i don't KNOW

[elapses]

I've really loved the Yates films visually: I think he's very creative and very good at working with a landscape and making these stories come alive visually. But lol um this one went a little over the "too Yates-y" line, like the part where Harry and Voldemort jump off a cliff for no other reason than so they could fly around the castle and it would be ~pretty~

And the thing where the camera zoomed in on the like, cracks in the elder wand I D E K

Which isn't to say there weren't the usual shots that were SUPER GORGEOUS as usual but I felt like I was eyerolling at some of the directing choices in a way I haven't before. The other thing I thought was off was the pacing: god, it was weird, after the first six films where they were always trying to pack so much into so little time that everything always went SUPER FAST, and then there was... DH2. Which was literally about a couple of days. Ultimately I still think splitting them was a good choice (ugh DH1 was perfectly paced) and I even still think they made the best choice as to where to slice the story, but this film was like... idk, it felt like Gringotts was kind of rushed, and then there were other times when it felt like they were streeeeetching the story out to make the film long enough. Like lol omg the part where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are trying to kill the snake and they keep losing their basilisk fangs? ALSO LOL THE SCENE WHERE THEY PUT HARRY IN HOGWARTS ROBES SO HE CAN JUMP OUT AT SNAPE AND BE LIKE "um I'm here bitch!", like, lol, I can't, who greenlighted that?!?!? It was just dramatic RIDICULOUSNESS

UMM FINALLY UGH I'm going to forever resent Steve Kloves for making me watch everything in KLOVES VISION because I'm so attuned to how he characterizes Ron now that I'm always on edge, waiting for something bad to happen? Honestly I think this was a pretty good film for Ron: a lot of his good moments from the book made it onto the screen here, he had his revelations and his moments. But idk the scene where Harry's going to the forest and he runs into Ron and Hermione, and Hermione is like "I'LL GO WITH YOU" and hugs him and Ron is just like .......standing there the whole time, like, ugh, that moment was entirely made up by Kloves (and kind of undermines the emotional impact of Harry not being able to stop and say goodbye to Ron and Hermione for fear he won't go, as in happens in the books), and it's the perfect exemplar of HOW KLOVES SEES RON. He just completely idealizes both Harry and Hermione and cannot part with his interpretation of Ron as the stupid, useless comic relief. I want to enjoy moments like the one in the Room of Requirement, where Ron is all "THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND" and then runs back all "GOYLE SET THE PLACE ON FIRE" and kind of a endearingly ridiculous, because sometimes Ron is endearingly ridiculous, but it's like... how you are with your family. You can insult them because you love them, but if someone else says something bad about them you get prickly. I love laughing at Ron, because I love him, but I feel uncomfortable a lot of the time that Kloves asks me to laugh at him because it feels like he doesn't see him as anything but something to be laughed at.

I don't know how I feel about the kiss, by the way!!!

Anyway it wasn't really a bad film, here are some things I liked/loved:
- "you and whose army?" AHAHAHAHA
- all the shots of the death eaters were pretty stunning, honestly, and I also really loved the um, aforementioned trio scene on the stairs visually, SO GORGEOUS
- Hermione as Bellatrix! Oh my god I kind of totally forgot that was going to happen and seeing HBC do that was kind of delightful, oh my gosh.
- This movie made me think a lot about the morality of war against an enemy like Voldemort, like visually seeing all the Gringotts goblins slaughtered: that was so sad. And in a backwards kind of way it was Harry, Ron, and Hermione's fault because it wouldn't've happened if they hadn't broken in, but it also was a necessary step to getting rid of the brute who would do something like that. I don't know, sometimes visuals emphasize that kind of a thing in a way a book can't (at least for a really non-visual person like me)?
- Similarly: loved seeing all the old familiar faces (omg weirdly delighted every time I saw Slughorn and Cho, DIDN'T REALIZE I LOVED THOSE TWO THAT MUCH) of Hogwarts united like that, I don't know.
- Oh my god that one battle sequence where the trio is like, trying to move through the throes of people fighting was GOOOOORGEOUS/incredible/so good, I loved that so much
- MCGONAGALL, can we just, yeah. She's so effing great!!! Also I really loved everything about the part where they were preparing the castle, but idk it was sweet to see Molly and Minerva ~hanging~. And aw "I always wanted to use that spell".
- I actually liked that we didn't see Fred's death: I thought there was a lot of emotional impact in having the trio (but more specifically Harry) just come back to the castle and see all those horrible casualties. And that brief moment when the twins reach for each other in preparation for battle, ugh, my heart.
- THE SCENE IN THE FOREST WITH THE RESURRECTION STONE, omg. Honestly that scene, I can't express how much it gets me, I cry every time but the movie got it perfect, that was the only thing that made me cry.

