Movie Rec: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 1

[retsuko]

This movie felt different from all the others that proceeded it; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 has more in common with a tense zombie movie like 28 Days Later or the empty landscapes of the plague decimated population of the excellent BBC series Survivors than it does with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. There are lovely and sad scenes where our three heroes, reluctantly on their own, wander through beautiful but deserted spaces (most eerily, a trailer park that seems like a setting straight out of a horror movie instead of a coming of age story full of magic and wonder.) Magic is not in short supply, but wonder and joy are, and the stakes could not be higher. The threats in this movie (to our heroes, to their world and the people they love) are more fully realized and the mood of the entire film is dark, dark, dark waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. And when it does drop... bad things happen, and they keep happening. Put together, it's a tremendously satisfying and dark story, and cuts off at a very natural point.

What I really love about this movie and the screenplay is that the annoying bickering that takes up about a third of the book has been effectively dealt with so that it doesn't bore me the way it did in the book. That said, the plot and large passages of dialogue are cut directly from the pages of the story, and what has been added is good. Neville gets a short but kick-ass scene; there's an added scary bit with Voldemort and Dumbledore's coffin that neatly frames the conflict. The added on scene that got the most attention in the theater I was in was the part where Ron storms off, and Harry and Hermione find themselves alone. A cheerful song comes on the radio and Harry dances with Hermione. The audience around us laughed, for reasons that didn't make a lot of sense... I thought this moment was well-timed and necessary to dispel some of the tension that had built up over the past few scenes. But perhaps it seemed forced to others?

The thing that I really noticed was how everyone did well with what little they had. Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, and Alan Rickman are on screen for just a few minutes apiece, but each of them manages to make their appearances memorable and real. (Tom Felton, in particular, lets his internal struggle play across his features in a very interesting way.) I also loved how the characters in the Order of the Phoenix have a very real sense of solidarity with one another and for the cause they believe in.

Mostly, I cannot wait for Part 2 now! The movie ends at a very good point, but knowing what comes next, I am so, so eager to see the final conflict. Also, I am ready to cry like a baby at massive character death. I expected to cry at this film, but it didn't happen. More emotionally effective than the character death in this installment, I am sorry to say, is the torture. And it's not done in a ghoulish or creepy way... just horrible and realistic.

tl;dr version: Relentless tension still makes for a great plot and excellent acting work makes this a real treat. But the best treat of all will be seeing Part 1 and Part 2 together. XD

Trailer Park:

~ Green Hornet and Green Lantern duke it out for green-related superhero movie.
~ Cowboys & Aliens got a disbelieving laugh from the audience when the title finally came up, and I'm inclined to agree. Seriously: you spend all that money to hire Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, and make all those pretty special effects and blow stuff up, and you couldn't think of a better title?
~ Yogi Bear: O RLY (Addendum: Justin Timberlake... WHUT.)
~ Am I the only one who's not dying to see the new Tron movie? This trailer made it look very headachy and predictable. (I invented A.I. OH WAIT THE A.I. HAS TURNED AGAINST ME!!!1!)

Comments

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

For once, movie is better than book.

But I have to disagree with you re: Cowboys vs Aliens. I think the title is totally awesome. Everyone was laughing in my theater, too, but a lot of people also clapped. It's the new "Snakes on a Plane".

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

See, I could definitely see it that way, except that Snakes on a Plane didn't appear to take itself seriously from the get-go; whereas C&A looks as if it's intended to be a serious sort of movie in some capacity. If I'm going to see a serious movie, I'd prefer a serious title to go along with it.

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

Ah. I didn't get that sense at all. I got the sense of "here is a silly, overblown action movie-- deadpan, but all for fun." Particularly since action movies have been taking themselves way too seriously lately (pace Iron Man), I think that's part of what the title is wagging its tongue at.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

OK, fair enough: if it ends up being like that, I could handle it. Daniel Craig is easy on the eyes. *sighs happily* (Although during the first half of the trailer, I kept thinking, man, he needs a shower!.)

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

We were laughing hysterically at the dancing sequence (as well as the "Dream-Harry and Hermione Make Out" scene because I had bet my sister-in-law going in that the director would continue to be an unabashed Harry/Hermione shipper, sneaking in H/Hr bits whenever possible, in blithe disregard for the OTP of the books.

And indeed, he did. So I wonder if your audience was reacting to the same thing.

I cried a bit at Hermione obliviating her parents, and not at all at Dobby's death. Guess that shows where my loyalties are?

