Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The staring contest of the century.

This is one of those movies where I have to identify my relationship with the series in order to establish where I'm coming from when I talk of this film. I'm a part of the Potter generation; I started reading the books when I was eleven and the last book came out when I was seventeen (significant ages, if you know anything about Harry Potter). I've seen all the movies in the cinema (here's a picture of my tickets), but I'm not really a fan of them. In fact, when I went to see the fourth, fifth and sixth films, I told everyone "I'm seeing then just so I can judge them". It's been a while since I saw the older ones, but as far as I remember, they only started being good in the sixth movie, and even that one had a really rushed climax.

But enough about movies one through seven. How's the eight and final one? It's really good. I was surprised to find that a film based solely on the third act of a single book is almost entirely devoid of pacing issues. The screenwriters cut some corners with the story, and added a little luff to make it work better in the cinematic medium. Some of the changes worked greatly, but I was disappointed that Dumbledore's backstory was removed, aside from a brief allusion. In contrast, Snape's flashbacks get presented at full length, but I can't help but not feel touched due to how limited the character's involvement in the movies has been. I'd sum up the story for those who haven't seen the films or read the books, but since the movie doesn't feel the need for that, I might as well not.

Now here's something I want to warn everyone of: Do not see this film in 3D. Unless you're a huge fan of 3D visuals like flying shards of glass on the foreground of a character in freefall, do not do it. This movie is seriously dark, and since 3D makes everything even darker, there were several scenes where I couldn't see anything except maybe some outlines (and I have good vision). This is most evident in the middle of the film, with establishing shots of the Hogwarts castle. Luckily, the action scenes have bright spells flying around and the very final battle is held during daytime, rather than night.

Aside from that problem the visuals are great, and HP8 (or is that HP7-2?) manages to balance out the different elements of the script with good directing and editing. Despite the movie almost entirely consisting of three extended action scenes, it never grows stagnant. Some of the dialogue is rather badly handled, but luckily it doesn't drag on for too much. While the previous two movies had too abrupt and rushed endings, this one feels natural and didn't leave me unsatisfied.

A special commendation must be given to Ralph Fiennes, who plays Lord Voldemort, as well as whoever was in charge of the character's aesthetic. In a departure from the books, Voldemort starts to physically and mentally decay as his magical immortality thingie-majiccers are destroyed. Not only does this show up visually, with his skin drying up and starting to flake, but Fiennes portrays the growing insanity perfectly. He previously played the villain in Red Dragon (my favourite Hannibal Lecter movie), and you can see a bit of the same maniac glee in his performance here. It is as if he realised that this is his final chance to play an evil magical overlord, so he decided to play the shit out of the role when he still has the chance.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is a damn good movie. Almost all of its flaws come from the incomplete nature of the adaptation process, so the original things to come out of it are imaginative and well-exeucted. Don't see it in 3D, and don't see it before you've seen the previous film (they might be worth seeing back-to-back), but do go see it if you care even a little about Harry Potter, or if you want to see really great fantasy action scenes.

Oh, and in case you care about that sort of thing, in this version of the story, Luna and Neville end up together, further proving that the screenwriters have been reading too much fanfiction as inspiration for the films.