“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2”
Written by Steven Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling; Directed by David Yates. Stars: Daniel Randcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. Story: After seven years at the Hogwarts school of magic and battling his nemesis Voldemort, things come to a head and the final battle ensues.
Seen by Lars & Adam, July 17, 2011
LARS:
It’s a miracle that this film series has worked out as wonderfully as it has over the span of no less than eight movies. That’s an enormous amount of movies. Sean Connery only played Bond in 6 movies. Indiana Jones is 3 movies (I refuse to acknowledge the 4th). Star Wars is 6 movies. So doing 8 movies of high quality and unbroken continuity may actually be a first in the history of the movies.
The kids they cast grew up be actors. No one could have known, when they cast Radcliffe, Grint and Watson, that they’d turn into fine thespians. While this last movie is really Harry’s show, both Hermione and Ron have their moments in the sun, in particular in the first half of the four and a half hour long opus that is “Deathly Hallows”. The supporting cast is made up of British acting royalty. It’s a who’s who of Sirs and Dames and Oscar winners en masse. If you’re a British actor of repute, you’re probably asking yourself what went wrong, if you were never offered a part in any of the Harry Potter movies? They are all great, but a special tip of the beret must go to Alan Rickman, whose portrayal of Severus Snape is only fully appreciated and understood in this last movie. It’s a performance for the ages, and I would not be surprised to see him get acting nods, when awards time rolls around.
Adam and I got together a bunch of people and watched all 8 movies in a row to get the full story and see what the impact of continuity would be. It was about 17 hours worth of Harry Potter over two days. They are all surprisingly watchable and only get better along the way. J.K. Rowling’s genius (aside from her amazing storytelling skills) was to up-age the story, as Harry grew older. The same thing happens in the movies. Chris Columbus did a decent job directing the first two movies. As they are essentially kid’s movies, they were right up his alley. But producer David Heyman had a stroke of genius, when he got Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron to direct what many consider to be the best film in the series, “The Prisoner of Azkaban”. It was not exactly obvious casting, as Cuaron was coming right off of “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, decidedly not a children’s movie. But Cuaron took the series in a much darker direction, where the mere fact that the main characters are children doesn’t change that the evil lurking out there in the form of ‘he who shall not be named’ and his cohorts is absolutely real. Heyman pulled another surprise out of the hat, when he asked David Yates to direct the last four movies in the series. Yates had mostly done TV up until then and there was little that made it look like he was the right man for the job. But he grew into the gig, and the last Potter movie also has the honor of being the best of the series, in my opinion.
Finally, screenwriter Steve Kloves deserves a round of applause. He has written the screenplay for every film, except “The Order of the Phoenix” (I wonder why he didn’t write that one?). Ignorants might say that it’s all there on the page in the books. But without clever pruning and restructuring, the films would have been 5 hours each. Kloves worked very closely with J.K. Rowling and she would give him pointers as to which things he really couldn’t leave out of the films, as they would become important later on. Apparently Rowling had most of the story in her head from the beginning.
So, after this epic preamble, what’s the last movie like? Well, first of all, parts 1 and 2 of ‘Deathly Hallows’ are really just one movie that happened to be chopped into two. Partially because Warner Brothers didn’t want to kill the golden goose, but in reality, no film could have done justice to the story in one go. It needed time to breathe and evolve. Thus we had Part One that was all ‘woe is me’ for Harry, as he went looking for the parts of Voldemort’s soul that was hidden in 7 horcruxes. It was all about setting the scene for the final showdown between the forces of good and evil in Part Two.
So if Part One was all about exposition and explanation, Part Two is all about action. The time for running is over. So after a fantastic set piece that must rank with the best of the series, where our trio of heroes goes to Gringott’s Vaults to find a final horcrux and make a spectacular escape on a dragon, it’s time to go back to Hogwarts and prepare for the final battle. When I read the book, I was wondering if The Battle of Hogwarts might be the one to challenge The Battle of Minas Tirith from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. While it isn’t quite that, it is incredibly satisfying to see minor characters have their moment in the sun. Neville Longbottom, Professor McGonigal and Mrs Weasley all get a chance to shine and bring closure to their character arcs. And it is a battle to keep you on the edge of your seats for the duration.
