I'll start off by saying that I know I haven't posted in a while, and that this review is totally out of the blue. However, I will not apologize simply because I owe you cretins NOTHING. You heard me, NOTHING. Be that as it may, I am generous in my awesomeness, so I have graced you with my presence once more (mostly because of Harry Potter)!
:D!
Anyhow kids, apparently it's time for another ride on the ever present angst-wagon! However, this time it's a magical angst wagon filled with awkward social encounters and teenage jealousy! The joy and utter happiness.
This recent addition to the Harry Potter movie library is actually much better than the last few installments, which had the collective appeal of monkey drivel I may add, but it still seems to lack a certain something. It's something I can't exactly put my finger on, but it's like the movies are more centered on the witty banter and smarmy smarm than the actual plotline itself.
I remember at various times during the movie, as I was made to witness yet another socially awkward scene, thinking "For F***s sake, GET ON WITH IT." Maybe I've outgrown the particular appeal of that portion of the series' content since it took them approximately eleventy kajillion years to come out with all these movies. F*** me, I can't even remember the contents of the book to compare the plotlines of the book and the movie, since the book came out so LONG ago. What I'm trying to get at, is that people who have grown up with the books can't really relate to the movies anymore.
I remember reading about Harry's burgeoning love interests when I was but a wee lad, and thinking, "Well golly darn, I hope that happens to ME someday!", whereas now it's more along the lines of, "It's just a goddamn kiss, why is it so important. F***in kids."
Thus it's pretty odd that I think the movie is overly juvenile while being too serious. It's a conundrum, I know, but that was pretty much my initial appraisal of this much hyped film. You have the social awkwardness and growing romances as the kiddies get to understand their feelings for each other, but then you also get this dark superangst stemming from the whole voldemorte thing. I can call it the voldemort thing because we literally see that nigga like two f***ing times in the whole movie. As far as I could tell, the imagined ron/harry/hermione love triangle was the real plot of the story and this bit about some dark evil wizard was just tossed it to provide some sort of context.
One more thing that no one seemed to notice was that these 17 year old kids were portrayed as being in the woods for weeks at a time with no adult knowing the wiser. What I want to know is how come none of the previously vigilant bodyguards have even come looking for them? Didn't this guy have his own secret service at the beginning of the movie? Yet they can saunter off into the woods and traipse around for weeks at end with no one even trying to find them? I call bullshit.
Maybe it's just the cynic in me, but I had a hard time liking this movie. It was pretty enough, the music was amazing as usual (gotta love that theme song, eh), but something about the underlying logic of the plotline threw me off a bit. Like, really Ron? You have to open the locket to stab it? You couldn't just stab it when it was closed? You do have a magic sword ya know. I'm sure it'll cut through that shit like BUTTAH! I mean, I know Ron is supposed to be a bit of a twit, but I'm sure that even he should be able to figure out that it's probably best to stab said locket without revealing dark hidden magics. Son, I am disappoint.
Now that I'm done my critical babble, I have to admit that I grudgingly enjoyed the movie despite nearly every goddamn person in it dying. They killed off all the kiddy characters if no one has noticed. Hedwig bit the dust, Dobby got epic throwing knifed by Bellatrix and Dumbledore's been dead forever now. It just doesn't feel the same anymore, there's no magical castle of wonder, just a ton of running around trying to kill some evil dude who now has a +9 wand of epicness and wants to shove green lightning up your ass. Reads kinda like a bad WoW quest huh? I know.
One thing even I can't fault though, is the acting. These guys have played these roles so damned long that they're pretty much typecast now. Daniel Radcliffe doesn't play Harry Potter anymore, he IS Harry Potter: whiny SOB extraordinaire! Don't get me started on Hermione though because the things I would do to her, or Emma Watson anyway, are not fit for a PG-13 rating. I'd just hope she has some lube and apricots in her magic bag. Derp.
As for the directing, I did admit that this movie was better than the crud that was OOTP and THBP with David Yates finally stepping his game up a little to make the movie actually enjoyable. It probably helped that they split the movie in two so they can fit J.K.'s twelve million page book into manageable screen time. I felt like the pacing was a bit off and the mood was too dark, but hey It coulda been a helluva lot worse! It could have given you genital herpes =(
Pros and Cons: For this customary part of my review I've gotten others to provide the input for the Pros and Cons!
Soundtrack - I am guilty of being a complete music fanatic and I must say composer Alexandre Desplat outdid himself. The score was spot on, suited the action and the emotions in the film beautifully and drove me almost to distraction (i.e. If Nagini didn’t keep on scaring the crap out of me. What can I say? I don’t usually mind snakes but she’s just...). One of the higher points of the soundtrack was “O Children” performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, which played when Harry and Hermione started dancing in the cute display of pure platonic friendship in punk Ron’s absence.
Voldemort - back in all his delicious evilness with the high gay Michael Jackson sounding voice...but a bit more manlier?Even though I didn’t see him as much as I’d have loved to, the way his looming shadow totally owned the film made it okay. To digress, I was also very happy to see Bellatrix being as psychopathic as ever. Her craziness made Order of the Phoenix for me and she hit it out of the park with her acting once again this time around.
Acting - Overall, all the actors really brought it home. Everyone was completely in role and of course Harry was as gloomy as ever, Hermione as smart-mouthed as ever and Ron as bitchy as ever, though I can’t blame the poor guy. He wasn’t the only one highly disturbed by Harry and Hermione’s soft porno scene.
Guest 2 - Elizabeth C. Joyce: The movie was the darkest Harry potter yet. I mean Dobby died! As well, there was nothing of the familiar. No Hogwarts or any of the more familiar scene places we’re accustomed to. We really see it evolving now, faster and faster. We, the fans, know the end is near. Just like Dobby did.
totally on their own and far from everything and we see Ron’s deterioration until he leaves. But i think this middle part went on a bit too much. And then BAM! Suddenly the action speeds up in the last, what, ten minutes and....Dobby died.
I don’t like JK putting that bit into the story. JUST when he got to the TOP of his confidence that cursed Bellatrix stuck a knife in it.
But I loved the movie because it’s a progression of the story. I’ve been following Harry Potter since it came into existence, and the movies are just really helping to finish off what my imagination started. I so look forward to the next one. It must be concluded in my mind! I need closure!
