…of Harry Potter 7: Part 2, some disjointed observations.
Spoiler alert!
- Overall very good, of course. Though I’m glad I didn’t see it in 3D. What, Voldemort’s flame head coming out at you from the screen? What’s the point?
- Excellent performance from Helena Bonham Carter as Hermione disguised as Bellatrix Lestrange. Her meekly saying “Good morning” and stumbling on her high heels – hilarious.
- The poor dragon!
- In the climactic battle scene, were those giants or trolls fighting on Voldemort’s side? If they were trolls, I would have expected a call-back to the 1st movie when Harry, Ron, and Hermione defeat the troll in the bathroom. If they were giants, I would have expected a shot of Hagrid looking conflicted.
- I wish I’d watched HP 7: Part 1 again before I went. Or re-read the book, though I can only read it on a computer now (bought it as an ebook, don’t have any ebook reading devices…grr). I kept thinking, “Wait, when did they break into the Ministry of Magic?” or “How did they destroy the 1st horcrux again?”
- Alan Rickman was looking very puffy. I wonder if this was intentional. At the very end of the movie there were several flashback scenes with a younger Snape, where he looked much less puffy. I think this was supposed to make him look much older in the “present” of the movie, so he wouldn’t look obviously too old in scenes supposed to be taking place around the time of the 1st film. I have two theories on how this was done: they shot the flashback scenes first, with a svelte Alan Rickman, then said “Gain 20 pounds and come back in 6 months” and did the rest of his scenes. Or they digitally slimmed his face for the other scenes, which I have absolutely no doubt that they can do. I think the latter hypothesis is more likely, since this is a 2011 picture of Alan Rickman:
- Pretty good job from all the young leads. They’ve matured into decent actors. I think Emma Watson and Rupert Grint will have good careers, if they don’t want to just lie around and take treasure baths for the rest of their lives, but I worry that Daniel Radcliffe will never get past Harry Potter. Which is too bad, because he was very funny on Extras.
- The age makeup/wardrobe they used to age Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione at the end was…not effective. They gave them some very subtle eye lines, but their faces were still very young and taut-looking. Also, why did Ron and Harry have scruffy 5-o’clock shadows? They should have given them mustaches. I would have totally believed that they were in their late 30s if they had mustaches. And they could have at least put Ginny in a decent pair of shoes. She was wearing these enormous clunky lace-up flats, the kind you wear if one of your legs is significantly shorter than the other. On both feet.
Anyway, if you haven’t seen it already, I recommend it. And if you saw it 3D, tell me why I was a moron and a luddite for not paying $3 extra to get a migraine.
