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A non-initial, non-bias reaction and breakdown of Deathly Hallows Part 2 as challenged by Aaron
And don't listen to him if he says otherwise.
And I'll try to stay non-bias, no promises though
Let's get right into this bitch.
The first scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is the last scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Simply, it reminds the audience that Voldemort has taken the Elder Wand as his own. It's a good start and it heavily implies that WB is going to merge Part 1 and Part 2 on dvd/blu ray one day. Or perhaps, even for a re-release.
To those who complain about the opening because there is no Potter's death or something of similar nature, please, for the love of God, stop. There is no harm whatsoever in thinking: 'I think the Potter's death would have made a great opening.' Truth be told, I was one of those people before the test screening reviews came and demolished those hopes. It's quite an interesting thought. Yet, taking away from the opening simply because it's not what you imagined to be, even though the actual opening itself is subtle and chilling with the Elder Wand capture, the dementors over Hogwarts with Snape, AND Lily's Theme, bothers me quite a bit.
Okay, so all that is for before the title card
Before I analyze Shell Cottage, I will say something about it. While Warner Brothers will try as hard as fucking possible to get a Best Picture nomination, and by possible miracle, best picture win, the crew had no intention of trying from the beginning. They really didn't give a flying fuck if they won best picture or anything, because they know by now what they have made is beautiful and top notch quality that the Oscars don't mean shit. They know an opening as quick and almost non-existent as this would not be in the favor of the Academy, but they didn't care. They made one production: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It is split into two films that without each other are incomplete, but together, is my favorite movie of all time. I really love this fact because if they did it differently, give Part 1 a better sense of conclusion rather than cliffhanger and Part 2 more of an opening, they would have to sit as separate films and would not work together as one film. For this choice, I commend you; the crew of Harry Potter.
Into Shell Cottage, we see Harry holding up the mirror and a view of Dobby's grave with the beautiful beach behind you. I see some 'if you didn't see Part 1, well, tough nubs' moments. And you know what, they have every fucking right to do that. Why waste your time explaining who Bellatrix is, the hair, how they got there, or anything. It would waste time, time that was spent wisely in Part 1. If you tune in halfway through Return of the King, not understand, and complain, then I can do nothing but laugh at your ignorance. I see the same with Part 1 and Part 2. There's a reason they are labeled as such; so you fucking watch the first before you see the second.
There was something in what Bill was saying to Luna. How he said: 'what's left of us at least' whilst looking away actually gave me the feeling they were losing, a deep feeling that I had no control over. It was quite intriguing, truth be told.
We now move on to Harry speaking with Ollivander and Griphook. Something I haven't seen mentioned before was Harry's maturity and how much he has grown. He talks with these two as if he's been doing everything on his own for ages. I especially love Dan's face when Ollivander lies to him; it's one that makes me think think Dan's about to shoot lasers out of his eyes and kill him. He's obviously angry and in that face, I saw it all. Talking with Griphook though was more about setting up and foreshadowing his eventual betrayal, which I could see with well delivered, short lines such as: 'It's complicated' and 'Perhaps.' Short, but they perfectly conveyed Griphook. With Ollivander, his fear and knowledge was shown very well through John Hurt, who I have a lot more respect for now after seeing 1984. All in all, Shell Cottage is, as Gandalf would say, the deep breath before the plunge (which is also the third chapter of my fan-fic, which if you haven't read, you totally should. Not that I made this entire thread just to advertise this, just, you know, saying). It's obviously not the best scene in Part 2, nor anywhere close, but it's quite an assuring sign that even the scenes that are no where near the top of the food chain are ones that are impressive and full of quality.
I really liked how they handled the deal with Bellatrix's hair. It slowly and gently came to rest on Hermione while the sad strings played in the background with a closeup of her bleeding 'mudblood' scar in DH1, then the very cool shot of her holding the hair with the focus on the hair changing to focus on her in DH2. I thought it was very neat. Harry's nod to Dobby's grave is one of many little touches that show the crew's attention to detail.
So now we are into Diagon Alley, which is nothing at all like the Diagon Alley in the earlier films. The comedy in the next scenes and here is well placed, and Helena's acting is quite something to watch. I really want to hear her voice instead of Emma's just for the hell of it and see how she said the lines, loll. Anyways, Gringotts looks MARVELOUS! There's no way the Academy will be able NOT to give Stuart Craig a shower of golden statues. Helena's walking is funny without being funny. I know it makes no sense, but with the single note holding and playing with 'shtishitshit act normal' faces from the Goblins, her stepping awkwardly on her heel felt like a scene you would see in a horror film where someone walks around the house alone, hears the creak of a door to which the camera pans to for a short bit, then pans back. It's all too quiet. We see more beautiful cinematography with the disguised Ron and the guard in the background, slowly walking. It's very similar to the bellatrix hair one with the focus and it's quite a shot indeed. The jump from Bellatrix's face to the cart going down leads us to the vaults.
