Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. I couldn't remember exactly.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - Discuss and Grade
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Saw it last night.
Good example of poor, wasteful film making. Too many "over thought" shots--there was a lot of flair where there needn't be. And the pacing was bloody awful. Even worse than the novel.
And really, not a movie for kids. I went with all the relatives in down. We decided at the last minute to leave the youngsters at home. I'm glad we did.
Kinda want my money back.
Good example of poor, wasteful film making. Too many "over thought" shots--there was a lot of flair where there needn't be. And the pacing was bloody awful. Even worse than the novel.
And really, not a movie for kids. I went with all the relatives in down. We decided at the last minute to leave the youngsters at home. I'm glad we did.
Kinda want my money back.
Yes, he did. Depending on how you want to take it, that's either an inconsistency in the books, or the characters thinking George couldn't be cured were simply mistaken - Snape designed the Sectum Sempra spell, so he may know better.
Maybe that wasn't considered intentional, since Harry didn't even know what the sectumsempra curse would do?
I like this explanation. A lot!
There was a sentimental value attached to Dobby's death, because in a way it's unexpected. Because of his chosen profession, we always knew that Mad-Eye was most likely going to die an untimely and possibly violent death. It's expected, inevitable. But Dobby? He was innocent, a simple house elf who longed for freedom. There is no real hint at his ultimate fate, so his death comes as a shock. And even if you have read the book, then saw the movie, it'd echoed in those images.
I did like the scene in the book where Harry put the magic eye in a tree and carves out a cross. Good little moment for Harry. They took away a couple of these moments in the translation.
Well I saw it,and like some of you posted had about how much of the book they used and as well as left out its a very thick book over 750 pages so extracting the good parts,and leaving out some scenes is intentional,but they may have filmed it,and edited to fit the 3 hour plus running time.
The director's cut for the DVD version should have deleted scenes.
The scene of Harry saying goodbye to the Dursleys should have been left in.
My own experiences with my current loss came back to me in the scene where Harry is looking though the house,and into the cupboard under the stairs,and the house is empty not a stick of furniture in the place.
I gave this an excellent looking forward to part two.
Signed
Buck Rogers
The director's cut for the DVD version should have deleted scenes.
The scene of Harry saying goodbye to the Dursleys should have been left in.
My own experiences with my current loss came back to me in the scene where Harry is looking though the house,and into the cupboard under the stairs,and the house is empty not a stick of furniture in the place.
I gave this an excellent looking forward to part two.
Signed
Buck Rogers
Agreed. That was the first thing that struck me when I saw the movie. I thought it was a poignant scene showing how far they've all come.
The problem is that that scene built on the Dumbledore/Dursleys scene in The Half-Blood Prince, which was cut from that film, and on the more extended scenes at the Dursley home in The Order of the Phoenix, most of which was also cut. For the Harry/Dudley reconciliation to appear in this film would be for it to come out of nowhere.
Not gonna read 12 pages of reviews, so here I go.
I did not like this movie. I have loved every HP movie so far, but this one was just not very well done. Most of my criticisms have to do with the directing:
This movie had no business being as long as it was. It felt like they took a 90 minute story and forced another hour onto it. And in that hour, all we really saw were Harry and Hermoine standing around being mopey. I appreciate quiet, introspective films, but this movie just overdid it without actually accomplishing anything.
I realize that this movie would suffer from only being half of a story. While all the other films have a beginning, middle, and end, this one just kind of stops in the middle. I understand that that was going to happen, but it severely detracted from my enjoyment of it.
Now, I have NOT read the books, so I don't know what was missing or what wasn't missing. From what I've seen, people who HAVE read the books seem to enjoy this movie a lot more than people who haven't. The reverse can be said for the HPB.
On top of it, this movie was basically LOTR, with Harry, Ron, and Hermoine playing Frodo, Sam, and Gollum trying to destroy the evil Ring/Horcrux. And unlike LOTR, we didn't get any relief from the Galdalf/Aragorn storyline.
I hope this movie is leading somewhere awesome, because I was thoroughly disappointed.
I did not like this movie. I have loved every HP movie so far, but this one was just not very well done. Most of my criticisms have to do with the directing:
This movie had no business being as long as it was. It felt like they took a 90 minute story and forced another hour onto it. And in that hour, all we really saw were Harry and Hermoine standing around being mopey. I appreciate quiet, introspective films, but this movie just overdid it without actually accomplishing anything.
I realize that this movie would suffer from only being half of a story. While all the other films have a beginning, middle, and end, this one just kind of stops in the middle. I understand that that was going to happen, but it severely detracted from my enjoyment of it.
Now, I have NOT read the books, so I don't know what was missing or what wasn't missing. From what I've seen, people who HAVE read the books seem to enjoy this movie a lot more than people who haven't. The reverse can be said for the HPB.
On top of it, this movie was basically LOTR, with Harry, Ron, and Hermoine playing Frodo, Sam, and Gollum trying to destroy the evil Ring/Horcrux. And unlike LOTR, we didn't get any relief from the Galdalf/Aragorn storyline.
