Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Before we get started let me just say that this film is easily my second favorite film in the franchise, and that’s saying a lot. It’s certainly not my favorite, as that trophy belongs to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but you’d be hard-pressed to top that film. In fact not only is Azkaban my favorite Potter film, but with its seamless blend of fantasy, character, story, atmosphere, and a hint of horror, Azkaban is easily one of my top five fantasy films of all time. And while Deathly Hallows may not have struck the very sweet note of Azkaban, it certainly held countless noteworthy moments that made it a winner in my book. I think it is only fair that I review Part One and Part Two as one long, uninterrupted film, because not only is this the fair and logical thing to do, but I reviewed the Kill Bill films the same way years ago.

The first thing I should get off of my chest right away is that yes, I have indeed read the Harry Potter books, and while the majority of the movies have been great films, they never really succeeded in bringing the books to life. There are a plethora of reasons why this is, namely that each new director brought a new vision of the franchise to life through their eyes, but other reasons include the same limitations that hinder most other book to film adaptations such as differing viewpoints, established preconceptions, and severely limited times. Where this film excelled however (even more so than Azkaban) was recreating the majority of the book, both in tone and story. In fact I think I can say that this film is the closest I have ever seen a film come to its source material.

The main area this film faithfully recreates is the atmosphere and tone, most noticeably hopelessness. Through the majority of the story we feel Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s utter hopelessness as they set out on an impossible suicide mission to recover five nearly impossible to find objects that contain keys to Voldemort’s immortality. This atmosphere is further exacerbated when the heroes realize that should they find these items, they don’t even possess anything powerful enough to destroy them. Establishing this hopeless feeling, while utterly depressing to the audience, is key to faithfully recreating this book, and luckily the film pulls it off without a hitch. Every step our heroes make in the right direction is usually rewarded with two steps backward as the film throws a new situation or morale crushing blow to our heroes, and while the audience may feel a little pained at watching the heroes get beaten down repeatedly this struggle strengthens the emotional connection established through the other six films.

Perhaps the biggest strength of this film is the apparent return (Thank GOD) of actual wizardry. I think I speak for everyone when I say we noticed a significant drop in the use of magic and spells in the fifth film, which is a shame because that’s what we the viewer/reader found so fascinating about this franchise to begin with. The sixth film was even worse, with nothing but a handful of “blink and you miss it” moments of magic and one actual scene containing a magical battle. This simple formula should never have been tampered with, especially when it was what drew us into the story to begin with. It was really quite interesting to see Harry develop from a young kid who struggled to make a feather levitate into a veteran fighter who seemed to excel at battling the forces of evil. Simple, interesting moments of character development through magical interaction such as these were what made this franchise stand out from the rest, and at times it was really neat to give in to the thought that we may be witnessing the back story of mythical figures such as Merlin or other wizards.

But nah, f**k that s**t now, no time for magic when we have to spend almost ten minutes over-elaborating about Harry and Ginny’s first kiss. It just seemed that as time went on the facets that made this story so unique and interesting fell by the wayside. Thankfully this film rediscovered that (literally) magical element, and throughout the movie we are treated to an abundance of magical feeling scenes. Whether it’s the kid’s breaking into the Ministry of Magic, their visit to Gringott’s bank, or the climactic and amazing final battle of Hogwarts, the film treats us to a huge festival of wizardry and magic. All in all these scenes are a great way to send the franchise out, and it’s just really good to see a return of these fascinating moments because the film handles each scene as a tool to advance the story and develop the characters, not just as a tool to create any significant battles or action scenes without a purpose.

The story is familiar for those who have followed it so far, but still develops fresh moments to keep the audience guessing, including one “twist” that every reader saw coming. All in all, it’s interesting and keeps us wanting to know what’s going to happen next, just like a good fantasy plot would, but it’s hardly this film’s strength. To make up for it however this film gives us something that even the books can’t match, stellar performances from an already outstanding cast. The three main characters return to roles they have been playing their entire young lives, which are typically an over-acting Emma Watson, an underacting Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint who continually knocks it out of the park in every conceivable way. This time around however I’m glad to report that while Grint is still outstanding in his portrayal of the ginger hero Ron Weasley, Radcliffe and Watson have both stepped up their performances noticeably. Radcliffe now seems emotionally invested in his role like never before while Watson has toned down her portrayal to a more believable level. I noticed them beginning to adjust fire in the right direction as early as the fifth film, but not until this film have they played their roles so damn well.

