Movie #41 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

If you have never read any of my blogs before allow me to restate a common thread through out.  I don't read.  The only books I read are books about movies or movie makers.  On my coffee table right now is a book about the late 90's independent film movement.  On the back of my toilet is a book detailing the interview Francis Truffaut gave Alfred Hitchcock.  I do listen to audio books and podcasts when I drive, but most of them are about films too.  It is should come as no surprise when I say that I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books.  I joke that "if a book is good enough they will make a movie out of it". 

I have seen all the Harry Potter movies.  All the titles get mixed up in my head like a fantasy version of Bond titles.  I was secretly excited about the latest instalment of the HP franchise.  The trailer looked good and all my booky friends told me that the last book in the series was fantastic.  The movie prior to Deathly Hallows was a bit of a let down but mostly because I enjoyed the movie prior to that very much.  Prisoner of Askaban or something like that.

I made this a special night by taking my tween daughters and a friend of each of theirs to the nearest multiplex to see the show.  Before hand we went to a classic American diner for supper.  Once we arrived at the theater we had to wait in line.  Not for tickets (I foresaw this problem) but instead we had to wait for the prior showing to be over and the theater cleaned before we could enter.  Security was very tight.  You had to show your tickets before entering or exiting the theater.  By the time we found our seats, the 5 of us had to sit in 2 different rows because there weren't 5 consecutive open chairs.  We got there 45 minutes before showtime.  it was madness.

I couldn't believe the crowd.  The couple in front of me were so drunk I could smell the booze on their breath from behind them.  There were people there with babies.  Not small or little children, babies.  Not able to hold their heads up aged babies.  Now on to the review.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This movie moved at a snails pace.  I strongly disliked it!  It wasn't poorly made, it just seemed very grandiose and unnecessary.  I know that all the book nerds rip these films to pieces for either not putting something in the movie that is in the book, or trying to use a little creative license and add something new to enhance the film.  That is no excuse for just being flat out boring though.

This was the first of two films based on the final book in the series.  The run time on this film alone is over 150 minutes.  I know everyone says there was too much in the final book to make one film out of it, but I could have easily shaved 45 minutes off this film without losing a beat.

The Lord of the Rings movies were mocked in Kevin Smith's film Clerks 2.  The characters in that film said it was 9 hours of people walking.  That is true, but at least there was motion.  I guarantee this film has at least 30 solid minutes of characters sitting or standing in deep reflective thought.  There is no activity at all.  This movie doesn't have one single memorable battle.  The jokes in DH seem to be geared 100% towards the younger audience so they don't get board watching people brune, and postulate. 

Then the film tries so hard to tie all the past HP's in with it.  The exposition seems to serve no purpose other than to evoke a sense of nostalgia.  Gobblty gook is what DH devolves into.  It reminded me a lot of the video game "Zelda".  Harry needs to get the sword of perseverance in order to unlock the crystal thing-a-ma-jig.  Then and only then will Pinocchio's secret handshake along with the star of Bartholomew open the Arc of the Covenant.  If you enjoy my writing in this paragraph then I say rush out and see this film. 

The acting in the movie is decent.  Especially Emma Watson as Hermione Granger.   There are too many cameos or secondary characters in this film.  Most of whom either don't have any lines or the lines they do have are merely filler.  They just make for another "Best of Harry Potter love fest". 

The music didn't seem to bother me but for the life of me I can't remember any of it.  There was one scene where the legend of the Deathly Hallows is explained.  At this point in the films it switches to animation.  I was intrigued at first as the animated characters danced around the screen as Hermione narrates their activities, then it grew old and harder to clarify what was happening in the cartoon.

Another thing.  I am sick of films that plan to have a sequel not completing their first movie.  A movie should be a movie.  One part of a series of films like this has to stand on it's own.  The comparison of the other movies in the collection is inevitable, but each need to represent a full idea and concept.  They all need structure.  Intro, action, struggle, resolution, conclusion.  HP has the intro that drew me in.  It was a nod or homage to something I think, but I am not sure what that is.  The films totally skips the action.  It attempts to replace action with character.  The problem is the characters need to drive the story then.  Aimless gazing didn't do anything for me. The film is over-soaked with struggle.  More like strangle.  It bogs down with shot after shot of our leads narrowly escaping a mildly menacing villain or villains.   The resolution might very well be in all the nonsense it puts forward.  I forgot my Hogwarts to English dictionary at home so I was lost.  Finally there is no conclusion at all.  The final shot seems to come out of no where and all it does is set up the final movie.  Take Back to the Future 1 or 2.  Both films knew there would be sequels but they told a full and entire story.  That is what this movie is missing.

Good news is I had a great time escorting 4 lovely young ladies around.  Nest time I will take them to go see a better film.  I give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a 2/5 stars.  Check out the link below for the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EC2tmFVNNE