Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 2- review

Boo yah!

Okay, for starters I guess if you’ve seen the other 7 films no matter what I write you are GOING to see this one.  If you’ve read the books you KNOW what’s going to happen.  It’s not a colossal shock to any fan of the series.  All in all it’s an okay movie.  Nitpicking aside, it’s an ending worth watching for any fan of the series.  There are lots of good points to match the flaws.

For starters Harry Potter turns in a decent performance.  As do the rest of the adult actors.  Especially Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, who seems to be having a lot of fun in the roll as the dark lord.  John Hurt and Kelly MacDonald give us decent scenes for such small roles as well.  There are colorful effects (when you can see them) and there are a lot of battle scenes.  It does a fine job illustrating the story in the time given without coming off too long. 

I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart.

Now, on the other hand there are a few things that made me disappointed.  For starters, they shot a lot of this film in dark areas so the effects on some of the supernatural characters are hard to see.  There was a really odd bit of lame editing when Harry was standing next to Hagrid and it’s noticeable that neither one is actually there.  They are using different sized people for scale and not showing their faces.  This is a cheap effect that I would think we are beyond at this point in CGI.

The forced romance is still a bother to me.  Ginny kisses Harry with about the passion she would give a cousin. At least it is at a slightly appropriate time.  Hermione and Ron toss out a make out scene after a magical disaster…just because.  The deaths which were supposed to be sort of a heavy deal in the book are glossed over like they are nothing important.  It really shows just how trivial these characters were when you can look at them and not care that they are dead.

Finally, there is the ending which I think was the biggest shock of all.  As many of you know the ending takes place 19 years after the events of the battle.  So why is it that the director would choose to use the same damn cast as they are now with a bit of CGI aging, well to the men at least? The women look like they should be still in high school.  The men look like they are playing dress up. 

Don't cross the streams.

Why wouldn’t they just cast adults as the aged characters?  Did they think we wouldn’t recognize them?  I remember going to my 10 year high school reunion.  EVERYONE looks different after 10 years let alone 19. I will not linger too long on this because it really isn’t a long scene but it was distracting to say the least.

All in all the series is a good one and well worth watching. This one movie is okay.  It wasn’t my favorite of the series but it has its place and it works well for the series as a whole.  If you can give them a watch I recommend it, but read the books first.  It’s worth the time and it adds to story when you watch it and know who everyone is.  Happy watching.