Deathly Hallows, Part One
Nov. 19th, 2010 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rumpelsnorcackThis was my first midnight screening on the opening day of a movie. I've done midnighters before, most notably a triple feature of Rocky Horror, Betty Blue and Romeo and Juliet (which was an interesting mix) but never actually been to one of these occasions. I don't remember there ever being one for something I wanted to see. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. The most entertaining thing was listening to the people around me talking. I was there alone, so watching the costumed people come in was fun. There were witches galore, a few Voldemorts and one guy who was probably not trying to look like Ron but did anyway. Some guy behind me was obviously a canon fan because he spouted a lot of intellectual stuff about all the minute changes the other movies had made. I wanted to correct him on a few details but refrained. The girl just down from me was a Dobby fangirl and one a few rows in front was definitely a Ron/Hermione shipper. All in all it was very atmospheric. It was a novelty actually being at something like that where the other people there were actually as big Harry Potter geeks as I was. Usually you sit there with a bunch of casual fans so this was really quite cool. Despite being so tired as to be unable to really function yesterday, I hope they do one for DH2 as well. I will definitely go if they do. Incidentally, it stuns me that only 2 months ago I was surviving on that same amount of sleep (roughly 4.5 hours) every single night. I'm really not sure how I coped because yesterday I really was barely functional.
The movie itself was ... I actually dunno how I feel about it. I've seen it again tonight and while I enjoyed it both times I don't have the overwhelming gushy burst of giddy love that I did for HBP when I first saw it. That one I knew within minutes of the opening scene that I was going back that night, and I ached to see it again. It took a huge amount of showings for me to get past the longing to be back watching it again. This one, yeah I want to go again but if I don't get to for some reason I won't be that upset. I'm not sure what's different this time, at least not all of what the issue is. One thing I do know for sure is that the cinematography doesn't do as much for me. HBP is just gorgeous; I still watch it with this feeling of satisfaction in the beauty of it. The cinematography, the set up of the scenes -- it's kind of dreamy and despite the darkness of both tone and visuals it's just lovely. DH1 is much more gritty and realistic and while that's perfectly valid for the movie and the subject matter it just doesn't call to me in the same way. I miss Delbonnel *sighs morosely*
Okay, let's stop comparing it to my soul-mate movie and look at it as an entity in itself. I felt a bit like I was watching a book walk around on screen rather than a movie in itself. It felt a little forced at times, and the acting was definitely of a lower quality than in *cough* the obsession I am not name-dropping again *cough* Daniel Radcliffe was often stiff at times and it felt like 'acting' rather than seeing Harry on screen. Don't get me wrong, he had moments where he was amazing (like Dobby's ending :( ) but on the whole, after the gains he made last movie, this feels like a real step backwards. I really hope he stepped it up for the second half of filming because there are scenes in DH2 that will kill me if they aren't done right. Emma Watson was pretty good, consistent through the whole thing, but she didn't leap out as amazing either. The one person to really buck this trend is Rupert Grint. He genuinely was awesome. His affection for Hermione was clear in every scene, and he was natural and sweet. This makes his simmering jealousy all the more vivid when he starts to put things together wrong and misunderstands the relationship between Harry and Hermione. His Ron was at times funny, smart, courageous, insightful ... in short, pretty much all he was supposed to be. His acting just highlighted the less good parts of Dan's acting. My only issue with him, and it's probably script or direction rather than Rupert, is that during the locket destruction I didn't feel for Ron the way I expected to. I thought it would be really intense and it just ... wasn't.
As far as the story goes it was all solid. They covered all the important details while glossing over things that were less important. There were some very funny moments (The Seven Potters sequence in particular made me laugh both times I've seen it. Fleur!Harry is adorable, and this scene was one of Dan's finer acting moments in the movie, as well as the scenes at the Ministry where they are polyjuiced) and some that were genuinely affecting. Hermione's torture was really well done, and Bellatrix's joy at tormenting her was horrifying. The scene was genuinely creepy. I could have done with Harry not forgetting he had a girlfriend/someone he kissed though. The Ron/Hermione storyline wa shandled really well, but poor Harry just kind of forgets Ginny which is a shame.
So, what can I say -- over all, despite the things I'm saying here, I really enjoyed it. I would definitely go again but it's not my favourite HP movie. Hopefully that will change with DH2 when it can be seen as two halves of a whole. One big problem with it is that it just seemed to end. It's obvious that it was made as a 5 hour movie rather than as two separate ones. There was no sense of completion to this movie and I think that's a shame. They could at least have done a little trailer of 'what's coming' to avoid the sense of just ... stopping. At the midnight screening, some guy said 'you've got to be kidding me' when it finished, and someone tonight said something similar. There was no feel of 'okay the movie's over, time to go' so people were taken aback by the abrupt finish. Again, something I hope that corrects itself when it can be seen in conjunction with DH2.