The music and Gringott's underground, not to mention the dragon, are simply evidence of DH2's near perfect technical aspects. I really don't need to touch upon them because you know how wonderful they are as much as I do.
Let's move into the vault. One addition I really like is that Harry senses, NOT HEARS, the horcruxes. It's quite difficult to convey a sense on screen, so a sound is added. This is most likely conveyed through Harry's head and mind, an inner feeling if you will. It plays the 'here's a hint that harry is a horcrux' card very well. I'm glad it started in HBP. Harry cracks his neck and hears the slight sounds of the diary and the ring, but they are destroyed, so don't give off much. In the cave, the fake locket gives no sense at all because it is a fake while the real one does as Harry senses it right when he reaches the courtroom in DH1. The continued use of this is, again, attention to detail.
From this moment to jumping in the water, it's eye and ear candy. Dragon Flight and the actual dragon flying are, again, technical perfections. The dragon absorbing his/her freedom for that moment after destroying Gringotts allowed everyone to take a deep breath before lying back and watching what was next.
Something Part 2 gave me more than Part 1 was Harry hurting with the horcruxes being destroyed and Voldemort's visions. Harry is almost drowning in the water, and not only that, he's drowning in Voldemort's anger. It overtakes him and causes him to flail in the water as he sees Voldemort's wrath. It's eerie.
I'll save the next few posts to add more as this keeps going over the character limit
And I'll try to stay non-bias, no promises though
Let's get right into this bitch.
The first scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is the last scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Simply, it reminds the audience that Voldemort has taken the Elder Wand as his own. It's a good start and it heavily implies that WB is going to merge Part 1 and Part 2 on dvd/blu ray one day. Or perhaps, even for a re-release.
To those who complain about the opening because there is no Potter's death or something of similar nature, please, for the love of God, stop. There is no harm whatsoever in thinking: 'I think the Potter's death would have made a great opening.' Truth be told, I was one of those people before the test screening reviews came and demolished those hopes. It's quite an interesting thought. Yet, taking away from the opening simply because it's not what you imagined to be, even though the actual opening itself is subtle and chilling with the Elder Wand capture, the dementors over Hogwarts with Snape, AND Lily's Theme, bothers me quite a bit.
Okay, so all that is for before the title card
Before I analyze Shell Cottage, I will say something about it. While Warner Brothers will try as hard as fucking possible to get a Best Picture nomination, and by possible miracle, best picture win, the crew had no intention of trying from the beginning. They really didn't give a flying fuck if they won best picture or anything, because they know by now what they have made is beautiful and top notch quality that the Oscars don't mean shit. They know an opening as quick and almost non-existent as this would not be in the favor of the Academy, but they didn't care. They made one production: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It is split into two films that without each other are incomplete, but together, is my favorite movie of all time. I really love this fact because if they did it differently, give Part 1 a better sense of conclusion rather than cliffhanger and Part 2 more of an opening, they would have to sit as separate films and would not work together as one film. For this choice, I commend you; the crew of Harry Potter.
Into Shell Cottage, we see Harry holding up the mirror and a view of Dobby's grave with the beautiful beach behind you. I see some 'if you didn't see Part 1, well, tough nubs' moments. And you know what, they have every fucking right to do that. Why waste your time explaining who Bellatrix is, the hair, how they got there, or anything. It would waste time, time that was spent wisely in Part 1. If you tune in halfway through Return of the King, not understand, and complain, then I can do nothing but laugh at your ignorance. I see the same with Part 1 and Part 2. There's a reason they are labeled as such; so you fucking watch the first before you see the second.
There was something in what Bill was saying to Luna. How he said: 'what's left of us at least' whilst looking away actually gave me the feeling they were losing, a deep feeling that I had no control over. It was quite intriguing, truth be told.
We now move on to Harry speaking with Ollivander and Griphook. Something I haven't seen mentioned before was Harry's maturity and how much he has grown. He talks with these two as if he's been doing everything on his own for ages. I especially love Dan's face when Ollivander lies to him; it's one that makes me think think Dan's about to shoot lasers out of his eyes and kill him. He's obviously angry and in that face, I saw it all. Talking with Griphook though was more about setting up and foreshadowing his eventual betrayal, which I could see with well delivered, short lines such as: 'It's complicated' and 'Perhaps.' Short, but they perfectly conveyed Griphook. With Ollivander, his fear and knowledge was shown very well through John Hurt, who I have a lot more respect for now after seeing 1984. All in all, Shell Cottage is, as Gandalf would say, the deep breath before the plunge (which is also the third chapter of my fan-fic, which if you haven't read, you totally should. Not that I made this entire thread just to advertise this, just, you know, saying). It's obviously not the best scene in Part 2, nor anywhere close, but it's quite an assuring sign that even the scenes that are no where near the top of the food chain are ones that are impressive and full of quality.
