Harry Potter 7 (Part Deux)

[ceebeegee]

So, Ashley and I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Friday night.

LOVED it. I'd gotten some tissues from the bathroom--good thing, as I was crying quite hard at parts, especially "The Forest Again." I like that they had Harry telling R&H where he was going because Hermione could articulate what all of us were feeling. That look she gave Harry, that crumpled face of devastation, was perfect. And Harry surrounded by his parents and Lupin and Sirius--heartbreaking. (Although I *did* wonder why he hardly seemed to acknowledge his own dad!)

Snape's death was BRUTAL. What is up with Voldemort all "you're a good and faithful servant...and I'm going to reward you by killing you in the worst way instead of AKing you quickly and painlessly! Kthxbye."

"After all this time?" "Always." SOBBING at this point. The Prince's Tale was beautifully told. I loved Young Lily and Young Snape's magic together. And I thought the age-erasing looked fine, for the most part. Oh, poor baby Harry, still in the room when Snape is grieving over Lily.

Loved Voldemort's Bad Touch hug to Draco and LOVED the Malfoys all "peace out, guys" during the battle.

I kind of wish they hadn't changed Neville's killing of Nagini--"I'll join you when HELL FREEZES OVER! Dumbledore's Army!" is pithier and better than his speech, but whatevs.

Oh, Fred. I was bawling at that point. And at their last little affectionate exchange. "You okay, Fred?" I actually missed some of the battle because seeing brave people fight bravely and die just gets to me. I started tearing up at McGonagall's line to Flitwick "the name is Voldemort, get used to it, he's going to try to kill you either way." The thought of stalwart little Flitwick dying in battle...

LOVED "Lightning has struck! Lightning has struck!" GREAT addition!

Loved all the preparations for the battle--McGonagall's spell for the gargoyles was great. And that glassy shield was cool and eerie as well. Everyone in the theater was laughing at Bellatric prancing around behind Voldmort as the Death Eaters gathered. I just love her, she's so effing insane. And "not my daughter, you bitch" was PERFECT. Not all cheesy and campy over-the-top screamed, but absolutely deadly serious. Damn, Julie Walters nailed that line.

King's Crossing was great. Baby!Voldemort was UGH. I love that last line "of course it is happening inside your head...but why on earth should that mean it isn't real?"

Cornish pixies in the Room of Requirement!

The Slytherin common room is in the dungeon, or near it, so McGonagall was essentially sending them to their room, not to the dungeon. But it did come off that way. Also, some of the Slytherins (if they chose to fight for Hogwarts) would be fighting against their parents. I do wish they'd shown the Slytherins coming back after recruiting the Hogsmeade villagers.

Harry's eyes = blue. Lily's eyes = brown. Me = WTF?

The Gringott's sequence was terrific. I felt terrible for the poor dragon, the way it cowered from the noise. So glad they set it free. And Helena Bonham Carter was HILARIOUS as Hermione! Damn, she can act. I will say, Griphook sort of got screwed--in the book he doesn't just betray them, he pre-emptively betrays them, because he knows darn well they're not going to let him have the sword. And damn! Does he die in the book? I can't remember.

Harry's flashes of insight into Voldemort's brain were great.

Um--Reparo?

The Harry/Voldemort battle was pretty good--I see why they changed it, Harry monologuing Voldy to death isn't exactly cinematic. But I wish they'd included the charge of the house elves, with Kreacher leading it. Love that moment in the book. "Fight for my master, defender of house elves!"

There was a family in front of us on line with two adorable girlnerds (one had the lightning scar, the other had spectacles). They had only seen the movies, hadn't read the books, so they had no idea what was going to happen. Afterwards we ran into them again and I had to explain why Snape and Lily stopped being friends.

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Comments

[darksheik.livejournal.com]

I loved it too! Agree with all.
I do wish he'd at least used the Elder Wand to fix Hogwarts before he snapped it and pitched it over the side.

[nswakko15.livejournal.com]

That reminds me, they didn't have him fix his own wand with the elder wand...so I guess in film world he sticks with Malfoys...?

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

That's what I mean by um--reparo? You just have to assume he fixed his wand off-screen, although it's an odd thing to leave out--wth would he want Draco's wand? But I do remember they didn't make a huge deal about how bereft he felt about breaking his wand in Part 1--it was a plot point to drive him to take Draco's wand (which they had to establish, so he would be the master of the Elder Wand), not the psychologically crippling blow it was in the book.