and two more things I didn't like:

- k so I feel like one of JKR's ~issues~ is with the Slytherin house and painting them all as a united front of evil (although it was Hagrid that said all bad wizards came from there, not her, I think, a distinction to make) and obviously the books basically said "and then all the Slytherins left!" but IT WAS EVEN WORSE IN THE MOVIE, "THROW ALL THE SLYTHERINS IN THE DUNGEON!!!", really? All of them? Just for being sorted into Slytherin?
- sigh I still really wish they had cast younger for Snape/Lily/James/etc, like Alan Rickman is great but... HE'S 65

Comments

[veils.livejournal.com]

i would have been in the dungeons the whole fight had i been at hogwarts then; lame.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING EVIL, SAM!

[ambiguousreason.livejournal.com]

I love laughing at Ron, because I love him, but I feel uncomfortable a lot of the time that Kloves asks me to laugh at him because it feels like he doesn't see him as anything but something to be laughed at.

YOU ARE ACTUALLY FLAWLESS FOR THIS. Like about Ron and how he's represented in the movies (which I totally agree with!) but also in general, just that way of putting it that "he doesn't see him as anything but something to be laughed at," that's so true.

I HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET SO NO OTHER COMMENTS.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I'M SO GLAD YOU AGREE!! That has been and will always be one of my biggest issues with both the film AND the fandom, the way they misconstrue Ron.

[book-babe.livejournal.com]

your thoughts = my thoughts. legitimately. also re: ron vision at the end, the final image, the way they zoomed on the trio ended up, like, cutting out half of ron and featuring harry and hermione moreso and it bugged the shit out of me. i'm also v. much with you on the pacing thing, DH1 was so well done, this, pace-wise, less so. blerg.

my whole group had a discussion about the slytherin/dungeon thing, too. not okay.

my one disagreement: alan rickman is perfect. and yeah he should probably be younger but whatever he is snapee. just saying.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice that, but lol they would.

LIKE HE'S SUPER GREAT, I get it, but ugh they had to age up everyone to make them believable as his schoolmates and that gets me especially with Lily and James idk, THEY WERE LIKE OUR AGE WHEN THEY DIED, THEY DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO GET ALL PARENT-LOOKING. I don't know, sometimes I wish they had picked another Snape so they could've gone a different route with them/Sirius/Lupin. (Although the uproar when Sirius and Remus were cast and not ~young and hot~ like fandom wanted them to be: still hilarious.)

[manasseh.livejournal.com]

- Oh my god that one battle sequence where the trio is like, trying to move through the throes of people fighting was GOOOOORGEOUS/incredible/so good, I loved that so much

THAT BIT WAS SO AMAZING. I remember reading the book and never really worrying they'd make it through, but that one sequence in the movie had me very concerned. Like there is a WAR going on, THIS IS NO PLACE FOR STUDENTS OH GOD DON'T GET HURT KIDS ;_;

all of my lols at the Harry/Voldemort face-meld scene. Oh Yates, why so Yatesy?

[elapses.livejournal.com]

THAT KIND OF THING IS REALLY WHAT THE MOVIES ARE GOOD FOR, like there are just some moments that translate so incredibly to film.

LOL YES. And Voldemort's death too, I just remembered that, LIKE OF COURSE THEY'D MAKE HIM TURN INTO A MILLION CGI FLAKES INSTEAD OF JUST DYING A NORMAL PERSON WAY

[eccentricrabbit.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed that they didn't mention Harry being Teddy's godfather. They could have added the scene with Lupin bursting into Shell cottage just to... Lighten things a little? Instead of drawing out scenes -- like you mentioned Hermione & Ron and the basilisk fangs. Ugh *facepalm* I kept thinking 'GET ON WITH IT. COME HERE NEVILLE!' Oh, and the scene at the beginning with Lupin & Harry arguing over Tonks & her being pregnant. I think that I'm being totally bias wanting these scenes though since Tonks & Lupin are my all time favourite characters, Lol.