So ... yeah. That's more negative than I expected to be, but there you have it. I feel about it the way I felt about GoF when I saw it. It was an enjoyable way to spend the evening, but nothing truly special.
The movie itself was ... I actually dunno how I feel about it. I've seen it again tonight and while I enjoyed it both times I don't have the overwhelming gushy burst of giddy love that I did for HBP when I first saw it. That one I knew within minutes of the opening scene that I was going back that night, and I ached to see it again. It took a huge amount of showings for me to get past the longing to be back watching it again. This one, yeah I want to go again but if I don't get to for some reason I won't be that upset. I'm not sure what's different this time, at least not all of what the issue is. One thing I do know for sure is that the cinematography doesn't do as much for me. HBP is just gorgeous; I still watch it with this feeling of satisfaction in the beauty of it. The cinematography, the set up of the scenes -- it's kind of dreamy and despite the darkness of both tone and visuals it's just lovely. DH1 is much more gritty and realistic and while that's perfectly valid for the movie and the subject matter it just doesn't call to me in the same way. I miss Delbonnel *sighs morosely*
Okay, let's stop comparing it to my soul-mate movie and look at it as an entity in itself. I felt a bit like I was watching a book walk around on screen rather than a movie in itself. It felt a little forced at times, and the acting was definitely of a lower quality than in *cough* the obsession I am not name-dropping again *cough* Daniel Radcliffe was often stiff at times and it felt like 'acting' rather than seeing Harry on screen. Don't get me wrong, he had moments where he was amazing (like Dobby's ending :( ) but on the whole, after the gains he made last movie, this feels like a real step backwards. I really hope he stepped it up for the second half of filming because there are scenes in DH2 that will kill me if they aren't done right. Emma Watson was pretty good, consistent through the whole thing, but she didn't leap out as amazing either. The one person to really buck this trend is Rupert Grint. He genuinely was awesome. His affection for Hermione was clear in every scene, and he was natural and sweet. This makes his simmering jealousy all the more vivid when he starts to put things together wrong and misunderstands the relationship between Harry and Hermione. His Ron was at times funny, smart, courageous, insightful ... in short, pretty much all he was supposed to be. His acting just highlighted the less good parts of Dan's acting. My only issue with him, and it's probably script or direction rather than Rupert, is that during the locket destruction I didn't feel for Ron the way I expected to. I thought it would be really intense and it just ... wasn't.
As far as the story goes it was all solid. They covered all the important details while glossing over things that were less important. There were some very funny moments (The Seven Potters sequence in particular made me laugh both times I've seen it. Fleur!Harry is adorable, and this scene was one of Dan's finer acting moments in the movie, as well as the scenes at the Ministry where they are polyjuiced) and some that were genuinely affecting. Hermione's torture was really well done, and Bellatrix's joy at tormenting her was horrifying. The scene was genuinely creepy. I could have done with Harry not forgetting he had a girlfriend/someone he kissed though. The Ron/Hermione storyline wa shandled really well, but poor Harry just kind of forgets Ginny which is a shame.
So, what can I say -- over all, despite the things I'm saying here, I really enjoyed it. I would definitely go again but it's not my favourite HP movie. Hopefully that will change with DH2 when it can be seen as two halves of a whole. One big problem with it is that it just seemed to end. It's obvious that it was made as a 5 hour movie rather than as two separate ones. There was no sense of completion to this movie and I think that's a shame. They could at least have done a little trailer of 'what's coming' to avoid the sense of just ... stopping. At the midnight screening, some guy said 'you've got to be kidding me' when it finished, and someone tonight said something similar. There was no feel of 'okay the movie's over, time to go' so people were taken aback by the abrupt finish. Again, something I hope that corrects itself when it can be seen in conjunction with DH2.
So ... yeah. That's more negative than I expected to be, but there you have it. I feel about it the way I felt about GoF when I saw it. It was an enjoyable way to spend the evening, but nothing truly special.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-19 08:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-14 07:41 am (UTC)I agree with you on the torture. It was so awful because it was so ... I dunno, so 'matter of fact' maybe. Like Bellatrix just kind of does it, not in a rage. It's like that in the book too but seeing it made the impact of that greater.