This review is from: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 [DVD] [2011] (DVD)
When all is said and done – when the eye candy special effects of Quidditch matches and fantastical creatures has been superseded by advances in technology in Hollywood blockbusters yet to come – it is the little moments that this viewer and his wife will return to.
When a friend one time bemoaned the fact that `Half-Blood Prince’ gets bogged down in pointless hormonal teen-angst instead of getting on with the story, I smiled… and shook my head.
No, I said, that IS the story and it’s what I love about the Harry Potter series: it never loses track of the characters. It never forgets that, when viewed as a whole, these eight movies are a story of growing up, of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Of love and friendship and death. Because without those little funny and touching moments between the characters – if all you want is for the movies to rush from one plot element to another – then all you’re left with is plot… and no story. Remember: plot is what happens TO the characters; story is what happens AS A RESULT of the characters.
That’s the real gorgeous beauty of these movies, and it’s what will bring viewers back repeatedly to their DVD shelves. As Frodo said to Sam in `The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’: “What are we fighting for Sam?” “That’s there’s still some good in this world,” Sam replies, “and that it’s worth fighting for.”
That’s why you need those little indulgent moments, because without them it’s just razzle-dazzle special effects and set-pieces. Harry and Ginny’s first kiss: they’re in the Room of Requirement and Ginny tells Harry to close his eyes while she hides Professor Snape’s copy of Advanced Potion Making. And before Harry opens his eyes Ginny leans forward, kisses him and whispers, “That can stay hidden up here too, if you like.” That, my fellow Muggles, is pure movie gold. That’s what the characters are fighting for. Love. Yes, the PLOT concerns itself with good triumphing over evil, but that only comes to pass as a result of the STORY which is about friendship. Because that is something worth fighting for.
It’s why the film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s astonishing trilogy, `His Dark Materials’, is an utter failure: `The Golden Compass’ movie rushes from one plot element to another: and THEN we go here, and THEN we go there. Never slowing down to allow the characters TO BE characters. What are they fighting for? Well, nothing the viewer could care less about…
Ultimately, all of this success comes about because of the brilliant way in which the author J.K. Rowling has constructed her seven-volume storyline. See, `The Chronicles of Narnia’ are good – very good – but in the end don’t quite fully succeed, and this is because the author, C.S. Lewis, had never envisioned them as a series: `The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ was originally intended by the writer to be a one off. As thoroughly enjoyable as the three Narnia movies are, there is no through-story like Rowling’s Harry-Voldermort. Indeed, over the course of the three Narnia movies even some of the Pevensie children themselves become side characters. And although that was entirely the point – part of the plot – in the end it harms the story. It dilutes what the characters are fighting for. It weakens its forcus.
Look at the Harry Potter series: viewed in hindsight it’s not just the story of teenage friendships, for it also presents an astounding portrayal of one man coming to be viewed in the end entirely differently by the viewer. Professor Snape. What an astonishing character arc – and yet Rowling had it all there, right from the beginning: Snape using a counter-curse against Professor Quirrell to save Harry during the first movie’s Quidditch match. Wait, isn’t Snape the bad guy?! We’re made to wonder, right from that first movie all the way through to the revelations of the eighth. `Narnia’ has nothing on that. It’s clear that Rowling has thought her seven-volume story through like a military operation: the first four books may have come out only a year apart, but the author had begun planning them seven years before the first one was ever published.
And the friendships, that’s all there too. Look at the Ron-Hermione moments seeded throughout the entire movie series. Harry and Hermione are just good friends, thus all the unself-conscious hugs she gives him. Yet there is a physical tension – a conscious awareness of each other – between her and Ron. At the end of `Chamber of Secrets’ Hermione flings her arms around Harry… but, both of them equally awkward and embarrassed, Ron and Hermione only shake hands. In `Prisoner of Askaban’ during Hagrid’s first lesson with Harry cautiously approaching Buckbeak, Herminone grabs Ron’s hand, before quickly letting go, both of them looking around uncomfortably. All, finally, converging in Hermione’s emotional outburst at the end of the Yule Ball in `Goblet of Fire’ where (like…
This review is more about the blu ray transfer than the film itself.