The other thing I don't like about the movies is this whole Seamus thing. He's always blowing stuff up etc. what is the point? That doesn't happen in the books! Neville is the one messing stuff up (which makes us love him more) not Seamus?? I don't know it bugs me so much that he keeps getting included.

McGonagall was wicked! I love her so much, even more after this last movie. I always loved her in the books. My brother says she's now his new favourite character. ;)

AND omg... The slytherin bit pissed me off. Slughorn was HEAD OF SLYTHERIN, and he was okay, they aren't all bloody evil! They shouldn't have added the 'send all of slytherin to the dungeons' bit. Grrr..

Okay, rant over. I did enjoy the movie, but as always there are things I would love to just change a little!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wish they had included Remus' visit to Shell cottage too. It would've been nice to see Dean there as well.

I've never been bothered by the Seamus thing, tbh! It's moderately amusing and sometimes it's fun to have little things like that added. But yeah I generally agree: it was decent, but there were a lot of little things that weren't quite right.

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

omg I loved Harry and Cho smiling at each other at the end, it was so sweet :3 also I LOVED the shot right before that of Ginny just leaning on Mrs. Weasley looking completely drained, I think that's the most impressed I've ever been with Bonnie Wright and it was literally like two seconds. HER FACE WAS PERFECT, THOUGH.

I agree about the visual of the Gringotts goblins and I wish they'd shown more of that/given the movie a darker tone? Because that was the most afraid of Voldemort I've really ever felt in the movies (most of the time he just seems kind of ridic), it was so brutal and horrible. The battle scene didn't really hit me the way that scene did, to be honest none of the deaths at Hogwarts seemed really... real. I kind of teared up at Lupin and Tonks but that was it. I didn't really think they did a good job with the ~war~ feel except when the three of them were trying to make their way through the fighting, and at the beginning of it when McGonagall makes the soldiers move to protect the castle (I wish they had shown more of the cool charm things the professors did, like in the books with the crystal balls and how in the movie they showed Flitwick charming the vines/roots to trip up the giant? SO COOL).

the scene where Harry's going to the forest and he runs into Ron and Hermione, and Hermione is like "I'LL GO WITH YOU" and hugs him and Ron is just like .......standing there the whole time
Ugh I hated that because on the one hand it was really emotionally affecting but on the other hand WHAT ABOUT RON, HE'S HARRY'S BEST FRIEND TOO, STOP DOING THIS OMG >:( also a) Ron magically knowing parseltongue: never not hilarious! and b) the way they did the kiss was kind of weird and awkward and not a good change from the book, I don't think.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

ME TOO OMG IT WAS ADORABLE!!! And ugh yes that was great. My mom was like "I can't believe they didn't all get up and cheer for him in that scene!" but I really, really disagreed tbh, I liked seeing everyone quietly licking their wounds.

Hmmm-mmm, I didn't quite think of it that way but now that you mention it, it was pretty hit and miss with the war stuff. I thought a lot of it was on point but a lot of it wasn't/I guess it wasn't cohesively war-like.

EXACTLY, ugh. And I know, that was pretty hysterical. Idk I didn't really like the kiss either/it was kind of super weird (especially since I think the book kiss was really... I don't know, specifically them whereas this felt like a cookie-cutter movie moment) but I thought they were really adorable after it, like, idk, one kiss and no conversation and suddenly they're all clingy and handhold-y and lame and "THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND"-y.

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

I def agree, cheering would have been so lame and over the top, so many people just died and I like that everyone was just sitting around dazed/trying to deal in their own ways (Luna plunking down next to Neville and just kind of chilling there was adorbs).

I especially didn't like that they didn't kiss for the same reason, because I guess the movies left out all the SPEW stuff so it wouldn't have made the same kind of sense to have her kiss him because he was upset about the house elves, but that's what makes it so darling/them. In the movie it was just like this awkward pause after the water and then ALL OF A SUDDEN INEXPLICABLE KISSING, ALRIGHT. COOL. But yes them being clingy was hilarious/adorable :3 ALSO I loved Ron insisting that Hermione be the one to kill the horcrux.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

LUNA IS LIKE THAT, so weird and darling.

