geri_chan | Deathly Hallows movie review

I thought the movie was really great--other than not having enough Snape, but I can't really complain about that since Snape is hardly in the first half of the book. And although the movie was two and a half hours long, it had a lot of action and moved at a pretty fast pace--my friends and I were almost surprised when it was over. We told each other, "Wow, that didn't feel like two and a half hours at all!"

I was slightly disappointed that the Malfoy Manor scene was missing the white peacocks, but I figured that the director/producers might not want to waste the time and expense on them for such a short scene. Also, the scene was filmed to express a very dark and foreboding mood, and the white peacocks would add a comical touch that would probably break that mood.

I thought Jason Isaacs really did an excellent job of portraying Lucius--his voice, his posture, his expression all convey how cowed and defeated Lucius is, compared to the arrogant aristocrat in the earlier films. And Voldemort humiliates him even further by not only taking his wand, but breaking off the jeweled pommel decoration at the base of the wand. The last bit is something added to the movie, but I thought it was a nice touch, though one of my friends was a bit confused because he thought Voldie was breaking the wand itself rather than just removing the jewel. (I also quite like how movie-Lucius's wand is sheathed in his cane--a nifty touch that Isaacs suggested himself, from what I read in an interview.)

Charity Burbage appears in the scene, as she did in the book, hanging above the table and begging Snape to save her. In the movie, she pleads with him, "We were friends"--I don't remember that line from the book, although it's been awhile since I read it. But I think Snapefen would have made a bigger deal about it if there was canon proof that Charity and Snape might've had a close relationship, so I think that's something that was added for the movie. (I'm sure it will still inspire some Snape/Charity fics, though!)

The events leading up to the Death Eaters' attack at the wedding were compressed and rushed through a bit, though that's understandable, considering how long the book is. I was a little disappointed that the movie skipped over Dudley's goodbye to Harry, where we see how he's changed since the last book. Bill is hurriedly introduced--his face is scarred and he makes a brief mention about having run afoul of a werewolf. Tonks announces that she and Lupin are married, but gets cut off by Moody before she can give Harry her "good news," so I guess her pregnancy won't be revealed till the second movie.

I have to say that the "seven Potters" scene was hilarious, particularly Dan Radcliffe as the polyjuiced Fleur! Later, Fred and George also leavened the mostly dark mood of the movie with the jokes about George's missing ear, and there's an absolutely hysterical scene where George walks in on Harry and Ginny, who are too busy making out to notice him at first.

Getting back to the seven Potters flight scene, I did like that Hedwig got her moment in the movie. Instead of keeping her in her cage, Harry let her fly free, and she was killed attacking a Death Eater who was chasing Harry. It's still sad that she died, but at least she was able to go down fighting this time.

At the wedding, Harry doesn't bother to disguise himself, and Viktor Krum didn't appear in the movie. I didn't really expect him to since his role was so small, though it would have been nice to see him one last time. Rhys Ifans was great as Luna's equally loony dad.

One of my friends, the one who hasn't read the HP books, said it was really dumb that (1) Harry was hiding out at the Weasleys' house because "wouldn't that be the first place they would look for him?" and (2) it was even more dumb to have a big party when Harry is supposed to be in hiding. My other friend and I tried to explain about the magical protections, but I have to admit that yeah, it was probably pretty dumb. ~_^

The scenes at Grimmauld Place with Kreacher were drastically cut down, and we didn't get the full backstory about Regulus, which is too bad. The guy they cast as Regulus in HPB (who only appeared in the moving photo, it turned out) was really cute, so I was hoping for a brief flashback scene here.

The scenes at the Ministry were played more for laughs than I expected, considering that Ron unwittingly endangered the wife of the Ministry worker that he impersonated. (That plot device was brought up and there was some tension over it, but was ultimately dealt with in a mostly humorous fashion.) The actors who played the polyjuiced trio were great, and managed to convincingly portray the kids' personalities and nervousness, particularly the guy who was supposed to be Harry. They really made me laugh, and my friend said that the actors must have had a lot of fun playing those scenes.

I thought the camping scenes struck a nice balance--long enough to convey the kids' frustration, without getting the audience frustrated as well. (In my opinion, anyway.) I thought the first scene with the Snatchers struck a nice note of tension, with Hermione frozen in place while the lead Snatcher is standing right in front of her, unable to see her because of the protective spells, but smelling a whiff of her perfume. I was a bit puzzled, because the sniffing made me think he was a werewolf at first, but he doesn't look like the actor who played Greyback in HBP. I had thought Greyback was with the Snatchers in the book, but I could be getting my facts mixed up since I haven't read it in so long.

Tom Felton didn't have much to do in this movie, but he continues to do a good job portraying Draco's inner conflict. It's obvious in the scene at Malfoy Manor where he's supposed to identify Harry that Draco just doesn't have it in him to be a killer, even indirectly. Narcissa is the only Malfoy who doesn't really get a chance to shine here, although she does show some motherly protectiveness towards Draco, perhaps foreshadowing her role in the next movie, assuming that it sticks to the plot of the book.

Bellatrix's torture of Hermione had a bigger impact in the movie than it did in the book, where I felt it was kind of glossed over. The scene wasn't gory or explicit, but when you see Hermione or even just hear her screaming, it definitely feels a lot more up close and personal. It will be interesting to see if they include the scene of Harry Crucio-ing Bellatrix in the next movie.

Dobby's death felt a lot more personal in the movie, too. Even knowing what was going to happen, I got a bit teary-eyed there.

Oh, a couple of last observations that I forgot to mention: the scene with Nagini-Bathilda was really creepy (which I guess was the intended effect), and I really liked the way they did the story of the Three Brothers, with that sort of shadow puppet style animation--it gave that story-within-a-story an appropriately fairy tale feeling.

Can't think of anything else right now--will make a second post later if I remember anything significant that I missed.