Harry Potter: The Epic Finale

SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 AND DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED!



So last night was an adventure. When I'd originally gone to get my tickets back in June, I couldn't go to the midnight showing. It had already sold out (all 19 theaters). So I ended up biting the bullet and getting tickets for the 3:10am showing. What an experience. I got home from work around 4:45 and laid down for a little while and slept on and off until about 10:30. I got up, got ready and headed to the theater a little before midnight. Yes, you read that correctly. I got to the theater three hours in advance of show time. Turned out to be a good thing, too. They let us into the theater area (with carpeting instead of cold tile) pretty quickly (I was one of the first six or so people there in line) and so I flopped on the floor from about 1am-2am. The midnight showing let out around 2:10-2:15 and we were in the theater by about 2:45. Luckily, being the first person into the theater I had my pick of seats. Waiting in line for that long reminded me of getting to Hanson shows early to get prime spots near the stage. Anyway, the showing I went tow as IMAX 3-D. Which honestly doesn't do anything for me (the 3-D part). But I wore the glasses anyway (not doing so would have given me a Hagrid-sized headache). Around 3:10 we got a few short previews. I only remember seeing one for The Adventures of TinTin, Happy Feet 2 and Cowboys & Aliens. That may have actually been all we had. Anyway, everyone in the theater got pretty excited when the lights dimmed and the film started.

Now, I'll try not to spoil to film too much (though if you've read the book you basically know what happens). I think from here on I'll talk about what I liked and didn't like (there wasn't much in that category). I do have to say, despite it being so early in the morning, I was awake and engaged by the movie from the word "go". I think it helped that the crowd around me was just as pumped. I will definitely be seeing it again in 2-D because I fear I may have missed some things with having to focus on looking through the 3-D glasses.

IN GENERAL: Overall, I thought the film stayed pretty true to the book. They obviously had to shorten things (like planning the Gringotts break-in) but it didn't really matter. The important things were in there. We saw a little of Fleur and Bill in Shell Cottage, though we didn't get Remus showing up to show off pictures of bouncing baby Teddy. In fact, Teddy doesn't actually make an appearance at all in the film. Only an unnamed reference. But I suppose that fits with Part 1's handling of the Remus/Tonks relationship. We saw Ollivander telling Harry about the Elder Wand and explaining that Draco's wand was now allied to Harry and I have to say Helena Bonham Carter playing Hermione playing Bellatrix at the bank was hilarious. She was so awkward and uncomfortable being mean and nasty. There's a great bit where she's walking and she nearly trips in the shoes. Priceless. I think that the length of 2 hours was a good run time for the film. It kept things moving and yet it didn't feel like it went by too fast. It did keep me thinking ahead going 'oh so such and such scene must be coming up soon'.

THE GOOD: I thought that including some small scenes at Hogwarts was a good way to break up the point of view and show us that things were still happening at Hogwarts. Sure Neville tells Harry, Ron and Hermione about the resistance but to see just how bad it is for them while the trio is away, that really hits home. I enjoyed that they changed things up a bit. Harry confronts Snape in the Great Hall with all the students watching and we do get the Snape/McGonagall wand fight which is prettys weet. Maggie Smith was great in the role and she even got to be comedic relief. Between telling Neville and Seamus to blow up the bridge to giggling like a school girl and telling Molly Weasley that she'd always wanted to use the spell to bring the stone statues alive. She was just good fun. I also appreciated that they didn't skimp on the Ron/Hermione revleation. Though they did alter it so they snog in private and Harry doesn't see them. But I think it worked. I also liked how they handled the epilogue. The aging make up on everyone looked great and I think the gist of the epilogue was portrayed. We see Rose, James and Albus on the Hogwarts express as it pulls out of the station

THE BAD: Like I said there wasn't a lot that I didn't like about the film. I was a little disappointed not to see the Malfoys in the Great Hall after the battle is over (we see them running off away from all the fighting once Voldemort loses it completely. It was interesting to see Narcissa become a bit protective of Draco while Lucius just sort of stood there looking like a complete moron. I was a little upset by one thing in regards to Snape. In the book, it says his memories are flowing out of his eyes, mouth, ears and nose and here it looks like he's crying and Harry is catching his tears. A little lame if you ask me. I also was not too happy with how they handled Fred's death. The trio run into the castle to see Greyback leaning over a body and the viewer can see it's Fred but they can't. I thought that part in the book was much stronger emotionally and hit harder that it was a collapsed wall that did him in.

THE GREAT: I was thrilled with how they handled Snape's memories. That was my biggest concern going into the film as they hadn't really done justice to the memory we get in Order of the Phoenix. This was magnificent. Let me back up just a tad to his death scene. In the book, Nagini bites Snape once (maybe twice) and then Voldemort leaves him to die. In the film, not only does Voldemort slit Snape's throat (I suppose to entice Nagini) but Nagini bites him like five or six times. We don't see the actual snake bites (CGI snake and all that) but we see through a frosted glass panel as his body jerks and hits the glass with heavy thuds. It was heartbreaking. And he didn't even sound like himself when he was telling Harry to take his memories. Now, back to the memories. They were as I'd pictured them with the slightly disturbing but still innocently sweet friendship of Lily and Severus. In addition to the memories you'd expect (Snape begging Dumbledore to put the Potters into hiding, showing off his doe Patronus to demonstrate to Dumbledore just how much he loved Lily) we get a sequence of Snape going to Godric's Hollow where he finds Lily dead on the floor. He collapses at the sight of her and later cracles her in his arms and weeps over her (baby Harry in the background crying). I'm quite glad they put that in. For me, it showed just how broken Snape was over what happened to Lily. Aside from the proper homage paid to Snape, we got the infamous "Not my daughter you bitch!" moment from Molly in the Great Hall as she's battling Bellatrix. Interesting, when someone in the Order (or Harry) kills someone, the baddie turns to dust. Very odd. I thought the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort was quite epic.

FINAL RATING: * * * * *