I forgot about SPEW not being in the movies, I guess it makes sense why they had to change it but, ugh, yeah, it was kind of just weird. And yes oh my god I really, really loved that scene

Ugh the problem is that there's a lot I want to see again already but you can't fucking ff at the movie theater :|

[forthesky.livejournal.com]

well firstly I have to say that the first time I saw it I was underwhelmed and the second time I saw it I was overwhelmed. it's strange because the first time I felt so frustrated with some of the choices (WHY DID VOLDEMORT AND HARRY JUMP OFF THAT BUILDING AND MERGE FACES/CLAW AT EACH OTHERS EYES?! god I was expecting that scene to be the worst from the trailer but I was not expecting anything that terrible, both times the audience in the theatre has burst out laughing). the ron/hermione trying to kill the snake was like a joke too, and I wanted so much more time on that scene after the initial battle to really realise that fred, tonks and lupin have died for this cause of harry's. but the second time, all those things were still there and still very strange choices but I was okay with them, it's like I made peace with it in the two days between and could appreciate the things I really did like. not feeling like I was about to vomit from the stress was helpful, too.

but yeah, I loved the callbacks/flashbacks in this movie so much. seamus can blow things up, ask him! and those pixie things in the room of requirement. I loved how snape's memory was compiled, I loved the resurrection stone scene so much, and I have never cried so hard at harry approaching voldemort in the forest. I love how danrad played that so much and his face when he closed his eyes ... idek, it just reminded me of why I love harry so much and everything I love about this series.

also you know my feelings on ron, I didn't think he was relegated to the background too much this movie but I hate the constant fear that he could do something out of character at any moment. and lol the slytherin scene was so awkward, I guess it's easier to just class them as "evil" for a movie audience but I think anyone who has read the books knows that it's more complex than that, even with JKR's characterisation.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting! I like... don't really know how to explain how I felt about it. It's like, I think it was disappointing but I don't necessarily feel disappointed by it? Like, I don't know, when I walked out of the theater after GoF/HBP I was like "ugh that was THE WORST" and when I walked out of the theater after OotP/DH1 I was like "THAT WAS KIND OF THE GREATEST", and this was like... neither of those, I was just inbetween. It was fine, it was good, I like dit despite everything.

and I have never cried so hard at harry approaching voldemort in the forest. I love how danrad played that so much and his face when he closed his eyes ... idek, it just reminded me of why I love harry so much and everything I love about this series.
I love this sentence, jsyk. Kind of want to hang it on my wall.

Yeah, no, it wasn't actually that bad, but it was like... idk I was telling manasseh that it felt like someone had told Kloves he had to step up on the Ron stuff and he did, he really did, but he also still obviously kind of couldn't shake the thought of him as useless. I don't know. But yeaaaaah, awkward as hell. Sometimes it's so weird to me that they have to do things like that, make decisions for a "movie audience" because like, idk it's so odd to me that there are people who watch the movies who haven't bothered to read the books. They're missing so much: a Ginny who isn't bland and paper-dollish, all the silly marauder backstory, seeing more than vague impressions of people like Moody and Tonks. But there are those people!

[torigates.livejournal.com]

I feel like you watched the movie in the same way that I did, and that makes me feel better because I was starting to feel like a debbie downer all the time. I especially liked what you said about Ron because YES!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Ahhh I am too! Even though I didn't even really dislike it, I just... yeah, I don't know. BUT YES, ALWAYS.

[annalouwho.livejournal.com]

ALSO LOL THE SCENE WHERE THEY PUT HARRY IN HOGWARTS ROBES SO HE CAN JUMP OUT AT SNAPE AND BE LIKE "um I'm here bitch!", like, lol, I can't, who greenlighted that?!?!? It was just dramatic RIDICULOUSNESS
HAHAHA, I am laughing my ass off at this right now, Alex! That was such a stupid cliche too.

And I think you are exactly right in your assessment of Kloves & Ron! I will never be able to get past that shit.

And I was weirdly delighted to see Cho too! Maybe it's just because the actress is so cute and I love her accent.

Oh my god that one battle sequence where the trio is like, trying to move through the throes of people fighting was GOOOOORGEOUS/incredible/so good, I loved that so much
THAT WAS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE WHOLE MOVIE.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD IT WAS SO LAME, I seriously couldn't take it. That scene added nothing, it was just contrived movie tension.

ME EITHER. But yes oh my god that actress is darling, and I love that JKR was so specific about the actress being Scottish. God, the stuff she must know about these tertiary characters that she still keeps to herself.