I really liked how they handled the deal with Bellatrix's hair. It slowly and gently came to rest on Hermione while the sad strings played in the background with a closeup of her bleeding 'mudblood' scar in DH1, then the very cool shot of her holding the hair with the focus on the hair changing to focus on her in DH2. I thought it was very neat. Harry's nod to Dobby's grave is one of many little touches that show the crew's attention to detail.
So now we are into Diagon Alley, which is nothing at all like the Diagon Alley in the earlier films. The comedy in the next scenes and here is well placed, and Helena's acting is quite something to watch. I really want to hear her voice instead of Emma's just for the hell of it and see how she said the lines, loll. Anyways, Gringotts looks MARVELOUS! There's no way the Academy will be able NOT to give Stuart Craig a shower of golden statues. Helena's walking is funny without being funny. I know it makes no sense, but with the single note holding and playing with 'shtishitshit act normal' faces from the Goblins, her stepping awkwardly on her heel felt like a scene you would see in a horror film where someone walks around the house alone, hears the creak of a door to which the camera pans to for a short bit, then pans back. It's all too quiet. We see more beautiful cinematography with the disguised Ron and the guard in the background, slowly walking. It's very similar to the bellatrix hair one with the focus and it's quite a shot indeed. The jump from Bellatrix's face to the cart going down leads us to the vaults.
The music and Gringott's underground, not to mention the dragon, are simply evidence of DH2's near perfect technical aspects. I really don't need to touch upon them because you know how wonderful they are as much as I do.
Let's move into the vault. One addition I really like is that Harry senses, NOT HEARS, the horcruxes. It's quite difficult to convey a sense on screen, so a sound is added. This is most likely conveyed through Harry's head and mind, an inner feeling if you will. It plays the 'here's a hint that harry is a horcrux' card very well. I'm glad it started in HBP. Harry cracks his neck and hears the slight sounds of the diary and the ring, but they are destroyed, so don't give off much. In the cave, the fake locket gives no sense at all because it is a fake while the real one does as Harry senses it right when he reaches the courtroom in DH1. The continued use of this is, again, attention to detail.
From this moment to jumping in the water, it's eye and ear candy. Dragon Flight and the actual dragon flying are, again, technical perfections. The dragon absorbing his/her freedom for that moment after destroying Gringotts allowed everyone to take a deep breath before lying back and watching what was next.
Something Part 2 gave me more than Part 1 was Harry hurting with the horcruxes being destroyed and Voldemort's visions. Harry is almost drowning in the water, and not only that, he's drowning in Voldemort's anger. It overtakes him and causes him to flail in the water as he sees Voldemort's wrath. It's eerie.
I'll save the next few posts to add more as this keeps going over the character limit
Comments
We now reach Hogsmeade with the cat alarm. I honestly have no idea why the alarm sounded liked cats (other than possibly being a reference to Aberforth saying he let his cat out). I know someone commented on this before, who it was I forgot, but I loved the close up on the trio while one Death Eater yelled: 'POTTER!' It was a very good 'holyshit we're dead we're dead we're dead' moment.
Now we move on to the scene with Aberforth. I know some people complain about how short it was, truth be told I thought it was timed and paced as well as it could be. More on Ariana and Dumbledore as a teenager perhaps might've been too much. We'll see what the deleted scene has to offer.
Ciaran Hinds did fantastic as Aberforth. He conveyed his doubts and questions Harry. How he said 'You're lying!' and the following line after that had my think: 'there couldn't have been a better portrayal of Aberforth. I was happy to see the mention of Ariana and how Aberforth claims Dumbledore gave her everything...but time. When Harry said 'I trusted the man I know,' that was that. It's a different Harry, but hey, it's the film, not the book. At that moment, I knew we wouldn't see Dumbledore mention it in King's Cross because Harry doesn't want to know. Harry doesn't care. He wants to finish the job he was given by the man he knew, and nothing Aberforth said was going to change that.
We'll go through these next couple scenes a bit quicker. We see Neville for the first time since standing up to the Death Eater in DH1 on the train and he looks like hell. I reckon. He explains about the Carrows, which is a nod to the book knowing we won't have time to explain in great depth. As Neville says: 'Hogwarts has changed,' we get a shot of a dark, rather brooding, Hogwarts with surroundings of dementors. Pretty fucking awesome if you ask me. We get some humor with Seamus and Harry, a nod to Potterwatch with 'lightning has struck,' and an awkward 'hi there' by Harry and Ginny, which was weird, but, whatever, kinda funny. We get some shots of Hogwarts until we see Snape in the great hall.
As always, Alan Rickman takes our breath away with his performance. Though I must say, when he said equally, it was borderline mocking himself, loll. Harry appearing and taking the first shot at Snape is one of the changes I prefer over the book. It's Harry coming into his own by calling the shots himself. And of his, his epic line and cue to bring in the Order.
