Clocking in at about 3 hours-counting the mega dose of Coming Attractions-HP7.1 doesn’t feel like that long a movie. There are only a few breaks in the action-and then there is that whole Long Goodbye feeling that permeates the whole experience. Harry looking longingly at his former room under the stairs. Hagrid reminding us that he brought Harry into this magical world all those years ago. References to the other times that Harry has done battle with The Dark Lord.
I began to loose my way in the Harry Potter world right after Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. The films began to drift in their cohesion, with countless characters coming and going and the most annoying bit being Mad Eye Moody-who I had spent too long thinking of as a villain to ever trust him as a good guy.
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 keeps the traditon of adding endless people who must have been important in the books but seem to be just more cannon fodder here for the Dark Lord. People have been dying around Harry for several movies now, and each death seems as emotionally empty as the last. I’ll be honest, I didn’t even remember that Dumbledore had died in the last movie.
HP7.1 looked very good, with the unavoidable problem of all the ‘kids’ looking like they are in their twenties. I liked Hagrid’s motorcycle with it’s bullet shaped sidecar. Lots of things blowing up, lots of way cool clouds and bolts of energy that reminded a bit of the Emperor using the Force.
For the most part this was not a film about the usual gang, it was a road trip with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. People keep dying and the forces of evil become more evil all the time. The need for revenge at the end of this story is building to apocalyptic levels. But nothing much happens here, we will have to wait for HP7.2 for some long awaited revenge.
I liked it and I will miss Harry and the gang. As we left the theater, a young woman near by lamented that a sequence from the book had been left out. This is a common complaint of Potter fans for pretty much all the movies. But I had to wonder, HP7 is two movies long now, did she really want it to be three?
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