Day 8: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Welcome to the last 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.

After six days of watching the Harry Potter series, I am finally at the end. Yes, it is sad to end the series, because I had a lot of fun. But when a series ends with a film like Deathly Hallows Part 2, I couldn't help but feel the happiness/sadness/whatever that true Harry Potter fans felt. And this was another 2011 film to check off my list. Now I can say that I have seen the entire Harry Potter series, so to whoever it was that said I don't deserve a movie blog for not seeing it, I've just earned my ownership of Cinematic Paradox. Yay. Anyway, the final movie from an outsider's perspective:

-I admit, I was pretty sceptical over this movie. As I'd spent the past two weeks of my life (not every day, mind you) cleaning shelves at work, and the trailer for this played on the loop disc every hour and a half. Basically, while the trailer is quite good, how many times did they have to have Voldemort saying "NNNNYYAAAAAAHH" in it? Like, seriously. As soon as I heard a "NNNNYYAAAAAAHH" I wanted to shoot myself (or maybe that was just the messy shelves making me feel that way), even if it was my main man Ralph Fiennes' voice.
-Then again, everyone went crazy over this movie. I don't know whether this was because it was the end of the series and it was a given that people would go crazy over it, or whether this was just a really good movie. I tend to go with the latter, but let's not forget that it would work better as a conclusion to a really epic series rather than a stand-alone movie.
-Anyways, I loved how Hermione disguised herself as Bellatrix. No-one could be as convincing as Helena Bonham Carter, as that clearly shows.
-It never fails to amaze me how many British actors have been in this series. It's particularly cool that Ciarán Hinds shows up in this one.

-It's interesting how Neville Longbottom gets a lot of screen time in this movie. He seemed really under-used in the series, to me.
-I loved the scene where McGonagall fought Snape. I always knew she was a complete badass.
-That shield around Hogwarts was pretty epic. This film definitely has to be nominated for Best Visual Effects, no doubt about it.
-Okay, so this whole series was made when we learned the truth about Snape and Dumbledore. Like, I just felt like that was the best moment of the series. And I always knew that Snape was a good guy (he's my favourite character for a reason). Except, my friend hasn't seen this film, so I was having a very hard time telling her why Snape was my favourite character.

-And a big WOW to learning the truth about our Harry Potter. Poor guy.
-Jesus, the Draco/Voldemort hug. Funniest thing I've ever seen. Mind you, I wouldn't say no to a hug from Ralph Fiennes.
-**SPOILER ALERT** I almost died when Molly killed Bellatrix. The Weasley's really are a family filled with badassery.
-This film's version of Heaven was pretty interesting. Looks like my kind of place.
-The final act of this movie is the definition of EPIC. I can see why so many people are trying to get this nominated for Best Picture. Unfortunately, I don't think it stands a chance, particularly because it has been missing from all of the awards so far.
-The ending was of course sad because we have to leave everyone behind now, but I didn't really like how it ended. Let's just say, the actors involved didn't look old enough, and it was a tad cheesy. But I imagine that there were a few tears being wept in the cinemas.
-If anyone deserves Oscar nominations for this movie, it would be either Alan Rickman or Ralph Fiennes. They both play their characters consistently well, and with a finesse that isn't seen in many of the other cast members. Because the Best Supporting Actor race is so weak this year, they have every reason to get in, but I think voters will forget them and they will remain as two of the most underrated performances of all time.

-Speaking of the actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint do tremendous work here. They really did come a long way since 2001.
-In fact, the whole series came a long way since 2001. To think that this series started out with a very tame kids movie...
-This movie remains a highlight of 2011. All of the posters say "the movie event of a generation". I couldn't possibly thing of anything more true.

So, there you have it. I have now watched all of the Harry Potter films, and before the end of 2011, no less. Many of you have suggested that I read the books, which is something I'll start right after I read War Horse (which I keep putting off because it makes me miss my horses so much), and I'll try to finish before the end of 2012. Otherwise, I had a lot of fun watching these films. Some were better than others, but I can't deny how much I enjoyed watching them! I'll definitely be going back to them every now and again.

What I got for Deathly Hallows Part 2 (going to the lower end of this rating):