Now, Snape vs McGonagall is quite interesting, and I recall someone making these comments, agreed with them, and will use them here. When Mcgonagall moves Harry out of the way, we see Snape almost lower his wand. He obviously doesn't want to fight her because they are on the same side, but he has to keep his cover, so he re-raises his wand. He never attacks Minerva, simply only blocks her spells. Finally, when he realizes he has to get away before either 1) he is attacked by everyone, or 2) he blows his cover. Before going away though, he casts Minerva's spells in direction of the Carrows. Something that to someone watching there and not in a movie theater with a pounding heart would unnoticeable. To us, it shows Snape's true colours. Sorry Rich, no bat shaped hole. Did you walk out of the theater? No you didn't.
Next, we see a great little twist on an already good scene. Instead of Voldemort simply speaking to everyone, he haunts everyone. The lights fading and turning a goddamnit greenish and a bitch this shit got real blueish color, the screams by padma/pavarti (not sure which) and the other girl, and everyone cowering when Voldemort spoke and covering their ears = perfect. We see Voldemort can affect everyone; not just Harry. Just Harry. Ahhh memories....
ANYWAYS, we get a few comedy moments with Filch, Neville, and Minerva which then leads to the most badass moment in the movie; arguably in the series. There's no deep meaning to find, no moments I can pick out and analyze, it's as simple as being fucking badass. Setting up the protections and the statues are just badass, enough said.
Moving on the Neville on the bridge, we see the Snatchers come down in great numbers to be halted by the protective shield with Neville gloating. Nothing big. It's not bad, just nothing special. If my english teacher saw this though, she'd try and make me write an essay on animal motifs and how the cat sounds of the protections and the dog sounds of the snatchers relate. School. :-&
I feel like in dark world in this scene, and I wish I had HD screencaps to show you exactly why I think this. When Harry walks into the are where the grey lady is lurking, the only light that is provided is by lightning. Actually, it seems more like thunder and then spells to make you think it's lightning, but, whatever. The way she actually looks is such an update form the previous looks in the films for ghosts. Rather than being a transparent and white, she glides with grave, glows, and slightly transformers as we saw. I also love how quickly we see her personality in such a short time.
And now for the hate to come. So many might just go 'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, WHAT ABOUT STATUES?!' But you know, it's just a preference. I think that the transition from Helena and the long note that holds with her face to the Death Eaters on the cliff with the loud bass drum beats is the most badass moment in the film. I mean, I get giddy with the excitement it brings, drop my draw in awe at how fucking awesome it looks, have a goosebump attack from how chilling it is, and well, basically, shit my pants. There is no other way this could have been done better, just so flawless to introduce DE's and Voldemort to the castle. It reminds me heavily of this:
Skip to 2:13
Ugh, just so badass...
Leaving my absolute wish to have sex with this scene and returning to this breakdown, the next part made my eyes jolt open, even though were already as far open as possible. The loud exploding sound the spells made upon contact was surprising and a beauty, plus it illuminated the next couple scenes with wonderful lighting that heavily implies lighting and thunder. A very nice touch if I might say so.
Back to the Grey Lady, I must say, it's beautifully acted on both parts. Listening to Helena shout, there are so many sounds, echoes, and such attention to detail I had to listen to it 10 times. Honestly, if you can, go and listen to it. When she circles Harry, I felt in the scene. And this line: 'If you have to ask, you will never know. If you know, you need only ask,' honestly, gives me an orgasm. Goddamn shit I love that line.
The scenes before the chamber are a nice buildup to the action. Lupin and Kingsley is a nice addition, and I'm glad we get to see Fred and George before the battle together. We get a glimpse and slight comedy with Ron and Hermione.
The quidditch pitch and look on hogwarts are very nice. I accidentally posted about the snatcher bridge part here a little earlier, so my bad on that.
Back to the chamber, the build up music is incredible now that I've heard it 500 times, and yes, while the cgi of the long shot with slazazars face isn't all too great, we are easier to see the difference when we have all seen CoS tons of times. I think they compensate with the snake heads and the water flowing onto the floor adds realism to make up for it. This kiss itself is just so cute :x
We all saw many previews of Voldy destroying the protections, with music and the nyeahhh, but when it came right after the R/Hr kiss, I was totally not expecting it. We see just how powerful a wizard Voldemort truly is and that his only weakness is his ignorance. We then get some really beauitful cinematography by Serra; the look on Ginny, Lupin and Tonks' hands, and mostly: THE MOTHERFUCKING STATES! Damn that's quite the shot. When we put DH1 and DH2 together in one viewing, I think people are going to see many more connections that they would separately. The Elder Wand getting a major closeup and cracking will be a great compliment to the Lucius' wand doing the same thing in Part 1. Stuff like that, the repeated horcrux senses, and all other things that tie DH1 and DH2 show it's truly one film.
The only problem I have with the bridge destruction, which itself was quite good, was Ginny not running to the ledge. I'd leap over in a heartbeat if that was my friend, just sayin' Ginny
And now, the first battle.