I hope this movie is leading somewhere awesome, because I was thoroughly disappointed.
Too much flair is still better than too many lens flares!
Yeah, I guess it just plays a lot differently in the movies than it does in the books. From what I've been told, Dobby is in nearly all of the books. But the movies were really quick to excise him once all of the Jar Jar comparisons started coming in after The Chamber of Secrets.
Well, not exactly. His appearances are never as prominent as in The Chamber of Secrets, but he is much more of a recurring character, yeah; he has a supporting role in The Goblet of Fire and a smaller role in The Order of the Phoenix. I don't recall him appearing in The Prisoner of Azkaban or The Half-Blood Prince at all. His role in The Deathly Hallows is roughly as it appeared in the film.
I'll go back and read the thread after I post this, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed by the movie. It seemed very disjointed - a bunch of moments from the book, and some invented stuff as well, just thrown together. It didn't seem to "flow" as well as I'd expected as a result. Characters appeared all over the place and without the book as background I wouldn't have had a clue who a lot of them were or what purpose they served. Watson remains, IMO, a mediocre (at best) actress and that made some of her scenes excruciating. Radcliffe's improved a bit but...yeah. And like almost every first-parter in existence it seemed all setup and little substance.
Disjointed as they were, though, some of the moments were damned good and one or two were priceless. Voldemort and his goons at the beginning, the seven Potters, the battle in the Ministry, Won-Won's dummy spit and departure from the group...all terrific. Dobby's death, though...geez. Hit me just as hard as it did in the book. And on a rather different note, I might have to bring back my lunatic Bellatrix av. The woman was even further off her rocker than ever.
Edit: The way the Tale of the Three Brothers was presented was quite brilliant.
The movie looked incredible, but that's nothing unusual. And while effects remain unimportant to me, some of them were pretty fabulous, too.
I'll probably see it again and even as I sit here thinking about it it seems better than it did as I left the theatre. For now, though, it's definitely a letdown.
Having said all that... July seems an awfully long way off.
Disjointed as they were, though, some of the moments were damned good and one or two were priceless. Voldemort and his goons at the beginning, the seven Potters, the battle in the Ministry, Won-Won's dummy spit and departure from the group...all terrific. Dobby's death, though...geez. Hit me just as hard as it did in the book. And on a rather different note, I might have to bring back my lunatic Bellatrix av. The woman was even further off her rocker than ever.
Edit: The way the Tale of the Three Brothers was presented was quite brilliant. The movie looked incredible, but that's nothing unusual. And while effects remain unimportant to me, some of them were pretty fabulous, too.
I'll probably see it again and even as I sit here thinking about it it seems better than it did as I left the theatre. For now, though, it's definitely a letdown.
Having said all that... July seems an awfully long way off.
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I'll go back and read the thread after I post this, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed by the movie. It seemed very disjointed - a bunch of moments from the book, and some invented stuff as well, just thrown together. It didn't seem to "flow" as well as I'd expected as a result. Characters appeared all over the place and without the book as background I wouldn't have had a clue who a lot of them were or what purpose they served. Watson remains, IMO, a mediocre (at best) actress and that made some of her scenes excruciating. Radcliffe's improved a bit but...yeah. And like almost every first-parter in existence it seemed all setup and little substance.
Disjointed as they were, though, some of the moments were damned good and one or two were priceless. Voldemort and his goons at the beginning, the seven Potters, the battle in the Ministry, Won-Won's dummy spit and departure from the group...all terrific. Dobby's death, though...geez. Hit me just as hard as it did in the book. And on a rather different note, I might have to bring back my lunatic Bellatrix av. The woman was even further off her rocker than ever.
The movie looked incredible, but that's nothing unusual. And while effects remain unimportant to me, some of them were pretty fabulous, too.
I'll probably see it again and even as I sit here thinking about it it seems better than it did as I left the theatre. For now, though, it's definitely a letdown.
Having said all that... July seems an awfully long way off.
From the sound of your review, mate, it sounds like you enjoyed it a lot more than you wanted to.
Oh, I wanted to enjoy the hell out of the movie. The previews looked incredible (but that's the point of them, of course), and as someone who enjoyed Deathly Hallows very much - yes, even the much-despised epilogue - I'd looked forward to this movie for ages. The reality was...well, rather less than I'd expected or hoped for. It it wasn't an unwatchable abomination, by any means; just not nearly as good as I wanted it to be.
So I'm on the fence. I think.
Having read the rest of the thread earlier, I'm not even going to touch the 'shipper stuff. Since there are people in the thread who for whatever reason(s) have chosen to not read the books I won't go into too much detail but the right people ended up with the right people, IMO. To my eyes the much-vaunted "chemistry" between Radcliffe and Watson adds up to their characters being friends - no more and no less. It would have been tremendously helpful if movie Ginny had been more like book Ginny - a person rather than a rarely-sighted cypher, to help make that pairing a bit more obvious. But in general the movies bear little resemblance to the books - the movies have people with the same names who do some of the same things as those in the books, but so many of the details have been lost along the way they're pretty much in separate universes at this point.
