Friday evening I purchased tickets for Tara and I to see the last Harry Potter movie. After sitting in line for a few hours (I figured I might as well just sit and read), we got to see what 10+ years have built all of us up to. And, I have to say at this point, I’m kind of disappointed.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 was, simply, a bit cheesy. Tara tells me they were all cheesy, but for some reason, this one seemed the most obvious to me. Previous cheesiness could be chalked up to how young the actors were, or the tone of the subject matter, etc. This one, though, was supposed to be epic. It was the climax for everyone. They’d battle it out and that was that. Ignoring the inconsistencies with the book (which were generally minor), the movie just didn’t keep me from thinking “ugh” at some points. Honestly, I’m guessing that’s due to the special/visual effects needed for the battle, but that seems a flimsy excuse when you consider the LoTR movies, and their epic battles. No, this seems like, really, the second half of the book just didn’t translate well to the big screen.
They did some things very well. The things I really liked where the flashback to Snape’s past, the King’s Cross station scene, and how Voldemort kept looking more and more haggard. But outside of that, it seemed that some of the actors just didn’t really show the scale of what they were living. Part One of Deathly Hallows worked. It was slow, because they really did wander around for weeks/months. Their task was really significant, and they had very little to go on. Part Two, though, just didn’t have that scale.
I’m not final on my review, since I’m going to wait until I can watch Part One, and Part Two back to back when the latter arrives on DVD. But for now, alas…
[xrr rating=3.25/5]