Can I just say, WOW! Not only does it look spectacular, but it's directed beautifully. First, we have the enemy charging, their battle cries being heard. When the buildup of the soundtrack ends, we see the Statues put up their shields as if they are pikemen in an army. What I like most about how they shot the fighting and evacuating scenes that follow is that it is never too up close and never too far out. It's perfectly placed where we can see everything, but our eyes are going 'holy shit for fucks sake I can't handle this' in a good way. And something I've always loved is follow the Death Eater smoke like in HBP, Snape to Malfoy Manor, and what you see in my sig. I adore that effect.
Now into Hogwarts again, we see Harry step up again. In OotP, he makes his speech about how facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In this scene, we see that clear before our eyes, A death eater breaks in, and what do we see? Everyone screams, cowers in fears, and ducks. What does Harry, the man who has dealt with this countless times, do? He gets up and stupefy's the fuck out of that Death Eater. Maturity over a franchises 101 right there.
A few short scenes brings us to the Room of Requirement.
A nice exchange between Harry and Draco, clearly showing once again, Draco's cowardice, leads us to the next section of Harry climbing the rubble with the pixies escaping. Finally, when he grabs the diadem and Ron ignites laughter through the crowd (only after this many times, it's a bit annoying) the fiendfyre begins.
What I liked about fiendfyre was that it was different from just being fire you couldn't get rid of easily. It was like liquid water flowing around endlessly. Next we have the great idea of making each into the shape of an animal. We see it as a dragon like bird, a lion or a bear, and a snake. Each one behaved as it's animal would: the dragon flying and shrieking from above, the snake slythering onto the floor and attack from down there, and the bear/lion roaring and running across like a lion or bear would. When they escape the room, we begin the films golden section as I like to call it.
Seeing the Voldemort heads in the trailer, I wondered how the fuck the fiendfyre would change into that. Now, I realize how great the use of elements were. When diadem was destroyed, Ron kicked it into the fire, effecting it and making it attack with Voldemort's heads because that was its surroundings. When the cup was destroyed, it used the water around it to great the sort of tsunami effect. When nagini was destroyed, it was a smoke with Voldemort's face. And I suppose you might as well say that when the locket was destroyed, that mushy goo was earth, lolll. Whatever, besides the locket, it's a nice use of elements, especially in DH2 with the water contrasting the fire.
Now this scene is better and better upon repeated viewings. I found the music to be to have an impact despite being nothing more than some low string notes. Switching between Harry's pain and Voldemort's pain outlines the horcrux relationship and the suffering of both. With Voldemort, it's like Gandalf die for the first time. It's like: WHAT THE FUCK, GANDALF CAN'T DIE! Well, this is: WHAT THE FUCK, VOLDEMORT DOESN'T GET HURT! Then the quick build up to Pius' death = great change. He's seriously pissed as hell. Also, a little earlier, we see Nagini shrivel a bit, hinting she's the horcrux right before it's actually said.
Before we get to the boathouse, the trio there together before embarking on their last journey, feels incredibly satisfying. I feel the end coming at these moments. Voldemort in the boathouse is wondering why the fuck he's injured. His skin peeling is a foreshadow of his eventual peel to death. There are two moments of the same thing that completely win me over. One of them is Voldemort saying 'I do not need to seek the boy' in a very weak voice and the irony in that Harry is going to do exactly as Voldemort thinks. The best is that this is happening WHILE we look at Harry: we see him but hear Voldemort. I feel the connection. Bitch slapping Lucius is also a good part. And now, the holy mother fucking shit moment of the film.
Number two of the best things I like in that short sequence was Courtyard Apocalypse starting when we are still on a closeup of Harry, just like when Voldemort says his line I mentioned. Now, into the actual scene itself.
Courtyard Apocalypse isn't a battle scene. It's not about the fighting, the giants, the spiders, or any of that. It's an emotional scene. I didn't watch the clip of it before DH2, but after I went and watched it, and WOW, what a difference without this music. It changes it from a fight on the courtyard to a journey. Courtyard is the trios journey in a nutshell: despite the hardships, the difficulties, the losses (Lavender for instance), they come through together to face something even worse. Yet even knowing what lies ahead may haunt them even more, they continue forward without a single look in the other direction. That is Courtyard Apocalypse to me. Who needs a Battle of Pelannor Fields, Omaha Beach, or any other battle that is heavily recognized for its greatness when you have this. My oh my, if Deathly Hallows Part 2 was sex, this would be one of the many climaxes that will follow.
(Okay, random I know, but I'm making a new thread when I finish this whole thing. I have a feeling I won't have enough room for the remaining posts and I want to see them all together, lolll. Okay, back to the breakdown)
Ralph and Rickman do so beautifully in this scene together; the chemistry is beautiful. For all the people that complain about Voldemort's 10 seconds of humor, I direct you here to feast your eyes. Voldemort, interrogating what he believes is his most faithful servant. The back and forth between the two is music to my ears. When he finally kills him and nagini attacks, I can't help but want to turn away. Imagining myself in Snape's spot, nagini pouncing, gives me shivers.
