemingly essential parts of the book were not portrayed, the movie generally represented the book quite well; particularly with the scene in which The Deathly Hallows are being explained, which I also found particularly enjoyable, due to the unique, animated manner in which it was presented.

Overall, although there is some room for improvement in Deathly Hallows Pt.1, I quite enjoyed it, with an interesting portrayal of the characters’ personal development and journey throughout the film, and how they have changed since the previous movies. And although at times it was somewhat tedious, and the ending a little annoying (although it is only Pt.1 to be fair) I still enjoyed it, and thought it was a good build-up to what I feel will be a brilliant conclusion..In fact, I’m pretty sure Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 will be awesome.

4/5

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 will be hitting the cinemas on 15th July this year, so put it in your diaries..which I’m sure many of you will have already done. Stay tuned for the first of our top 5, which will be revealed tomorrow.

By Manpreet Singh

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