Some eras end with a blast and a bang, like the second Millennium (hell, did you see those fireworks in Sydney?!) or the career of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, now that was a blast and a bang. Some end with a whimper after many years of slow decay, like the Soviet Union, Family Guy or the career of Jim Carrey. Well, what to make of this end of an era that defined my generation?
To start out, this is a pure, stripped out action-movie. There is little tenderness or romance (apart from THAT kiss) and, aside from a few throwaway Ron Weasley quips, very little comic relief. Hell, even Fred and George Weasley are subdued, though that maybe due to the fact they appear on screen for approximately five seconds, total, alive or dead (SPOLIER!). Thos two-hour long cinema-going experience (hype!) is one long, heavy piece of drama and action.
Because of this, it makes the film all the better as it strips out any distractions and focuses on the plot.
It gives the cast a chance to perform without having anything else to focus on and boy do they perform. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson all shine, erasing their tendency to overact that appeared in the later films. But, as usual, it is the stellar supporting cast that provides the real weight with three names in particular standing out.
Helena Bonham Carter is electric as Bellatrix Lestrange, as she has been throughout the series. Not only portraying her creepy, chilling narcissism, but also the terrific scene where she plays Hermione disguised as Lestrange, bringing together the two very contrasting characters stunningly.
Ralph Fiennes is brilliant as Voldemort, shoving the most amount of intensity, menace and fear into every single word that comes out of his mouth. Surely, if you are looking for an actor to play a villain, he is your man?
And Alan Rickman; as the ultimate anti-hero. Whilst not getting as much screen time as his character deserved, he dominates every scene. In particular, the series of memories explaining to Harry how he loved Lily Potter expressing the pain and grief he had for her loss. Although, it....does....at times...seem...like...he's...having a contest....with himself...to see...how long...he...can...make...a sentence...last.
Right, to the plot. At first, I was a little disappointed how quickly the plot accelerated to the Hogwarts castle and the final showdown. I felt more time could have been used building the tension but I suppose it is a part two so all the tension was built in the first ‘episode’. However, despite spending probably around 90 minutes of the film at Hogwarts, the action never let up and the film kept coming at you.
As would be expected from the Potter franchise, no expense is spared on special effects with the battle scenes truly glorious; a veritable feast for the eyes. The fear was probably to avoid looking like a The Lord of the Rings battle scene and this was avoided. Weaving together epic battle scenes with cutaways to the ongoing individual battles of other characters such as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and the others would have been tricky to time together and fit in but the balance is about right.
You could see that every single little detail had the utmost care devoted to it, from the make-up to make the goblin facemasks to the sets for the Lestrange vault and the Room of Requirement. If these things were done poorly, you would rightly feel annoyed by it and aspects of the film would feel out of place. However, every single detail is done so well that the whole picture fits together perfectly with no weak link in the cinematography, musical accompaniment and the whole viewing experience.
As a Potter fanatic (nerd alert), this review could be seen as biased so, for good measure, a few criticisms, mostly stemming from the fact I re-read (for probably the tenth time, also nerd alert) the book last week. The lack of exploration of the family history (and related torment) of the Dumbledore family is largely overlooked. This was an important facet in the book as it was the mystery surrounding it that made Harry doubt the path laid in front of him by Dumbledore. Understandably, however, time constraints means some things have to be cut and the film worked as a screenplay without it.
Secondly, the scene in which Voldemort kills Snape (SPOLIER!), in a somewhat grizzly manner for a 12A, happens in what appears to be the Hogwarts boathouse which makes its first appearance in either book or film. Surely the director could have used the Shrieking Shack from the third film again to correspond with the book?
Anyway, I’m not gonna go on about discrepancies between the book and the film; that would be tedious. Perhaps, once again, this is the fanatic in me but I would have liked to have seen a longer film as two hours seemed a bit on the short side. Never thought I’d say that about any film. This led to many characters getting little onscreen time leaving the deaths of periphery characters like Fred, Lupin and Tonks not as harrowing as they are in the book. Put simply, there was not enough time to develop a bond with the characters to feel the pain of their onscreen deaths.
However, the positives far outweigh the negatives. There are some truly iconic moments in this film that did justice to the series; both the books and films. The ending drew a line under the whole thing as neatly as could be deemed possible with the whole thing essentially going full circle. Which is what I shall be doing when the film comes out on DVD; going full circle and watching all the films together back to back. Come join me; we can dress up and drink Butterbeer and do awkward Voldemort hugs. It’ll be a blast.
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