There are so many things about what happens next that is just right. Lily's theme is played in a different variation, which is beautiful as Harry takes the tear (so amazing) from Snape. When he finally says look at me, it's so different from how I imagine it in the book (as a command), but here, it's a much weaker command as he's dying. I felt that just that 'look at me' wasn't enough, and seconds later, I get my wish. 'You have your mother's eyes.' Now, the ACTUAL Lily's theme plays here, and the symbolism is as clear as anything. After all these years, Snape has seen only James in Harry, the man he hated. When he finally sees Lily and makes that comment, Lily's theme plays. Elementary my dear Watson.
Next, we move on to Voldemort's speech. It has a very similar effect as the last one, but this time we get some great single shots with them of George being disarmed (WHERE'S FWEDDY!!!
And that's it for now! Until tomorrow for my next part.
Leaving the boathouse, we arrive back in the courtyard that has been evacuated and the Great Hall now has become the medical center. What I think is interesting is that Ron has always been the one quick to comment about family as we saw in Part 1 for how eager he was to get back to them and how he constantly checked for their names, left the trio first to go among the people to find his family. Hermione, not wanting to leave Ron, follows. Harry is simply stunned, as he always is, because he can not get rid of the nagging thought that whenever deaths occur they are done by him. In OotP, he stood soundlessly as Sirius went through the arch before chasing Bellatrix, watched in horror as Snape killed Dumbledore, sat silent when Dobby died in his arms, and now rooted to the spot when he sees the Great Hall littered with bodies. The students, not understand war or what to do, do as anyone would do: sit in silence with those closest that remain. The adults, like Slughorn, Sprout, and Pomfrey, are seen tending students.
We move on to Fred. Yes, we don't get a close up of his face, but that's something that never bothered me actually; we still see enough of his face and Rupert's crying. What I noticed was that right before that, Ginny can do nothing but look at Harry. After that, Arthur gives Harry a look that's beyond tears: he lost his son. There's nothing more to be said.
We see a beaten Tonks and Lupin that cuts to a tear slowly coming down Harry's face. When Mcgonagall looks to come over, it shows how motherly she really is. She tried the same in HBP, but obviously didn't want to talk to anyone, and she tries the same thing here.
A nod to GoF, we see the pensieve in the basin once more, answering why the fuck it was all of a sudden different in HBP. Nice touch guys, very nice. And now, to the memories...
The first shot we see is of Lily and Petunia with Lily making a, can you believe it, a LILY blossom in her hand! At least I think it's a lily. No fucking way it's not. Whatever, IT'S A LILY, point and case. Anyways, we then see Snape emerge from the tree. Now, Snape obviously being quite shy, doesn't approach immediately, but shows he is a wizard by sending one of the leaves towards Lily. When she smiles, he smiles back immediately. And holy mother of God, the shot of the tree, holy fucking Mr. Serra, you have literally fucked me, with it silhouetted against the sky. Dear lord...
To Hogwarts now, we see Lily sorted in Gryffindor and meeting James. Snape only can watch and be disappointed, as he knows he will be going to Slytherin; away from her. In the next scene, I love how Snape is holding all her books, it's just too cute! Makes you think: hmmm, Harry got real good at potions because of Snape, I wonder if someone else did to....
Now, the teenage years are skipped, and I think I understand why. It's easy to see and from the next scenes, it will be easy to see that Snape loved Lily, but Lily loved James. Sure they don't show how Snape and Lily ended their friendship, but since he was on Voldemort's side, one should be able to put two and two together.
Now to Dumbledore apparating to meet Snape on the cliff. I really don't see where the hate of the makeup is coming from, I wanted to jump out of my seat in joy when I saw him much younger and with less pauses in his speech, also showing his younger self. I never thought about that before going to see the film and when I finally saw it did I realize this and was incredibly happy with it. I'm trying to find a connection with everything, loll, so bear with me. Interesting that they are on the same cliff Voldemort realized the Elder Wand does not work for him. At this moment, on the same cliff, it insured that when the time came for Snape to kill Dumbledore, even if Draco had NOT disarmed Dumbledore, Voldemort would never gain the Elder Wand. Lily's lines are just, ugh, heartbreaking.
Some may be confused as to why Peter is shown and not Sirius, simply because they wanted to show Peter betrayed them and not Sirius, even though it was thought differently. No need for added confusion there.
'He doesn't need protection the dark lord is gone.'
Holy fuckballs. Alan Rickman just mother fucking stole the goddamn movie, put his name on it, copyrighted it, and had Jesus bless it. Honestly, what a fucking performance. We aren't even done yet.
