Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 review

I was one of the loyal few (OK, millions) that went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Friday at 12:01 AM. OK, that’s a lie. I waited until the last minute to buy a ticket so all the 12:01′s were sold out. I saw it at 12:10 AM. DETAILS, SHEMTAILS.

Let’s start with the big question. Did I like it? Yes, of course I liked it. Keep in mind I’m obsessed with Harry Potter and I subscribe to a YouTube channel that retells the story with puppets. I’ll watch anything related to Harry Potter and most likely enjoy it, so I’m probably not the most objective and unbiased reviewer. Seriously though, it was visually stunning, kept me interested the whole time, and was easy to understand.

Story integrity

JK Rowling’s writing is full of so many intertwining storylines. They all come together to create a spectacular “oh… that makes sense!” ending. Not every storyline is vital, but they’re all (in my opinion) necessary.

Usually with the films, they leave out a lot of the smaller storylines that add so much to the reading experience. I understand it’s necessary to do this in order to keep the film length reasonable, but it still sucks. When I heard they were splitting the last book into two films to maintain the book’s integrity, I was beyond excited, and it also made my expectations much higher because I knew the story would translate better to the big screen.

Unfortunately, this movie felt like every other film so far. Many of the great storylines were left out, and I was left disappointed when they changed the entire tone of the story by leaving out one of the biggest ones! Book 7 was basically all about Harry questioning Dumbledore’s integrity because he learned so much about Dumbledore’s shady past. The movie BARELY touched on it, and to someone who hasn’t read the books, I doubt it made any impact on them at all. They cut out the Grindelwald storyline, so when they included him in the Elder Wand storyline it seemed completely random and didn’t tie in at all. They also left out most of the snatcher’s storyline, the “Voldemort” word tracking system, they didn’t explain the piece of glass Harry was looking into and seeing an eye, and too many other things to name. The length of the ending scene, at the Malfoy’s, was so short and very disappointing. There wasn’t suspense, it didn’t live up to the book at all.

Level of acting

I was shocked, shocked, at Emma Watson’s improvement from the Half Blood Prince to this film. She didn’t do her heavy-breath-talking at all! She didn’t annoy me, and she ALWAYS annoys me. So kudos, Emma. You have learned how to breathe properly. Cheers!

Everyone else did well. It was interesting to see Voldemort in (for him) normal conversations. It added quite a bit to his character.

Understandability

Did I understand it? Yeah. Do I think people who haven’t seen all the Harry Potter movies will understand it? Maybe, but it will probably be difficult. This film chock-full of Harry Potter lingo, much more so than previous films. Much of the story involved seemingly minor plot-lines from previous films (history of the necklace, the Gryffindor sword, the first snitch Harry caught). If you don’t know what they’re talking about when referencing those past plots, you were probably left confused.

Just make sure you’ve seen all the movies (or alternately have read all the books) before you go see this one.

Special Effects

Whoa. They were awesome! The first scene with Snape walking through the doors at the Malfoy mansion, the iron gate turned into smoke and the back into iron again. AMAZING, flawless, if I didn’t know it was fake I would’ve thought it actually happened. I mean, beyond awesome.

The scene with the seven Harrys traveling by broom and motorcycle in the sky was also visually stunning. In past films, the flight scenes left something to be desired because… let’s face it… putting a bunch of actors in front of a green screen and trying to make their flying look realistic is a daunting task. In this film, they nailed it! The flight scenes were not only realistic, but one of my favorite scenes. It was beautiful.

Overall

Let’s face it, like I said, I’m a Harry Potter nut. There’s no way I’m giving this anything less than 4 stars. It kept me on the edge of my seat, the acting and visual effects were stellar, and they did what they could with 3 hours. For some people it might’ve seemed like a bit too much scenery and talking, but for me it was an accurate reflection of the book, the characters, and the ultimate goal which was finding Horcrux’s and kicking some Voldemort ass!

November 20, 2010 | Categories: REVIEWS! | Tags: book 7, deathly hallows, film, harry potter, movie, Review | 3 Comments »