Friday, July 15, 2011

304. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2


It's the best since the first one - and may be the best of all.
There you are. No messing about. All anyone wants to know is whether it's any good.
And I can say the final installment of Harry Potter was everything it was hyped up to be.
For the first time in my life I went to a midnight first-day showing and, not only was the film top-notch, so was the audience. In fact, I'll go as far to say it was the best crowd I've ever known at the flicks.
Screen 8 at Derby's Showcase De Lux was virtually sold out but for the most part there was an almost eerie silence, such was the respect these fans had for the movie.
That was until the key moments of the film. There must have been about five occasions they broke out into applause!
These were Potter fans from the days of the Philospher's Stone. The late-teen, early 20s brigade who have grown up with the books and the films.
They were not disappointed. One girl who spied me taking notes proclaimed she was the biggest Harry Potter fan and that ''this will go down in history as the best film.''
What I would say is that it is very very good.
And what I'd add is don't be late taking your seat. There is literally roller-coaster action from about three minutes in and it never lets up.
I shan't describe the plot in detail because everyone has got the drift by now.
Essentially, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is preparing a face-off with Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
Potter is in search of Horcruxes which contain parts of Voldemort's soul. If he destroys them, he weakens the dark Lord to the point that he can finish him off.
Reaching that point is where the fun is.
It starts with amazing scenes with Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Harry at the goblins' bank.
But the real action surrounds Hogwarts and culminates in an epic exhilarating battle.
Hogwarts nowadays, under the headmastership of Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), is dark place - far removed from the fun days of the first movie.
But this is an apt backdrop for some pulsating fight scenes where the body count is shatteringly high. Let me warn those who are taking younger children - this might be the stuff of nightmares.
Anyway, it all leads to the final confrontation and, again, director David Yates has outdone all of the previous Potter incarnations. It is stunning.
Fiennes is as good a villain as I've seen all year and Radcliffe is turning out to be an actor of considerable talent.
I'm not too sure about some of the others who have grown up as part of the Potter team. Grint's character has never been stretched too far. I wanted more from him than that vacant expression he seems to be have been saddled with for a decade. Watson is more feisty in this but, again, it will be interesting to see her in other movies.
I doubt that we will see any of the others again. But, hey, they had fun didn't they?
And Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), in particular, must be amazed at what a significant part he had to play in the finale.
Much to the delight of the Derby crowd, all of the Potter franchise's main characters made an appearance in Deathly Hallows Part 2, even if they died in previous movies.
Some of the world's top actors are among those who say little more than a sentence.
They were like players in the theatre taking a bow at the finale. Our enthusiastic audience even cheered some of them when they took a turn.
And then it was over. After 10 years, there will be no more Harry Potter.
Some might say thank goodness. But Deathly Hallows Part 2 made me disappointed , in retrospect, that the franchise became flabby for such a long while. If the films had been consistently this good then I would have been more sad today.
So, how does the last Harry Potter rate, according to everyfilmin2011?
I'm giving it 9.5 and, therefore, project it straight into my top ten of the year.
Why does it lose .5? Because the 3D is pointless and it's annoying that fans will be ripped off by paying extra to watch it.
Take the 2D option. You will miss nothing.

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