Welcome to the seventh day of my eight-day long Harry Potter marathon. This is purely because I have not seen any of the Harry Potter's and I promised a whole lot of people that I'd watch 'em all when the last DVD came out. That was over a month ago, so I have to do it now. I will be blogging about my journey through Hogwarts...and such.
Well, now we have arrived at the big one. Deathly Hallows Part 1 is, of course, the first part of the epic finale to this series. I had to keep reminding myself that this was only released last year and my friends were going crazy of it only last year, because after watching them all I got used to these movies being over five years old. One of the bizarre side-effects of watching all of the movies at once. Anyhoo, from an outsider's perspective:
-I loved the way this movie opened. It shows a close up of Minister Rufus Scrimgeour (Bill Nighy) eyes, as he says "These are dark times, there is no denying." Then it shows all of the cameras flashing in otherwise completely dark place, with him standing in the centre. It seemed like something out of a political thriller. It was very stylish indeed.
-Haha, the scene where everyone turns into Harry Potter is quite hilarious. Especially Fleur Delacour's transformation.
-Fred Weasley: How you feeling, Georgie?
George Weasley: ...Saint-like.
Fred Weasley: ...Come again?
George Weasley: Saint-like.
[points to ear]
George Weasley: I'm holey.
Best.
-Fleur Delacour is back. I felt like her character had the potential to be so much more.
-Speaking of Fleur, I really liked her wedding dress. It was...different.
-Of course, that wedding wasn't going to be a joyous occasion. When are they ever in movies or TV shows? Why can't someone just have a happy, disaster free wedding for once? When I become a director, I'm going to put a happy wedding in my movie just to show that it can happen. The Death-eaters can stay the hell away.
-I loved how Harry, Hermione and Ron just suddenly turn up in the city. And I also love how Hermione has a bag filled with tricks. I just really like Hermione. If I was a student at Hogwarts, she'd be the kind of friend I'd like to have around.
-That fight in the cafe was pretty epic. I love how they can use wands like guns. Wands are a hundred times more interesting, though.
-I also loved how the three impersonate those members of the Ministry of Magic. That was cool.
-I liked Hermione's jacket, a lot. I want that jacket.
-And shame Umbridge. Whenever you go down, it is a happy occasion.
-This movie is quite dark about it's romantic strain. Especially when Ron has all those visions of Harry being far better than him, and then Harry and Hermione having a little 'snog' together.
-I also love how everyone kinda falls apart. When I say everyone, I mean that Ron decides to ditch Harry and Hermione. I must admit, all of them were being quite selfish, so I don't know how they put up with each other for so long.
-The scene where Hermoine reads the story about the Deathly Hallows is beautifully made. Interesting direction that David Yates took, to animate the story. And the animation style was beautiful, too. Somebody should make a whole movie with that.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
-The scene when Bellatrix captures them all is pretty intense. Especially when Bellatrix tortures Hermione. Helena Bonham Carter is such a good actress.
-But that bitch killed Dobby. No one kills Dobby. It's such a shame that Dobby wasn't around so much because then I would have felt much more sad than I did. Still, it brought a tear to my eye, particularly as Dobby had just exclaimed that he was a "free elf". Such a heartfelt moment in the series.
-I've gone through this whole post without a love letter to Ralph Fiennes. He does tremendous work in this movie. God bless him. I love the way his voice sounds, too. Very nice.
-The end was nice enough, considering this was only half of the story. I am quite lucky that I didn't have to wait like, nine months to see what happened after that.
I actually really liked this movie. If it wasn't for Deathly Hallows Part 2, this would be my favourite. It was top entertainment.
What I got:
I'm so glad you liked it. A lot of people found the camping out scenes to be really long and boring - it's about the emotional turmoil people!!! (that was my cry..)
ReplyDeleteInteresting about Fleur, her characters development on screen is pretty much how it is in the books from what I recall.
Oh god, the torture scene - incredibly intense, they pulled it off so well!
I loved this film. It was so different from the others because it was so bleak. This whole part was uber depressing in the book, except the Fred and George part is there in the book too. Yates did a wonderful job in this, really.
ReplyDeleteI love Hermione in this film. And god Emma Watson's too gorgeous.
One of my favourite parts in the film was the random Harry-Hermione dance... it was adorable.
I wept so much when Dobby died. He was so cool.
I have to admit I quite liked this one. Still need to see part 2 though!
ReplyDeleteFleur comes back in the Half-Blood Prince Book... but yeah, her character development is only slightly more in the books than it is in the movies. She fights a lot with Mrs. Weasley and finally stands up to her, but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteDobby's death in the book had me sobbing. I had to put the book down because I was crying so hard--and I didn't even particularly care for Dobby. It's just a beautifully written moment.
I know I usually have like a page-worth of comments... but I have nothing here. This is a brilliantly made set of films. Really, there are only 2 things missing. 1) The explanation of the mirror shard. It's kinda there in Part 2, but not really. 2) ALL of Dumbledore's background. The bulk of the book is DD's history, and nearly all of it is removed from the film. It's there to make you question if DD is really the good guy we all came to think he was, which adds to the frustration of not finding anything during all the camping.
I really liked Deathly Hallows Part 1, more than most people (it might well be my favorite of the series). Emma Watson really comes around with her acting in this movie as I always thought she was the weakest of three up until the 6th movie.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest disappointments was that Kreacher's story arc wasn't properly finished in this movie. Same thing with the Dursleys when Harry leaves their house for good. I won't spoil those since you will start reading the books but you will enjoy getting these loose ends finished up.
I felt a little as if I was watching Twilight - the whole triangle thing, the woods and snow...I loved the scene with Snape and Voldemort in the beginning - good God, the amount of emotion Rickman puts in there just with his eyes was amazing, I was pissed off though, that he only had one scene. The Dobby thing totally shocked me, it was insanely cruel and I did not see this coming in the movie essentially aimed at children
ReplyDeleteRuth - I actually really liked it when they were in the woods. It built up the tension quite well. But yeah, I guess it wasn't overly interesting to watch.
ReplyDeleteThe pulled it off amazingly well!
Nikhat - Yates did do a fantastic job. I loved how bleak this was.
Emma Watson is so gorgeous. I'm kinda sad that she cut off her hair, though.
That dance was so cute!
Dobby was so awesome. Such a shame that he died.
Pete - That one was awesome.
Nick - Oh. I just thought that Fleur was better than she seemed.
If I read it I would be sobbing pretty hard, too. Dobby was awesome!
And I love your page-long comments! Dumbledore's history does get shafted a bit, but I was satisfied with what was there.
Castor - It is just about my favourite of the series. I did really like it.
And yes, Emma Watson did come around. She was pretty weak in the early films.
It looks like there are a lot of loose ends!
Sati - Snape was pretty absent, which was a shame because I always enjoyed his presence.
I don't know whether this movie was aimed at children. The series was aimed at children at the beginning, and those children grew up with the series so they were slowly feeding darkness into it until those children were old enough to take things like Dobby's death. If that make sense, haha.
I could go on and on about how talented Rowling is; she does an amazing job in developing her characters, plot, and setting. She has moments of humor, warmth and depth. And I LOVE how she developed Snape's character and answered all the questions about this enigmatic character in this final volume. A superb ending to an excellent series!
ReplyDeleteZia
Surprised at Medical Records Management
What would be your next topic next week on your blog.;,~’. Harry Potter
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