To back them up we have the returning supporting cast of professors and students, played by acting powerhouses such as Michael Gambon, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Jim Broadbent, and a criminally underused Bill Nighy. All turn in great performances, but four actors in particular stand out from the pack. The first is Warwick Davis, who returns to film in his first major role since Willow. His portrayal of Professor Flitwick has always been overlooked and solid, but this time he gives a subtle but outstanding performance as the cold and unfeeling goblin Griphook. Many may not have appreciated the subtle instances of humor and intimidation he portrayed in the role, but Davis is clearly an actor who appreciates a reactionary approach to acting, and his treatment of Harry in many scenes reminds us how great this guy can be when placed in the right situation. Even more impressive is how much more you can appreciate him once you’ve seen the special features when they talk about how hard it is to emote under all that makeup, yet Davis emotes facial reactions like he wasn’t wearing any. When you watch this movie again, take a moment to really watch his performance.

The second highlight is Helena Bonham Carter, who absolutely chews the scenery in this film as Belatrix Lestrange. Carter uses the Gothic persona she has worked so hard to build and maintain in Hollywood to create a pitch perfect portrayal of a psychotic dark wizard that stands out from the rest of the pack. To make things even better there is one scene where she has to portray herself as seen by a young innocent girl (people who have seen this film will understand), and the performance inside a performance she turns in is hilariously adorable. I can’t mention great performances without bringing up Alan Rickman and his always outstanding portrayal of Severus Snape, but this time Rickman has outdone himself to the point where one can argue that the film is really about a man who has maybe thirty minutes of screen time in a five plus hour movie. The man who has delivered my all time favorite comedic line in a movie (By Grapthar’s Hammer… what a savings) and played Hans Gruber in Die Hard has once again created a role that I am sure will become a Hollywood icon, and he did it with a quiet intimidation and dignity that I never expected to come from this role. He turned this character on his head in countless scenes, one of which where he held the dead love of his life in his arms as he screamed in fury and sadness, and his interpretation of this role is one of the best imaginings of a role since Heath Ledger played The Joker.

Finally, in what was easily my favorite role of the entire film, was Ralph Fiennes in his return as Lord Voldemort. I’ve seen a lot of movie villains in my day, but it was great watching Fiennes in this film because it felt like we were in the middle of seeing the creation of a villain that would go on every top villains list to come. Whether he was threatening a school full of children, trying to kill Harry, or just plain being silly, Fiennes brought such a simple, subtle, and quiet menace to this role that it was hard not to be intimidated by him. Fiennes has always been such a great, genuine actor in Hollywood, and it's really great to see someone who excels at conveying raw emotion put into such an evil, monstrous role. When he first appeared in the fourth movie I had no idea it was going to be him, and when I saw his face under that creepy snake prosthetic I almost laughed out loud. THIS was the terrifying villain we had been told to fear? I thought it was a joke. But through three films we saw just how powerful this creature was, and how exactly he had nearly destroyed the world once before. Voldemort may have been a powerful wizard, but his true strength, like all truly dangerous men, laid in his power of manipulation and lies. I now can’t imagine anyone else portraying this role, and you could see the sheer joy and good time Fiennes had while relishing in the role.

Now the big question is “Does the showdown live up to the hype?” and I’m happy to say that yes it does. The vibe, setup, and final showdown at Hogwarts were masterfully done, so much so that it was totally impressive in every way. Not too long, not too short, just enough of the two main characters to keep us excited through the fight itself. Now I know you may be thinking why I’m writing about how much I liked this showdown when I just wrote an article blasting giant epic showdowns in general, but let me explain. A lot of people misunderstood my last post as a declaration that I hate epic showdowns, and that’s not at all what I was trying to get across. My problem laid in the setup of epic showdowns in films lately, or rather, the failing of them.

Truth be told I LOVE epic showdowns, there is nothing in cinema cooler than a final battle between good and evil with a measurable outcome in the mix… as long as it is handled correctly. Today is seems like most films seem to just bypass setting up a climactic battle just so they can get to said climactic battle, even at the expense of creating a reason why we should care about the outcome. Think about the final battle of Transformers, we see absolutely no exchanges or history between Optimus Prime and Megatron, but when the time comes for the final battle we know these guys are going to be going head to head simply because they are the two strongest guys in their groups. With an utter void of story and history between the two the resulting fight is has no significant meaning to me and I find it flashy but boring. I hate to keep using the Transformers franchise to make my point about things that bother me but HOLY CRAP they just make it so easy!

