My Bellatrix vs. Minerva Fantasy
Friday, July 15, 2011 at 11:10PM Today at a critics screening, upset that the film was out of focus, I ran out of the theater to tell the people in charge. On my way out I tripped on a step I didn't see in the dark and literally went tumbling, face first (luckily my hands hit the ground before my face). After the screening -- which I winced through in pain -- I looked down to see my foot covered in blood! My toe is all F***ed up.
This is a really long way of saying that maybe Potter fans put some sort of hex on me today, anticipating a negative review of the last chapter of the beloved franchise. But the truth is I was somewhat nice to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two in my review at Towleroad because it is 100 times better than Part One -- not that that's a high bar to jump -- even if I think it's wanting in a few key ways*. Let's say B/B- for solid if limited entertainment. In short: it's a worthy finale and totally representative of the series.
*Like, for instance you have all these great adult British actors and they rarely interact. I mean I was D-Y-I-N-G for a Helena vs. Maggie / Bellatrix vs. Minerva showdown so I could pretend that Lucy Honeychurch was finally done with "Poor Charlotte"'s constant fussy meddling and enlisted the dark arts to take her down! (Merchant & Ivory's Harry Potter. Haha. Just try to imagine it!) I knew this battle wasn't going to happen because I've read the book but instead all I got was like a disappointing three seconds between Julie Walters and Helena (I'll readily admit it was a great moment in the book.)
Was the Harry Potter finale satisfying for you? Do you think Stuart Craig will win the Art Direction Oscar as a thank you for the whole series? He's been nominated for Harry Potter movies three times out of seven thus far (plus six noms with three Oscars before it).
Reader Comments (14)
I grew up on and am totally in the wheelhouse for this series. I was very satisfied with it. I have no idea if this movie would make sense to a non fan. It definitely needs Part 1 to be understood. I thought the additions they made were good ones for beefing up character archs.
Your long nightmare is over, Nathaniel. Soon we will all be bitching about The Oscars.
I would disagree and say it's totally NOT representative of the whole franchise.
Despite being very skeptical at first of the decision to split the movies, I am SO glad they did because it allowed for this film to have a focus that none of the other films had. The novels are pretty dense and very episodic so I always felt the films forced their stories to be awkwardly smushed into a time allotment. With Part 2, all the events beside the epilogue take place in about a day's time and therefore the film feels like one story being told, and man did I think it was well told and a truly great ending to the series.
And yes I think Craig totally deserves the Oscar, his work here was exceptional. Eduardo Serra also deserves recognition for the cinematography which was fantastic.
Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter are both Burton-nites, being in Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland together. Jamie Campbell Bower (poor guy, his entire part was cut out of this movie) was also in Sweeney Todd. Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson were husband and wife in "Love Actually". Clemence Posey (Fleur), Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes were all in "In Bruges", Michael Gambon and HBC in The King's Speech, Timothy Spall and Imelda Staunton in "Chicken Run", Imelda and Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility, and so much moreeee.
I love figuring out the connections of the Harry Potter cast - that is, the all the British luminaries. It totally never occurs to me while I watch the movie, and then afterwards I go "huh, I bet they loved reuniting after so many years, even though I guess they don't really meet....."
I'm going to just go ahead and say I didn't think it was very good. A lot of the problem comes down to the lack of groundwork done in the previous movies. Each of the key beats in this finale seemed to just miss the mark. Neville's moment of triumph, so well executed in the books, feels a bit flat because Neville's backstory was never really explored. The Bellatrix death was far too short and anti-climactic. Draco's change was a non-event. Fred's death was off-screen. The list goes on (and don't get me started on the utterly extraneous and poorly executed epilogue - though that's a problem with the source material as much as anything).
I enjoyed it well enough while I was sitting there watching it, but the more I think about it, the more I think it just didn't quite hit the spot.
I'm with Samuel on every point, as a huge fan of this book in particular I think every major dramatic moment was mishandled. It was a well-made film, but not a well-adapted one. That said, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and even the somewhat ridiculous Ralph Fiennes were fantastic, and the production design was to die for. Re: this post, Helena Bonham Carter has always been one of my major problems with the series, I've never appreciated her take on the character. But recently I've decided to be more forgiving to her, because re-reading the books I don't think the Bellatrix character is a particularly interesting one.