The film is actually my second favourite after the prisoner of Azkhaban. Certainly gloomy but never dull, the secret training of Dumbledore’s Army is great fun, and a climactic battle with Dumbledore himself is staggering.
The picture quality of this blu ray film is outstanding. Watched on a 40 inch sony with PS3 at 1080/24 it is brilliant. I did not notice any juddering mentioned in other reviews. The only quibble I have is that the picture quality is so good you notice some of the blue screen sfx, especially the flying on broomsticks through London, that was pretty sub par to be honest.
The visual display of the battle that Dumbledore has is absolutely amazing on Blu Ray. This film has some of the best visual quality scenes I have seen on Blu Ray.
The sound is only 5.1, I did not see any other options like DTS which is a disappointment, though the sound was still very good.
There are loads of extras, the walk through the set with Tonks is great fun, she is a talented singer 😉 and I am frankly a bit smitten with her.
Overall an excellent blu ray disc, that I would frankly recommend buying or at least renting it even if you already have it on DVD.
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Here it is at last, the final part to the eye-wateringly expensive but hugely lucrative HP franchise; the movie adaptation of the phenomenon that taught several generations to pick up a book again comes to an end.
Credit where credit is due – David Yates has done a terrific job with these last four HP films, especially in the face of scrutiny by the worst kind of critic – people who have read and pored over every word of every book numerous times; people who know every minute detail. I have particularly enjoyed the transition over the years from children’s film to adult’s film. As the subject matter has become darker and the dangers more real, so too have the films become visually darker. Visually, Deathly Hallows Part II is astounding; every frame drips with menace and foreboding and it is undoubtedly the most dramatic and the darkest of them all. As Voldermort and his forces finally make their final push for domination, the corridors of Hogwarts are awash with blood. There are plenty of deaths of students and major adult characters alike, interspersed with some very decent and emotive acting. So hats must be tipped to the once child actors for giving just as good as any one of the vast number of established British thespians on the screen with them.
I have read plenty of reviews moaning that too much happens too quickly in Part II, just as they moaned that not enough happens too slowly in Part I. But the fact is that both films are best viewed as just one half of one epic movie. Potter Purists will no doubt moan about the fine details in the book that are not present in the film. But let’s not forget that this is a movie, not an audio-book. Perhaps the film could have benefited, loose-end wise, from being an extra 15 minutes longer. I would have liked to have seen a little more made of Mrs Weasley’s battle with Bellatrix and we don’t get to see Wormtail (previously a fairly major character) attacked and killed by his own hand. For me, all the important bits are here and there’s an awful lot to cram in. The film rattles along at a terrific pace; it is very much an action film and the foil to the deliberate and somewhat slower Part I. There are some wonderful moments; the plundering of Bellatrix’s vault at Gringott’s alongside Griphook (wonderfully played by Warwick Davis) and escape on the back of a dragon is an outstanding scene; Snape’s death and Harry’s discovery of the sacrifice he has made is also nicely realised. Witness Neville Longbottom’s dramatic transformation from zero to hero as he slices off Nagini’s head with the sword of Gryffindor. Share Ron and Hermione’s first kiss in the midst of battle. HP’s final duel with Voldermort is worthy of Luke Skywalker’s battle with the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi, a truly epic struggle between good and evil.
Exciting, moving, epic, emotional, and ultimately very satisfying, this conclusion to the series does a fine job of wrapping up the story, after nearly 1200 minutes of Harry Potter movie. Magic. 8.5/10.
The blu-ray release is another fine high quality addition to the series, with terrific audio and very good depth of colour and clarity. There are a multitude of extras on the two-disc set; more than enough to satisfy even the most fanatical Potterite.
