IR: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Voldemort has returned, fo' rizzle this time. Harry must leave the safe haven of his Aunt and Uncle's house, and fulfil the mission left to him by Dumbledore: find the remaining horcruxes and destroy them.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an excellent film. The doom and gloom and jumpy scary bits were all done well, as per proper atmosphere requirements for this film. Everyone had fittingly sunken baggy eyes and despair stubble. The Malfoys especially looked wonderfully dishevelled.
The acting was fine, which couldn’t be said honestly about previous Harry Potters. One bit I will spoil for you if I may which I liked especially, was when they Polyjuiced themselves as members of the Ministry and were consequently played by adult actors on screen for a good ten minutes. During this time ‘Hermione’ was especially well played, by a lady who wasn’t afraid to gawk awkwardly and act flustered and scared a la the real Hermione. Harry and Ron were also portrayed well by their counterparts, although I do think having ‘Harry’ as a burly black-haired man and ‘Ron’ as a softer-looking redhead was a bit of a cop-out.
The plot stayed close to the book, and everything was done well enough not to elicit feelings of wrongdoing on my part. This is the crux of any Harry Potter film review: we all know the book was good, but has the film fuxed it up? Previous films in this series have but I am pleased to report that I, at least, was not disappointed. Also Jim but shh I’ll have to let him tell you about that.
One other thing I liked most was the Dirigible Plum tree outside the Lovegood home. Jim put forward the amusing suggestion on the walk home that you could cut one off and stand over it with your mouth open for it to fly in, and then you could eat the whole thing because instead of the stone there is helium, and then you can speak in a high-pitched voice for a while. Brilliant! Also, while we’re here, I had been wondering what the actor playing Ol’ Man Lovegood would be like. I had been kind of hoping for David Bowie to play him (for the intelligent but weird angle) but I was happy enough with their choice.
could take you part by part though the movie and say, “Yup that was done well, that was done well,” but that would be tiresome. Suffice to say Harry Potter fans should definitely see it and enjoy it, and I am looking forward to being equally impressed with Part Two next year!

5/5

It took me a few minutes to get into this film, mainly because the trailers and ads before it were so appalling that it was like trying to eat a main course when you've just vomited your starter into a toilet. And you had to swallow some that was left in your throat. And there was no water.*
But enough of that. From the word go it is clear that the gradual improvement curve of the films is still progressing smoothly. The visual style is an artistic stamp; clever, gothic and brooding. The magic is in general used subtly and sparingly, and the best scenes are by far the ones in normal locations; suburban streets, a coffee bar, a dilapidated house. For a blockbuster with so much money behind it, it is surprisingly arty and like the book it captures perfectly a very family unfriendly sense of bleak, cold loneliness. One scene in particular, where they are travelling across the country, looks like it was lifted from Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It is by far the strongest of the films so far, due almost entirely to the reliance of the plot on the central three characters, all of whom are given really solid performances by messrs. Grint, Watson and Radcliffe.
However, the film is not without its faults. RaLph Fiennes is still hamming it up like a panto dame, though thankfully he is given better lines and little screen-time, Helena Bonham-Carter is still Helena Bonham-Carter and Dobby's Yoda Speak is still only appealing to those suffering from brain damage due to oxygen starvation.
Also the film contains the most ill-advised used of dance since Toby Maguire danced The Jazz Spider in Spiderman 3: Rise of the Jazz Spider.
There are also some scenes that were filmed specifically, I am sure, to moisten the pants of fangirls and fanboys respectively...one early on including Harry-flavoured poly-juice potion and one later involving Bellatrix, Hermoine and some non-magic torture.
Still, all in all the film is an excellent piece of work; the odd scene here and there is weaker, but it is great to see a blockbuster with brains. This has come so far since Harry Potter and the Cash Cow of Cash (aka Philosophers Stone in the UK) and even though it is clear that it was only split into two parts to milk yet more pennies from the money-teats of the public, I am glad that the added run time really gives us a chance to enjoy a more faithful adaptation.
My only regret is that its taken this long to fulfil the movie potential of these novels; bring on the next and final one, I say, and lets get something new.

4/5

*The Green Lantern trailer is like pain and stupidity was made into a trailer. A trailer for an awful, awful film.