Again, we are back to talking about James. We see the first time (though it's edited with when Harry looks at Dumbledore, whatever, nbd at all) Snape and Harry look at each other. This first eye contact, Snape may see Lily's eyes, but beneath it, he sees James, and rightfully so to show this scene as Snape talks about James being arrogant. Now that we are back to adult Severus, we see his speech has slowed and he looks older (even though he's only supposed to be 36 or 37 I believe. I imagine working for the dark lord and being a triple agent would age someone quite a bit
We now move on to the parts that my eyes heavy. Even watching this particuarly scene for the who knows manyth (not a word I know) time. For a while, I didn't recognize Ron Leaves in there before Dumbledore's Farewell kicks in, and when I finally recognized it I was squealing, because that's my favorite track from DH1, so how I missed it the first few times eludes me. We see Lily's death from the first film, and quite frankly, it doesn't look as cheap as I might've thought if someone told me beforehand they would reuse it. If anything, it fits right in because the room looks the same.
Dumbledore then explains how Voldemort's soul latched onto Harry's when the curse rebounded. Now, here's something I thought of that I am so proud of. The shot of the owl and the doll also had confused me with their purpose other than looking awesome. I knew I needed to think of something before I reached this part, and I think I have:
The voice-over connecting to the symbolism of the scene worked with James as I mentioned a bit above. Here, it hit me so hard after thinking that I feel dumb for not thinking about it right away (this is my view, not pretending that it's the film makers). Dumbledore says: 'A part of Voldemort's soul latched itself onto the only living thing it could find: Harry himself.' Yet, instead of showing us Harry, it shows us the the hanging owl. Until her death, Hedwig was apart of Harry's childhood and mainly, Harry's innocence. The owl can represent Harry's pureness and innocence. We cut now to a shot of Harry with his scar. Dumbledore says: 'There's a reason Harry can speak with snakes. There's a reason he can look in Lord Voldemort's mind.' During most of this, we get a close up of a frail, weird-looking, patched up doll. You can probably see where I'm going with this: the doll, patched (very much like a scar) represents the horcrux inside Harry. It continues with this constant voice-over that explains the scene I've noted multiple times now. Yes, this may be over analyzing at its most extreme. Hell, I'm even beginning to think that. But you know what? I don't care; I LOVE IT!
Also something I haven't noted is Snape's slow progression into Harry's house throughout the adult portion of the memories. With bits here and there of dialogue, he gets closer and closer to showing us the most emotional part of the memories. When Snape says 'The boy must die?' I can see as Dumbledore says it, he turns to the side, wanting to avoid Snape's gaze. Gambon and Rickman just make magic with this. Snape sees dead Lily and falls to the ground: cue in Dumbledore's Farewell!
As Snape says 'You've been raising him like a pig for slaughter,' we get a close up on Harry, which I think is smart. The talk is now at it's most important between the two, and we haven't seen this Harry for a bit, and showing him as Snape says this makes us think: holy fuck Harry right there was dead all along and he never knew.
Dumbledore: 'Lily?'
Cut to:
Dumbledore voice over: 'After all this time?'
Cut to Snape
Snape: 'Always'
That right there? Best mother fucking thing ever. Holy fucking shit, like seriously, this is where the tears just gush out of your eyes like water busting out of the South Fork Dam (look it up).
The boy must die....
I took that italicized part as a challenge
The music and Gringott's underground, not to mention the dragon, are simply evidence of DH2's near perfect technical aspects.
From this moment to jumping in the water, it's eye and ear candy. Dragon Flight and the actual dragon flying are, again, technical perfections. The dragon absorbing his/her freedom for that moment after destroying Gringotts allowed everyone to take a deep breath before lying back and watching what was next. "
On this, I definitely agree. these were some of the great parts of the movie, that I really enjoyed
Especially Dragon Flight. Seeing the dragon enjoying his freedom was just so beautiful!
especially gringotts that entire sequence was done so beautifully
the part where the dragon just takes a breath of freedom it becomes another real character in the story i love it
i've been doing that a lot lately don't know why
Lord Stafford.
I think that the scene with Snape at Hogwarts is the most chilling scene in the series. Seriously, it's symbolic, emotional and haunting. Along with Lily's theme playing, I was just blown away.
About Shell Cottage, I have to say that it's a very underrated sequence. I know that it gets overshadowed by more important scenes later, but it's a very beautiful opening. It recaps everything nicely, without repeating stuff in an annoyingly 'what happened in Part 1' way. There's some really beautiful subtle cinematography (the shot where we see Ron and Hermione in the bedroom, then we see Luna walking and Harry in the background looking at the sea is absolutely beautiful as well as the scene where we see Bill and Luna in the kitchen and we pan up to the stairwell and see the Trio talking in the shadows and Fleur coming from Ollivander's room. Just beautiful composition and photography), the acting from Radcliffe, Hurt and Davis is absolutely great and it sets the tone for the rest of the film. I think it's an underrated gem.
I wholeheartedly agree about the Gringotts, Lake and Massacre scenes. They were all great. As I've mentioned before, the moment where we see a chilling closeup of Voldemort and then Harry bursting through the surface of the lake is absolutely fantastic. Just brilliant editing.