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And So It Ends: a look back at why Harry matters,
When all is said and done – when the eye candy special effects of Quidditch matches and fantastical creatures has been superseded by advances in technology in Hollywood blockbusters yet to come – it is the little moments that this viewer and his wife will return to.
When a friend one time bemoaned the fact that `Half-Blood Prince’ gets bogged down in pointless hormonal teen-angst instead of getting on with the story, I smiled… and shook my head.
No, I said, that IS the story and it’s what I love about the Harry Potter series: it never loses track of the characters. It never forgets that, when viewed as a whole, these eight movies are a story of growing up, of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Of love and friendship and death. Because without those little funny and touching moments between the characters – if all you want is for the movies to rush from one plot element to another – then all you’re left with is plot… and no story. Remember: plot is what happens TO the characters; story is what happens AS A RESULT of the characters.
That’s the real gorgeous beauty of these movies, and it’s what will bring viewers back repeatedly to their DVD shelves. As Frodo said to Sam in `The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’: “What are we fighting for Sam?” “That’s there’s still some good in this world,” Sam replies, “and that it’s worth fighting for.”
That’s why you need those little indulgent moments, because without them it’s just razzle-dazzle special effects and set-pieces. Harry and Ginny’s first kiss: they’re in the Room of Requirement and Ginny tells Harry to close his eyes while she hides Professor Snape’s copy of Advanced Potion Making. And before Harry opens his eyes Ginny leans forward, kisses him and whispers, “That can stay hidden up here too, if you like.” That, my fellow Muggles, is pure movie gold. That’s what the characters are fighting for. Love. Yes, the PLOT concerns itself with good triumphing over evil, but that only comes to pass as a result of the STORY which is about friendship. Because that is something worth fighting for.
It’s why the film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s astonishing trilogy, `His Dark Materials’, is an utter failure: `The Golden Compass’ movie rushes from one plot element to another: and THEN we go here, and THEN we go there. Never slowing down to allow the characters TO BE characters. What are they fighting for? Well, nothing the viewer could care less about…
Ultimately, all of this success comes about because of the brilliant way in which the author J.K. Rowling has constructed her seven-volume storyline. See, `The Chronicles of Narnia’ are good – very good – but in the end don’t quite fully succeed, and this is because the author, C.S. Lewis, had never envisioned them as a series: `The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ was originally intended by the writer to be a one off. As thoroughly enjoyable as the three Narnia movies are, there is no through-story like Rowling’s Harry-Voldermort. Indeed, over the course of the three Narnia movies even some of the Pevensie children themselves become side characters. And although that was entirely the point – part of the plot – in the end it harms the story. It dilutes what the characters are fighting for. It weakens its forcus.
Look at the Harry Potter series: viewed in hindsight it’s not just the story of teenage friendships, for it also presents an astounding portrayal of one man coming to be viewed in the end entirely differently by the viewer. Professor Snape. What an astonishing character arc – and yet Rowling had it all there, right from the beginning: Snape using a counter-curse against Professor Quirrell to save Harry during the first movie’s Quidditch match. Wait, isn’t Snape the bad guy?! We’re made to wonder, right from that first movie all the way through to the revelations of the eighth. `Narnia’ has nothing on that. It’s clear that Rowling has thought her seven-volume story through like a military operation: the first four books may have come out only a year apart, but the author had begun planning them seven years before the first one was ever published.
And the friendships, that’s all there too. Look at the Ron-Hermione moments seeded throughout the entire movie series. Harry and Hermione are just good friends, thus all the unself-conscious hugs she gives him. Yet there is a physical tension – a conscious awareness of each other – between her and Ron. At the end of `Chamber of Secrets’ Hermione flings her arms around Harry… but, both of them equally awkward and embarrassed, Ron and Hermione only shake hands. In `Prisoner of Askaban’ during Hagrid’s first lesson with Harry cautiously approaching Buckbeak, Herminone grabs Ron’s hand, before quickly letting go, both of them looking around uncomfortably. All, finally, converging in Hermione’s emotional outburst at the end of the Yule Ball in `Goblet of Fire’ where (like…
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|Excellent Blu Ray transfer,
This review is more about the blu ray transfer than the film itself.