I also liked giving the Malfoys a bit more to play with, although OMG the book/movies would work better if Draco actually _gave_ the stupid Elder Wand to Harry and thus, you know, made a meaningful choice.

[ladybird97.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm in the middle of re-reading the book and was surprised to see that the dream-sequence Harry/Hermione kiss was in the book! (I don't think they were nekkid in the book, though.) But the dance - that was just the director shipping. And thus, a thousand fanfics were born...

And I had the same reactions as you to Hermione Obliviating her parents/Dobby dying. Yeah.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

"I also liked giving the Malfoys a bit more to play with, although OMG the book/movies would work better if Draco actually _gave_ the stupid Elder Wand to Harry and thus, you know, made a meaningful choice."

Yes, this. It annoys me so much that Rowling took what I think is the "easy" route and didn't actually give Draco much of a redemptive "we all pull together in crisis" moment. Because, REALLY.

It's one of my big quibbles with her writing. Bad people pretty much are always bad and fat people are always bad/ridiculous (pet peeve as a DEATHFAT! woman). For someone with as much imagination as Rowling has, could she NOT have stepped out of some of the stereotypes she uses?

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

As Sarah Rees Brennan (sarahtales.livejournal.com) says: "The most important thing is that we all have choices, Harry. And some of us make the choice to be born evil."

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

Quite!

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

Ha! This, for the win.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy the director forcing the ship. The dance scene didn't come off as shippy to me at all; in fact, I thought it was more a plot device than a pointer towards Sekrit Twu Luv. The tension that built up in the scenes that went before it needed some sort of resolution and since what happens in the book is completely inadequate (Harry throws a blanket at Hermione, storms off to sulk in his bunk), this scene built him up as more of a hero who'd put aside his own feelings to comfort his friend. But that's just me.

The naked thing seemed a bit gratuitous at the time, but since the piece of Voldemort's soul trapped in the Horcrux is messing with Ron's mind, it makes sense that sexual insecurity would be part of that (since teenage boys aren't high on the sexual security scale.)

I did get teary at Hermione's opening scene. Props to Emma Watson throughout!

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Really? I feel like the movies have been shipping Harry/Hermione all the way through. Think of the lengthy embrace in IV, or the cuddly angstfest in VI.

I note that the scriptwriter has been quite open about this: http://www.rupert-grint.us/forum2/showthread.php?109-Steve-Kloves-and-JK-Rowling-on-Harry-Hermione

I'm happy to disagree on this point, but I've been hearing from other folks about laughter during the dancing scene, and I do suspect that the H/Hr stuff is one of the reasons _why_ people are laughing, even if it can be read very differently.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I hadn't read that interview, but I can see how the scene would come off that way. OTOH, I prefer to read my movies straight up, and I still think the dance was a nice touch, shippy or not. :)

I wonder now if JKR would rewrite the books to favor H/Hr. I just want Harry/Luna, myself...

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

I liked Luna's dad in this one, though do all blond guys have to be bad?

I read another interview with Radcliffe and Watson where Watson said that they chose to play it with some ambiguity - that there's a moment of potential in the scene, and then they silently decide to stick to friendship, perhaps with some regret on Harry's side (but not on Hermione's.) I rather like that reading (though reading movies straight up is totally legitimate) - mostly, because, frankly, two attractive close 17-year-old friends alone in the woods, in a highly stressful situation, attracted to the appropriate gender - of course they're going to _think_ about it. They may well choose not to do anything about it, but there's going to be a moment or two of wondering on at least one side. And portraying the dance as both comforting and friendship and that little moment of what-if...I like that.

Sadly, I think there's more evidence for Harry/Draco than Harry/Luna in the movies, much as I like Evanna Lynch.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed HP also and am quite excited for Voyage of the Dawn Treader (maybe you didn't get the preview?) I have no desire to see the new Tron, except maybe if someone else pays for the ticket! Frankly, I think that having seen previews for the last year (?!) pulls a lot of the mystery and interest out of a film for me, because frankly, I'm just not that impressed by the effects, etc. when I've seen them a million times already.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if someone else paid, I'd go see Tron. But otherwise, not high on my list of priorities.

I have already seen the Dawn Treader footage elsewhere and it looks made of awesome and win. It's funny to see Eustace getting star billing, though!

Oh the whole, I quite like trailers, except when the entire film is shown to me in 2 minutes. But a good, well-edited trailer is often better than the whole movie and usually makes itself worth it in interesting ways. I guess this comes from a childhood where my family didn't go to the movies very much and the only glimpses of things I wanted to see came from trailers.

Благодарю за инфу

[baptisteup.livejournal.com]

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