I am one of the people who dislike the part with Neville and the D.A. It feels like something from the older films, I don't know. It ruins the first 30 minutes of the film which feel very mature, serious and grown up. Well, these 4 minutes don't ruin the entire film lol, but they just annoy me. The only weak moment of Desplat (the music during the tunnel scene) and some wooden acting from Bonnie. Also, the cinematography is very dull with the exception of a couple of scenes. I don't know, it's not on par with the rest of the film.
Yep, I loved Snape's speech and the attention to detail when he was actually the one who stunned the Carrows. Also, Voldemort's speech is brilliant. The shots and coloring remind me of an old horror movie. The screaming helped set the mood as well.
And yeah the Statues scene is the 'this is it, bitches' scene. Just badass and impressive.
I'm a fan of the entire Snatcher sequence. Not one of my favorite scenes in the film, but I think that a) it gave some solid screentime to the Snatchers since they were sort of prominently featured in Part 1, especially Scabior b) it showed the forest and covered bridge/clock tower which we hadn't seen since the fifth film, so it was nice to see that part of the castle again c)there was character development for Neville who was badass d) it showed that Dumbledore's Army had something to do. They were guarding this entrance of the school, so they had this responsibility e) there were some very fine visual effects, creating a cool action sequence.
It's overshadowed by most of the other action scenes of the film, but it's still very cool and exciting.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
The Graveyard, on the other hand, is different. It's very chilling, yeah, but it's more action-oriented, in a way that you're just standing in awe waiting to see what's going to happen next. I'm more of a fan of the quieter subtler scenes.
Lord Stafford.
Amazing analysis by the way, irklg.
They are both masterful in different way of expressing a very haunting, intense situation. The Graveyard is more bombastic, grand and psychological (The Maze sequence is quite similar), while the Snape sequence in DH2 is quieter, subtler and captivates you in a different way cinematically (the mournful score, Rickman's acting, jaw-dropping scenery). Both scenes are exceptional in creating this chilling atmosphere in a different way.
irklg, I can't wait for the rest of your review.
Lord Stafford.
I love this part! Then I love how the Voldemort scene then gives the Grey Lady scene a greater sense of urgency.
HELL YA BECAUSE HE'S HARRY POTTER THE BADASS MOTHERFUCKER!!!
The Grey Lady sequence has become one of my favorites. In fact, Kelly McDonald did a fantastic job. The tone of her voice, her facial expressions...you could see this woman was emotionally damaged and haunted by her own mistake, when she trusted Tom Riddle. And her little scene where she eventually trusts Harry, gives him the riddle and tells him 'Strange, you remind me of him' or something to that extent is phenomenal. The score is great as well. The set is similar (or the same) to the one in HBP where Hermione was crying (these goddamn stairs are the same!). I really loved that little detail. And the cinematography is great. When we only see Harry's shadow on the wall, or the beautiful scenery with the spells colliding creating brown and blue lightnings, illuminating the halls beautifully. Great job.
I adore all the little parts of the Battle of Hogwarts. From Voldemort's army attacking, the Snatchers falling off the bridge, the Pitch burning, the Hogwarts residents and statues standing still in front of the melting protections, the epic shots of Voldemort destroying the protections, the Giants and DEs charging (those tracking shots were jaw-dropping) and every part of the viaduct and the courtyard being blown up to pieces, I was just standing in awe. Though the battle disappointed many of us because we expected more, what we actually saw in the film was beyond amazing.
The only parts that I don't like in the whole scene until the Room of Requirement are the little scene with Ron and Hermione before they enter in the Chamber (it looks random and awkward), Neville's line about finding Luna (his delivery is good, but it was such a WTF moment) and Ginny's constant awkwardness. Seriously, Bonnie is so wooden. Duh. Everything else is pitch-perfect. On the big screen the Chamber looked miles better than in that released clip. It was more monochromatic and gray and less blue, which actually made the CGI environment look much better and more realistic.
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Two tincy wincy points
1. The alarm sounds like a cat because it's a 'caterwaulling' sp? charm.
2. It WAS a Snape Shaped hole
2. Loll. Richard, the main member and big dog here (not saying that to suck up, of course not) said if the bat shaped hole or purple button on the mortorbike weren't there, he'd walk out of the theater, so I just brought it up as a joke
haha yes and yates fulfilled both of those wishes
irlkg you are just the man
this scene is what represents harry potter to me yes it is a battle sequence there is fighting but it is always about the heart and the emotion and caring about the characters in the middle of it, which is what separates hp from most of what's out there
and the music here is friggin fantastic!! i just want the score to be nominated so I can see or hear this clip play at the oscars
And I know! This at the Oscars = wet pants for a lot of people.
I've taken 5 posts over an hour and twenty minutes, I still have 40 minutes left. Goddamn.....
Yes!Yes! I'm glad you said this. This scene, personally, is a scene that I look foward to seeing when in the threatre. Dan Radcliffe's acting is top notch, even his look of exhaust and distress was perfection. Snape's Death was just undescribable. The sound when Nagini was lounging against the glass made me almost rip the bottom of my chair because I had the biggest hold on it. I can't wait for the rest!
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