Film Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Film Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

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Posted 2011-07-13 by Kat Cookfollow

Thu 14 Jul 2011 - Sun 14 Aug 2011



I was lucky enough to nab the last Director's Suite tickets for the midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. The problem with nabbing last tickets, as lucky as you may feel at the time, is that you more than likely gets the worst seats. And, wow, were they the worst seats: front row, left corner. Not only was I craning my neck upwards, but upwards and across to witness, in 3D, Harry's last dance with Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Remember, it was Director's Suite, though, and my consolation was wine and dips brought to me by the ever-attentive staff right to my comfy recliner at a pre-determined time. Well, that's the ideal situation. Unfortunately, the "ever-attentive" staff didn't really live up to their reputation and screwed up my order - twice.

Nevertheless, I had quite the satisfying Harry Potter experience. As an avid reader of the Harry Potter series (I've read the entire series 6 times), my first inclination while watching any of the films is to compare, and I always come out disappointed. Well, almost always. The last movie, which was broken up into two parts, is definitely the best and the only one where I came out truly satisfied.

From the beginning of HP7: Part 2, you can tell that it's simply the 2nd part of Part 1, as it picks up literally where Part 1 left off: Voldemort holding the Elder Wand he's just snatched out of Dumbledore's lifeless hands and, in the next scene, Harry mourning the sudden death of Dobby, "a free elf". And immediately you're transported to the world of Harry Potter, forgetting how crap your seats are and how you're still waiting for the wine that was promised to arrive 5 minutes prior.

HP7: Part 2 is definitely the business end of the all films, filled with action, loss of too many loved ones and all the explanations you could ever hope to obtain. There are downfalls though: certain important fighting scenes could definitely have gone on longer, the most revealing Dumbledore-related story about his sister Arianna was never told. And, oh, the "19 years later" scene (the final scene of the movie), well, that was just disappointing with its sad efforts in ageing Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint--truly a missed opportunity to get some ridiculously famous actors in as cameos. Orlando Bloom to play Harry, perhaps?

While I'll resist the temptation of exploring every scene and telling you how it was supposed to happen, according to the book, I will tell you that no matter how married you are to the original telling of Harry's last tale, the movie will leave you content and bursting with things to chat about with fellow Harry fans.

Cinematically, the movie is brilliant. Shot beautifully, cast perfectly (Snape and Luna are my absolute favourites), and thoroughly entertaining and fast-moving. In my humble opinion, you could do with or without the 3D experience, as either way, the movie pulls you into its world seamlessly, even if you are stuck in the corner of the front row. A word to the wise, though: 3D doesn't work all that well if you're in the corner of the cinema.

And while the service was certainly not up to par for Director's Suite standards, I will chalk up their laziness to the fact that they were working at midnight amongst the Harry-Potter obsessed.

Final score - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: 8/10
Hoyts Director's Suite (Melbourne Central): 3/10

#victoria
#movie_reviews
#cinema
!date 14/07/2011 -- 14/08/2011
%wnmelbourne
207193 - 2023-06-16 05:57:01

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