[dje2004.livejournal.com]

My wife went in a black cape and a Slytherin t-shirt.

I'm not a fan - I only just finally started reading the books recently (and stopped so I could read the latest novel in the Game of Thrones series which just came out) and watching the movies, but I enjoyed it too. I also thought the scene in the forest where he speaks to the ghost of his mother and the rest was emotionally affecting and well done - and again, I don't really have a connection to these characters.

A minor quibble: judging by that big battle scene, there isn't a wizard in the UK who *isn't* a Death Eater. Also, I don't recall Hogwarts being up on a cliff.

[chillygator.livejournal.com]

I loved it, too!!! I haven't read past book five (though I've decided to listen to them all now), so I had no idea what was going to happen and was maybe terrified.

Why did Snape and Lily stop being friends? That part was weird since they seemed so close. Also, why was he always a jerkface to Harry? Did they explain that?

The parts that bugged me were:
1. The wand. Repair Hogwarts, friend!
2. Bellatric's wand thing -- where they wanted her wand as identification and they totally HAD the wand and didn't give it to them. I was like, "Just give them the flipping wand, already!"
3. The brown/blue eye thing. I kind of wondered if I was losing my ability to tell colors (o:
4. The kissing! I think it's because I still sort of view the actors as being 12, so the kissing makes me nervous (o:
5. The boys taking their shirts off and being totally WHITE (though I am laughing about it). That was...why?

The rest of it was great, though. I loved the suspense, the cinematography, the statues (I was singing the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks in my head that entire scene) and the fact that I wasn't completely lost by the story line like I was in Part 1. Actually, I still have no idea what Part 1 was about (o:

Snape's death was sad. And Harry ended up with WAY more tears than I think Snape shed (o: (And during that scene I had the line from Community where Jeff says to Annie, "This won't work; the last time you did this I saved a vial of your tears and have been slowly building up an immunity." going through my head).

[dje2004.livejournal.com]

Bellatric's wand thing -- where they wanted her wand as identification and they totally HAD the wand and didn't give it to them. I was like, "Just give them the flipping wand, already!"

I wondered about that too. My wife explained that in the book Bellatrix has told Gringotts that her wand was stolen, so that if anyone showed up looking like her with her wand, they'd know that person was an impostor. Hermione and the rest knew that too, which is why she didn't want to show them the wand.

[chillygator.livejournal.com]

They could have maybe made less of a big deal about HAVING the wand the scene before, then (o: In which case, Hermione could have had a line like, "I don't have it; it's stolen."

I have a feeling these movies will all make a lot more sense after I read the books (o:

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's right! Yeah, I wish they'd edited that differently.

HBC was so cute as Hermione, she nailed her body language.

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

Lily and Snape stopped being friends because of his growing infatuation with the Death Eaters and their racist (well, anti-Muggle) ideology. Remember the scene in Order of the Phoenix, Snape's memory of when Lily stops James and the Marauders from bullying Snape? Snape is so humiliated by the whole thing that he turns on Lily and says he doesn't need the help of a mudblood. This is the final straw and Lily won't have anything more to do with him, although it had been growing toward this anyway. After this incident Snape becomes even more entrenched in the DE group, and tells Voldemort about the prophecy--he makes Voldemort promise to spare Lily but we all know what happened there. It's implied in this flashback sequence (in the movie) that Snape disliked Harry because he reminded him on his father. Another reason, more implicit, is that Harry is a reminder of Lily's preference for another man. Either way, Snape is unreasonably mean to Harry. Snape has a lot of fans and he is a great character but he really is a bully to his students.

2. I thought the same thing.
3. Even weirder, in the books it's constantly established (every book mentions this) that Harry and his mother have GREEN eyes. They should've used contacts or digitally change the color.
5. Well, they're English :) None of the Brits can tan. Especially not when you've been on the run for nearly a year from Voldemort!

Let me know what questions you have about Part I.

[chillygator.livejournal.com]

If I was hiding from Voldemort (and the ONE thing that bothers me by the book reader is he keeps calling him Voldemore), I'd totally pick somewhere tropical. None of this snow-washed tundra business.