Movie Review Monday #10: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

My daughter was born 51 hours and 20 minutes before the final Harry Potter film opened. I had previously been to every Harry Potter midnight showing, so as miraculous and wonderful as it was to give birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl, I'm not ashamed to say there was a wee bit of disappointment at her timing. You may think that's silly, especially given that this post indicates that I have, by now, seen the film. But it's just not the same. A midnight showing of an epic film is a community experience. The audience is significantly more invested in the film. Thanks to the late hour, emotions run high, and people unabashedly cheer, applaud, openly weep. Plus you always get the crazies who dress up. One year there was even a group dressed up as Harry, Hermione, and several Weasleys (for who else can gingers play?) and obviously role playing, which fascinated me. I felt like a sociologist studying geekdom.


But this is not a review of midnight showings. It's a review of the final installment of Harry Potter. I'll try not to spoil anything. So here we go:


1. Daniel Radcliffe previously had two faces that he'd make while "acting": One, a grimace that indicated pain, fear, sorrow, deep thought, and probably, on the occasion, constipation. 

Hey, look! It's also RPatt's best acting moment. Ever. 

The other, a kind of neutral smile that indicated happiness, pride, contentment, twitterpatedness, and general satisfaction.

In this film, it seems like he suddenly learned how to act. For example, in one scene, he is alone in Dumbledore's office making a huge decision. The camera trains on his face, and with very little facial expression, good ole Dan shows the audience that something has changed internally. The decision is made and we know what he plans to do. Brill. And that's just one example. 

2. There were two moments in the book that I looked forward to seeing in the film. Both moments were done justice. Feel free to speculate on what those were.

3. I'm not going to sugar coat this: some characters die in this film. When we learn who has died, I love that they don't dwell on it. It's not a long, drawn out sob fest. I did allow some tears to pop out of my face at that moment though, so somehow the filmmakers did the moment justice without milking it.

4. I freaking love Maggie Smith. All the time. From Hook to Sister Acts to Harry Potters, she is literally one classy dame. This film was no exception. I want to hug her.

5. I have read the book twice and was still on the edge of my seat. And I don't mean that as a cliche. I was perched on the edge of my theater seat, biting on my hands. I'm really tired though.

6. I could have used more Hagrid.

7. Neville is a hero. He has the most British smile I've seen in a while, but he's still adorable and winning and I couldn't help but feel a weird sense of pride whenever he displayed valiance.

8. I have things to say about the characters at the very end of the film, but that would give things away. Let's just say that different hairstyles don't necessarily add age to people. 

9. The visual effects were, as always, mind blowing. Kind of made me start to believe in dragons. 

10. All the Harry Potter films have a theme of good versus evil, but none more than this one. And, spoiler alert: Good prevails. And it's beautiful.

I could go on and on ad infinitum, but I'm sleepy and I don't want to start really thinking about the fact that it's all over because it really is true that new mothers are weepy. No more Harry Potters. Sad, yet awesome that they ended on a high note. I even enjoyed it in a weekday matinee setting.

Lobsters, in order to properly rate this film, I have to use a freak, mutated lobster. Three claws up.