Reading the books, I was always sure that Harry’s ultimate destiny would be to die to save the world, but of course Rowling had me somewhat outsmarted. It’d be a shame to reveal too much of the details of the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort, except to say that for the first time ever Radcliffe impressed me as an actor. He is asked to do some pretty preposterous things, but he brings grit, despair and purpose to his part and brings Harry’s plight to life better than ever before.
Rowling has said that she won’t be writing any more books about Harry Potter. But every now and then, she’ll tease. As recently as a few weeks ago, she said to a reporter that Harry was her creation, and if she ever felt like writing about him again, she’d do it. Who knows? Both Rowling and the final film does bring closure of sorts to Harry’s journey, but also opens up whole new storylines that could be pursued.
A suitably epic and awesome finale, then, to a piece of film history, where everything went right - almost as if it were touched by a little bit of magic.
ADAM:
Though not a super fan (I haven’t read even one of the books), I’ve really enjoyed the Harry Potter series on the whole. I could see my eleven-year-old self buying my wand and supplies in Diagon Alley, bundling up my trunk and my owl, running through the wall to platform 9 ¾, hopping on the express and going to Hogwarts. Who wouldn’t? The ultimate fantasy element surrounding a school where anything can happen — from the magically floating trays of pies and turkey legs in the dining hall to the cloak of invisibility and the Marauder’s map; the foul tasting Bertie Bott’s Beans to secret passages, flying ghosts, talking portraits and Hermione’s ability to stop time drew me in. And it was these magical details, the learning of the spells and the practicing with the potions that I found myself missing as Harry and his cohorts began to grow up and the movies became darker and more centered on the lead up to the ultimate battle of Good versus Evil. The Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite installment. With the most intricately wrought, creatively original story, combined with the superb direction by Alfonso Curon, it is by far the superior film of the series, in my mind.
Still, following an epic 2 day Potter-thon, chez Bastholm, I felt fully immersed in all things Hogwarts and ready for the eagerly awaited conclusion to the truncated Deathly Hallows Part 1. And I wasn’t disappointed. The finale to this tremendous series was beautifully shot and full of exciting set pieces. The dangling storylines were tied up and special pains were taken to give even some of the more minor (but beloved) characters at Hogwarts a final moment to shine. Good and Evil faced off yet again, and the result was ultimately very satisfying. Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a summer blockbuster in the true sense, providing “edge of your seat” action, a (very) few laughs, tears, cheers and oddly, given that it’s actually just the second half of a story, the feeling that there really is a beginning, middle and end. In fact, I argue that the Deathly Hallows should have been one three-hour film – comprised of 75% of part 2 and 25% of part 1 (which was waaaay longer than need be in the padded & greedy attempt by the studio to eke another movie out of the series).
At the risk of sounding like too much of a hater, I feel like there were some missed opportunities (not just in the finale but from the 4th or 5th film on) to get really creative story-wise. My biggest issue with the Potter films, in general, is that Harry isn’t very interesting and often, not very smart. He is mostly handed the answer to the mystery or stumbles on the solution to his problems by chance. His failure to confide in his friends, his teachers and his mentors is usually his undoing and the frustrating realization that if Harry would just SAY SOMETHING, his problems would be easily solved, remains a repetitive force in virtually every story. Luckily, there are so many other interesting, characters, with phenomenal performances by virtually every talented British actor alive, that Harry’s blandness doesn’t ruin the films. And not to knock J.K. Rowling or screenwriter Steve Kloves, I feel like that when you are creating a world where magic exists – the possibilities are endless. And I was disappointed that the Polyjuice Potion spell was the major solution to getting information or solving a situation time and again. The first time it was cool. And the use of the polyjuice potion spell in the Ministry of Magic was probably the best thing about the Deathly Hallows Part 1 but the over use of that spell and the ensuing hijinks, just started to feel unoriginal. Minor criticisms aside, this incredible series was a spectacle of consistently tremendous filmmaking, amazing effects, gorgeous costumes and dozens of nuanced performances. It’s sad to see it come to an end. And maybe it hasn’t… I hear that talks of a TV series are in the works. Let’s hope it’s produced by the BBC.