While I'm not upset that "Harry Potter" is finally done - 8 films in 11 years is A LOT - but I will be sad at the loss of fantasy. Other than these movies, and the occasional rip-off, there's just nothing else like this. It was always disappointing that the action always seemed to just be two people waving wands at each as streams of light popped out (I didn't understand why one was stronger than the other?), but at least they had magic and spells and witches and wizards and all sorts of fantastical stuff going on. I hope some studio takes a punt on an original fantasy property, maybe? Doubtful.
The Bellatrix/Mrs Weasly fight was kinda weak. Her "bitch" line was great, but - again - I don't know why Mrs Weasly won. Is it simply because she has the stronger character (in terms of goodness) or was one of those multi-syllabic spells of hers just better than Bellatrix's?
The only categories I think it deserves Oscar considerations are the sound and visual effects ones. Let's face it, art direction? What new was added here? Some sets made of rubble? Maybe I'm forgetting some big set piece? As for cinematography? Again, not sure what so differentiates between this and the last few films. Hmm.
how's the foot now,i hope u don't end up in a cast katherine parker style with men looking at your gown!
cinematography for this year's oscar belongs to emmanuel lubezski. done.
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for original score!!!
Saw it twice yesterday (midnight screening and the afternoon) and thought it was pretty damn good but needed to be fleshed out in certain areas. Despite a great build-up, The Battle of Hogwarts feels more like background noise than an epic battle. Also, the stuff with the Malfoys is almost completely ignored and Snape should have had a bigger role (although what he had in the film was very impressive). Still, it's extremely re-watchable - I'm seeing it a third time today - and a satisfying end to the story.
SPOILERS (though seriously- is there anybody who cares about HP and *doesn't* know what will happen in this movie?):
I enjoyed the movie, but I can't say that I thought it was particularly good. There were an awful lot of jokes during the Battle of Hogwarts, which I'm not sure was the right tone to strike in a scene where werewolves were literally feasting on the blood of children. I cringed virtually any time that Neville was on the screen-- I actually felt embarrassed for him during his final speech-- and I thought that some of the more 'cinematic' moments felt horribly lazy (slow-motion shots as the Elderwand flies into Harry's hand, for instance).
That said, the movie had a lot of heart, which the books have, and I thought the scene with Dumbledore was pretty amazing. The shots of Hogwarts under the reign of Snape/Voldemort, with its allusions to Nazism, were also haunting and inspired.
All in all, I'd give a favorable review I guess, but my Metacritic score would be middling.
If they didn't do the stupid 3D conversion, I could easily see this film nominated for cinematography. I saw it in 2D and it was beautifully shot.
But yes, Art Direction Oscar, please. They completely reinvented the sets again, and then again, and then again, and then one more time for good measure over the course of about two hours. It was insane.
And can we give someone--anyone--a sacrificial acting nomination in honor of the series? Maybe Maggie Smith for actually getting to act again in the series? Or give it to Ralph Fiennes for what should have gotten him a nomination in 2005? Shoot. Give it to Alan Rickman now that he got to show emotion beyond stoic bastard. The adults have been killing it for eight films and get ignored because it's all Harry, all the time.
Robert G -- i am in the camp, as you probably guessed, that thinks the talk of acting nominations for this series is absurd (beyond Imelda in Order of the Phoenix who was truly inspired and had a lot of screentime) because most of the time they're just doing the one or two dimensional character schtick for 3 to 4 scenes because the movies are quite crowded. Yes, the adult actors are true pros and hugely enjoyable at times but it's not Great Acting. This is i think where sentiment always ends up spoiling my Potter experience. I think they're mildly amusing films but the amount of devotion as BESTTHINGEVER they inspire is disheartening.
maybe i'm just grumpy?
Art direction and visual effects seem to be pretty solid nomination contenders. I also think it has an admittedly long shot for adapted screenplay. Turning that many pages of story into a two hours and change screenplay and having it make as much sense as it did is a remarkable feat.
I will also be the first on my block to suggest it has a shot at a best picture nomination. If it passes $300 million domestic and holds 85% or better on Metacritic, it will have two of the three key ingredients for it. The third is precursor love. If the guilds reward it on the merits and on behalf of the series as a whole, and the year-end 'Ten Best' wire service and print media lists don't forget the praise they gave it when Christmas rolls around, it has a chance. Its only (possibly insurmountable) obstacle would be the 5% requirement - I am not sure that one out of twenty Academy members could even be bribed to put it in the top spots on their nominating ballots. But stranger things have happened.
I have to see. I really liked it and I cried. Sure, I'm a fan of the books and it kind of symbolized the end of my youth but I also thought it was a pretty good film.