I agree with those who've noted that Ron is actually Ron in this movie. I suppose even Kloves realised the character had reached the point of near non-existence in the previous movies he'd scripted and decided to redress the balance a bit. Good to see, at any rate.
So I'm on the fence. I think.
Having read the rest of the thread earlier, I'm not even going to touch the 'shipper stuff. Since there are people in the thread who for whatever reason(s) have chosen to not read the books I won't go into too much detail but the right people ended up with the right people, IMO. To my eyes the much-vaunted "chemistry" between Radcliffe and Watson adds up to their characters being friends - no more and no less. It would have been tremendously helpful if movie Ginny had been more like book Ginny - a person rather than a rarely-sighted cypher, to help make that pairing a bit more obvious. But in general the movies bear little resemblance to the books - the movies have people with the same names who do some of the same things as those in the books, but so many of the details have been lost along the way they're pretty much in separate universes at this point.
I agree with those who've noted that Ron is actually Ron in this movie. I suppose even Kloves realised the character had reached the point of near non-existence in the previous movies he'd scripted and decided to redress the balance a bit. Good to see, at any rate.
Well, you knew what you were getting into with the Part 1/Part 2 thing. Of course the film won't resolve anything in the first part. Frankly, Order of the Phoenix, Goblet of Fire and HPB should all have been 2-part movies as well. So at least they're doing it right for the last one.
Personally, I don't feel you should be disappointed. If you really wanted DH condensed down to 90 minutes, I think it would have been an even greater disappointment. Perhaps you might have been better off waiting till the end of 2011 and the DVD/BD release of both films, or the inevitable double feature reissue, because I get the feeling it might have been a mistake for you to just watch part 1. Not everyone wants to see films that don't resolve themselves in 90-120 minutes, and I respect that.
As for the "I hope this leads somewhere awesome" concern, my suggestion is buy the book. Yes, the film isn't a word-for-word transcription of the novel, but it's close enough that you can probably get a good sense if you start reading from Dobby's death onwards as to whether it's worth you buying a ticket next July.
As for my own feelings on the film, I was very impressed with what was included. I did not expect them to incorporate any of the Beedle the Bard material, much less adapt one of the stories as a piece of animation.
I also liked the fact that included the dance sequence between Harry and Hermione. The "kiss" was undeniable fan service, but for those who felt the ship should have been those two, not Hermione and Ron, I think it was very nice for them to enjoy a genuine, pseudo-romantic moment, and then get that out of the way.
I spotted a few other omissions, but the fact is a film of this nature, it's hard to say whether or not certain things are gone for good. There will inevitably be deleted scenes showing up in an extended edition later - I bet Dudley's farewell to Harry is one of them.
I am very glad they didn't make this 3-D. Aside from the fact I hate 3-D with a passion (and will not go to see Part 2 in the theatre if my city's theatres only offer the 3-D option), just as with Avatar there is simply too much stuff going on to be distracted by those damn glasses. If the producers announce that "sorry guys, we can't get the 3-D done for Part 2 either" I'll be cheering.
Alex
But my point is that I shouldn't have to read the books. The movies should be able to stand apart, and I just don't think this one succeeded as well as the previous ones.
Obviously, this one was going to be unresolved. I get that, and I'm fine with it. It's a bit annoying, but it was unavoidable given that it is in fact only half the story.
My point is that there is just too much downtime in this movie! Something exciting happens! Now here's 20 minutes of our heroes looking mopey. Something else happens! Now here's 20 more minutes of our heroes looking mopey! Ron gets super mopey and disappears! Then he comes back...and tells us why (it would have been much better if we could have at least seen him out on his own for scene, struggling to get back). But look, even though Ron is back, we're still going to spend 20 more minutes showing everybody being mopey.
The story that was there was fine, but the film really needed to be edited down. Too much exposition. Too many wide shots of the character's locations. Too many shots of the characters being mopey for the sake of being mopey.
My complaints have to do with the directing and the editing, not with the story or the performances.
Now, it's entirely possible that my opinion will change once I see it again. I didn't like HPB much the first time I saw it, but it's now my second favorite of them all (right behind "Order of the Phoenix"). Hell, for that matter, I didn't like "Order of the Phoenix" the first time I saw it either, but now it's my absolute favorite.
I've read the books (within the last year, in fact) and I borrowed/rented the first 6 films on DVD. The Deathly Hallows, part 1 was my first HP theater experience. I absolutely loved it. I love how dark, tense and hopeless the film seems to be. I really think that it captured the feelings from the book quite well. Sure, some things were cut/changed/glossed-over from the book but that's always been the case with this series (and pretty much all movie adaptations). The direction and cinematography were great.
I don't know, RoJoHen. I liked the down time. If the movie was having constant action beats, I don't think they would have been able to capture the bleakness of the situation. You can't express the feeling of loneliness if you're constantly running into people and I think that's where the quality of the film comes from. When I was reading the book, I knew they were alone and fighting a war, but I didn't feel it. The movie made me feel that and I think that will ultimately help the next film.
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