The film is actually my second favourite after the prisoner of Azkhaban. Certainly gloomy but never dull, the secret training of Dumbledore’s Army is great fun, and a climactic battle with Dumbledore himself is staggering.
The picture quality of this blu ray film is outstanding. Watched on a 40 inch sony with PS3 at 1080/24 it is brilliant. I did not notice any juddering mentioned in other reviews. The only quibble I have is that the picture quality is so good you notice some of the blue screen sfx, especially the flying on broomsticks through London, that was pretty sub par to be honest.
The visual display of the battle that Dumbledore has is absolutely amazing on Blu Ray. This film has some of the best visual quality scenes I have seen on Blu Ray.
The sound is only 5.1, I did not see any other options like DTS which is a disappointment, though the sound was still very good.
There are loads of extras, the walk through the set with Tonks is great fun, she is a talented singer 😉 and I am frankly a bit smitten with her.
Overall an excellent blu ray disc, that I would frankly recommend buying or at least renting it even if you already have it on DVD.
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|An epic, exciting climax: Farewell HP.,
Here it is at last, the final part to the eye-wateringly expensive but hugely lucrative HP franchise; the movie adaptation of the phenomenon that taught several generations to pick up a book again comes to an end.
Credit where credit is due – David Yates has done a terrific job with these last four HP films, especially in the face of scrutiny by the worst kind of critic – people who have read and pored over every word of every book numerous times; people who know every minute detail. I have particularly enjoyed the transition over the years from children’s film to adult’s film. As the subject matter has become darker and the dangers more real, so too have the films become visually darker. Visually, Deathly Hallows Part II is astounding; every frame drips with menace and foreboding and it is undoubtedly the most dramatic and the darkest of them all. As Voldermort and his forces finally make their final push for domination, the corridors of Hogwarts are awash with blood. There are plenty of deaths of students and major adult characters alike, interspersed with some very decent and emotive acting. So hats must be tipped to the once child actors for giving just as good as any one of the vast number of established British thespians on the screen with them.
I have read plenty of reviews moaning that too much happens too quickly in Part II, just as they moaned that not enough happens too slowly in Part I. But the fact is that both films are best viewed as just one half of one epic movie. Potter Purists will no doubt moan about the fine details in the book that are not present in the film. But let’s not forget that this is a movie, not an audio-book. Perhaps the film could have benefited, loose-end wise, from being an extra 15 minutes longer. I would have liked to have seen a little more made of Mrs Weasley’s battle with Bellatrix and we don’t get to see Wormtail (previously a fairly major character) attacked and killed by his own hand. For me, all the important bits are here and there’s an awful lot to cram in. The film rattles along at a terrific pace; it is very much an action film and the foil to the deliberate and somewhat slower Part I. There are some wonderful moments; the plundering of Bellatrix’s vault at Gringott’s alongside Griphook (wonderfully played by Warwick Davis) and escape on the back of a dragon is an outstanding scene; Snape’s death and Harry’s discovery of the sacrifice he has made is also nicely realised. Witness Neville Longbottom’s dramatic transformation from zero to hero as he slices off Nagini’s head with the sword of Gryffindor. Share Ron and Hermione’s first kiss in the midst of battle. HP’s final duel with Voldermort is worthy of Luke Skywalker’s battle with the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi, a truly epic struggle between good and evil.
Exciting, moving, epic, emotional, and ultimately very satisfying, this conclusion to the series does a fine job of wrapping up the story, after nearly 1200 minutes of Harry Potter movie. Magic. 8.5/10.
The blu-ray release is another fine high quality addition to the series, with terrific audio and very good depth of colour and clarity. There are a multitude of extras on the two-disc set; more than enough to satisfy even the most fanatical Potterite.
Was this review helpful to you?
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