I felt like a total muggle. It was 11:13pm when I walked into The Pinnacle Thursday evening amid a levy of Harry Potter look-alikes and other characters. Even my friend, Dawn, who met me in the lobby with my ticket in tow, bared a striking resemblance to one of the Weasley's. She had been there since 7pm. Yeah, this was an event. Meanwhile, here I am in my blue t-shirt and plaid shorts...a sore thumb, indeed. But alas, I survived the movie and all the cruciatas curses which were flung my muggle way by any number of death eaters at the midnight showing. Actually, I survived all of that twice within 16 hours because I was back at the theatre Friday to complete the HP8 double-header. Well, I did more than survive. Truth be told (as I down a flask of Snape's finest truth serum), I had a blast.
This is it, baby. The last installment of a truly classical book franchise turned over to the big screen. We pick up right where we left off. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is burying everyone's favorite house elf and preparing to resume the hunt for more horcruxes along with Ron and Hermione (Rupert Grint and Emma Watson). There are seven of these objects which contain a piece of Voldemort's soul. If gathered and destroyed, Voldemort is vulnerable. Harry took care of the diary in HP2. Dumbledore knocked off the ring in HP6. Ron wiped out the locket in HP7. That leaves four to find and destroy: 1) cup, 2) diadem, 3) Nagini and well...in case you haven't read the book, I'll leave it at that. So, into Gringotts (wizard bank) our heroes go to retrieve the cup from Bellatrix's (Helena Bonham Carter) vault. All the while, the legend of the Deathly Hallows is coming more into play. This tale which involves a resurrection stone, an invisibility cloak and the elder wand, is emerging as equally important in the plan to destroy Voldemort. Yadayadayada Harry, Ron and Hermoine conduct the wizarding world's version of a scavenger hunt, while good fends off evil at Hogwarts.
It's good...very good. I'll go with 4.5 Stars--pushing 5.0 because I know that I'll buy the Blu-Ray in November. This is an action-packed roller coaster ride that sees one of the most brilliant stories of all-time come together in a combination of titillation and tears. You've got action sequences that involve everything from dragon rides to the emergence of Hogwarts as a battlefield. As a plus, that 'action' plays out in the course of truly telling the story. I've always been of the mindset that 'action' for the sake of 'action' is essentially meaningless. Those sequences need to accentuate the storyline. They do so quite nicely in this production, holding the story together while keeping the audience's attention in tact. As for emotion...hmm...plenty of tear ops here. You've got the unveiling of Snape and his role in Harry's development. You've got the loss of many of our heroes, who die defending the greater good. You've got the end of an era. The official end of a classic tale that started a kiddie book, but quickly emerged into a stream of fiction that captured kids and adults alike across the globe.
With the many cudos I throw to cast and crew, I've got a few major gripes. I'll pick out my most severe. WARNING--as this might be a spoiler alert for some: I absolutely hated the Voldemort death scene. David Yates has done a tremendous job directing these last five movies. Further, screenplay writer, Steve Kloves has done an equally great job of condensing 4,014 pages of the seven books into eight movies and around 1,100 minutes of screen time. That's not an easy task by any estimation--especially considering the detailed and intricate world and storyline created by J. K. Rowling. BUT--why...OH WHY...do you not stay true to the book in the most epic of scenes in the movie: the destruction of Voldemort. In the book, good and evil opponents cease the fight as Voldemort and Harry square off in the Great Hall. Harry's defeat of evil is then played out in front of the wizarding world and greeted with exhilaration and relief. I thought we deserved the same in the movie, where the event would create an eruption among the crowd. Not so much. In the movie, Harry and Voldemort's final confrontation occurs unnoticed in the courtyard. The battle ends and good triumphs to a relieved wizarding world. Actually, during both times that I saw the movie yesterday, Bellatrix's demise was met with a gushing of applause, whereas Voldemort's destruction was greeted with complete silence. There's something wrong with that response. I mean, this is the crux of the eight movies--ridding the world of this sinister and evil individual who has tortured and/or killed thousands. Yet, one of his bitchy henchman's death is celebrated more than his own. Come on--that's a big let down for the fans and a failure for Kloves. As much as I applaud the man for his job on this franchise, I'd like to slap him upside his muggle noggin on that bonehead delivery. If it would have played out in the movie as in the book, we could have celebrated along with wizarding world over the triumph of good versus evil. Instead, it was, "...oh...well, he's dead now--do you wanna get some butter beer?" Disappointing.
All considered, however, this is one to see BIG. However, those few non-HP fans can go ahead and skip it...if you haven't fallen in love with this series by now, you probably don't deserve to for HP8. Or, if you're one of those that consider the whole wizarding storyline 'evil' or 'un-Christian'...hmm...my advice would be to grab your ears...pull your head out of your ass...wipe the crap out of your eyes and realize that your ignorance has caused you to miss a lot of valuable lessons about prejudice, love, friendship and compassion. It's sad too, because in my experience it's those that uphold that kind of rigid mindset against a story like Harry Potter that are in desperate need of those very lessons.
That's it for me...no yard work this weekend--I'm in HP recovery mode!
True...OUT!
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