Now setting up a climatic battle is hard to do, and making small mistakes leading up to it is a common thing in films, even good ones. As much as I absolutely love Die Hard the final confrontation between John McClane and Karl always bothered me. You have such a great lead up to the final fight, Karl and Hans are holding John’s wife hostage and John killed Karl’s brother by throwing him down a flight of stairs. There’s so much hate on both sides boiling in their blood that every time Karl sees John he just opens fire on him without hesitation, even when his boss is standing like seven inches away from John. This continues for an hour and half, each fight making us more and more excited for the final showdown, but when Karl finally finds John by himself totally off guard while talking on the radio he sneaks up behind him and holds him at gunpoint from just a couple inches away. SHOOT HIM IN THE SPINE! Anyone who has seen The Incredibles knows how dangerous it is to monologue, just shoot him! You can’t even use the excuse that he’s trying to get the location of the detonators anymore because Hans stole them in the last confrontation. Luckily there was enough of an excellent back story to the two characters that I was still emotionally invested in the outstanding and brutal fight that ensued when John (of course) got the upper hand, but this tiny mistake in judgment took me out of the moment.

Now compare this to the criminally overlooked science-fiction film Serenity, one of my all time favorites sci-fi films. The film leads up masterfully to the final setting for a final showdown, the Operative and Malcolm are racing for the control room, one to broadcast a message to Alliance space, and the other to stop it. Yes the showdown is flashy, yes it is epic, and yes it is in a giant, over the top location with deadly, spinning objects of doom, all things I hate, but the difference is that it feels organic and real here. The result of both those men being in that location is that they were both racing against time, the setting is over the top because it is an emergency broadcasting generator and signal disruptor that they will be using shortly, and, unlike Die Hard, when he gets the chance the villain shoots Mal in the spine. You could argue that he didn’t follow it up with another bullet to finish the job, but there were actually two reasons behind it.

1.      The Operative was still trying to get his hands on River Tam, and Mal would be hard to interrogate dead while John McClane didn't have any information for Karl at the time.

2.      The Operative clearly never thought that a backwoods redneck soldier of circumstance would ever be able to beat him in a quick draw while Karl saw first hand just how competent McClane was.

After all is said and done the resulting fight is exciting and brutal, so much so that some parts are almost hard to watch. Mal walks away impaled, shot, sliced to shreds, hemorrhaging from the eye, and beaten within an inch of his life, and while the Operative isn’t killed in the fight he is left on the floor crippled, choking from a crushed larynx, and with several broken limbs. The point is that the fight and the lead up felt real and authentic. As the fight starts both the characters try to use martial arts, but as they get tired and sloppy those cool moves devolve into wild swings as the two just try to beat the other into submission, or just flat out kill them. At no point during the fight are we doubting the character’s actions or motivations. Yeah, sure, at one point the Operative starts to “monologue”, but it’s only because he thinks Mal is paralyzed from a nerve strike. In fact, when you look at it the only reason Mal won the fight in the first place was that the nerves that the Operative originally struck had been removed due to a combat injury, so it really came down to blind luck over skill. This tiny, but significant alteration in the action movie formula is a welcome change from the traditional “Good guy won because he is better” formula of fight scenes.

SPOILERS

The point is, if done correctly there is nothing I like more than a final showdown, and this movie had that in spades. Even the blind luck aspect of Serenity can be seen in Deathly Hallows. Harry and Voldemort don’t really fight or duel at any point, if they did Harry would have been crushed like an ant. Instead, the outcome of their final showdown came down to pure, blind luck, and not only is this way more realistic than the traditional formula in films, it’s more believable. In fact, this development can almost be viewed as an evolution of the Deus Ex Machina device used in some storytelling, and while this device is often viewed as lazy, using it properly can add an element of realism and a refreshing change of pace from formulaic fights. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the Deus Ex Machina in The Prestige.

Now obviously I liked the movie, and while I did have a few small issues with it they were so minor that it wasn’t even worth mentioning. I did however, have one massive problem with the film, so much so that I considered it borderline insulting.

It was the god damn epilogue! While I thought the epilogue itself was well executed and interesting the fact that they used the same actors to play older versions of themselves shows how stupid Hollywood thinks we are. According to Hollywood, if they had shown us an adult wearing glasses, his redheaded wife, a tall, curly haired brunette, and her ginger husband sending their kids to Hogwarts ten years later we would be sitting there scratching our thick monkey skulls and saying “Who the hell are these people? Why did the movie stop thinking for me?” It’s just insulting that they couldn’t give us, the audience, the benefit of the doubt to figure this out on our own, especially when we just followed an intricate plot of ownership about how a magic wand has a mind of its own.

END SPOILERS

Despite this travesty I am sad to see this series come to a close, and as privileged as I felt watching the process of a film legend being made I felt a pang of sadness realizing that not only has anyone ever undertaken this caliber of a project before, but I doubt anyone ever will again. My only consolidation is that it was handled so well that I cannot see a better possible way to close this legendary series, and for that I say Thank Ye.

9 out of 10