Harry Potter and the Final McGuffin Pt. Deux

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two came out today, and I was one of the multitude of nerds at the midnight showing last night. It was the end of an era. We've watched these kids grow up (some more awkwardly than others *cough cough Ron*) , and its hard to believe that this is probably the last installment to feature this cast. I'm sure JK Rowling will eventually write a prequel or sequel series, but its not going to be the same.

I've never read the books, other than skimming the first one when I was about 11 or 12, so what follows is my evaluation of the movie based solely on its own merit, or in relation to the MOVIE series.

1. The Characters

After seven movies, its pretty much established who everyone is and what their character roles are going to be. Harry is wizard Jesus, Hermione is the brains, and Ron is the less competent, somewhat cowardly bff, who has been known to stuff his face with junk food, but then surprises us all when he does help save the day.

Zoinks, Harry!

Probably my favorite part of this movie was seeing the secondary characters, who we rarely see do anything in the previous movies, actually kicking ass and taking names. Professor McGonagall, who we all take for granted as just kind of being there, and occasionally pointing the kids in the right direction, aggressively beats the crap out of Snape, and lead the defense of Hogwarts, and it is awesome!

Similarly, Neville, the goofy "Why is it always me?" kid, is easily my favorite character in this film. He really grows a pair, and flat out saves the day. Everyone would have DIED if he didn't show up brandishing a kick-ass sword. His development as a character was the best thing in this film and film series in general. I know he got a substantially larger role in the later movies versus the earlier ones, but I wish they would have had more of them in there, so this already awesome busting-loose scene would have been built up even more.

Pictured: That kid you made fun of in high school, who turned out to be better than you.

I have mixed feelings towards the film's villains. Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort is a hard character to judge. His acting is a little hammy at some points, between making scary "BLAH! EVIL!" faces at the camera, and hobbling around and wheezing like an old man after some of his soul McGuffins are smashed, but I could live with it. Personally, I've always liked the visual form they decided to go with. He could have easily looked like a bad Power Rangers villain, but I think they nailed it so that he was a creepy enough reptile/human monster.

This also would have been acceptable.

Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix was sufficiently creepy as well. Unfortunately, she's quite underused in this half of the film, and its not as big of a payoff when she's defeated (More on that later).

It was really difficult to find a creepy picture of Helena Bonham Carter.

The Malfoys are a mix-bag for me. Draco's an interesting enough character. He's pretty much the anti-Harry. Rather than being used as a pawn for good as Dumbledore does with Harry, he's Voldemort's Wizard-Nazi youth. A frustrating part of the film for me was after Draco and his cronies burn up the room of requirement. One of the goons burns to death, but Harry and his pals fly back on their broomsticks to save Draco and Crony #2. Now, I realize that Harry is the ultimate good guy, and I didn't expect him to KILL Draco, but I think it would have played out better if he had let him die, to save him from being anyone's pawn, basically mercy killing him in a way.

He could have totally Batmaned it.

Draco's mom is a complex enough character for as little screen time as she gets. She's pretty rotten, but at least we know she cares more about her son than she does Wizard-Hitler. Daddy Lucius, however, is the only character whose ultimate fate I was truly disappointed in. He was an evil, hate-mongering, slave-beating, attempted child-murdering, slug. I think after being in most of the previous movies, he should have gotten what he deserved, instead of scurrying away.

2. The Story

As its own movie, its hard to judge this film. As the title states, its really just a direct continuation of the previous installment, and it shows. In terms of pacing, it just picks up immediately after the previous film, even showing the last shot from Part One. Because of this, I found myself not connecting as much with the characters as I could have. Many major characters get little screen time. Hagrid doesn't show up until the last 20 minutes or so, and Bellatrix's death isn't as impressive as it should have been, given that she only had about two lines in this film. Most of this story's heart was in Part One, and this one was basically just the good guys fighting back after spending the entire first film running away. If and when I watch this film again, I'd have to watch it in conjunction with Part One. I couldn't see myself ever going "I think I'll watch the second half of Deathly Hallows!"

Although it would bypass my love/hate relationship with Dobby...

There were many McGuffin callbacks in this film, and I enjoyed that quite a bit, because it rewards you for having watched and remembered seven other films. The Chamber of Secrets from the second film makes a very sensible return appearance, as does the aforementioned Room of Requirement from the fifth movie onward.

I really enjoyed the line: "When have any of our plans ever actually worked? We plan. We get there. All hell breaks loose". That about sums up the movies in a nutshell. One of the first few scenes in this film is the gang sneaking into Gringotts Bank to steal a Voldemort McGuffin, and of course the plan falls apart. My first thought was originally, "Why didn't they have any magic exit strategy to poof out of there?" As a regular reader of the X-Men comics, I thought "Cyclops or Cable would have had about ten ways to get them out of there." But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. These kids are in no way strategists. They usually make stuff up on the fly and hope for the best. That and the fact that they only recently lost their mentor figure, Dumbledore, makes one remember that this is essentially the first time they've had to fend for themselves without the grown-ups coming in to save the day (at least not until later).

If Nightcrawler was on Harry's team, their plans would go a lot smoother.

There were a couple of noticeable distractions for me in this film. First of all, one of the actors who played one of Draco Malfoy's cronies was busted for pot possession not too long ago, so his character doesn't appear in this film. It wouldn't have been a huge deal at all if they hadn't decided to replace his character with some random black Slytherin dude. Why bother? All they needed was the hencht-wit who dies, and then the good guys save Malfoy. Having henchman #2 there wasn't an integral part of the scene.

 Henchman 21, however, is important.

The other major flaw for me was the interaction between Harry and the spirit of Dumbledore after Harry basically sacrifices himself. First of all, not ten minutes prior, Harry found out that Dumbledore had been using him HIS ENTIRE LIFE. Dumbledore knew from day one that Harry was going to have to die in order to defeat Voldemort. Despite this revelation, Harry chats with his dead mentor like nothing's up. "Oh, hey we're both dead now. Neat." After he pulled his head out of the Pensieve, I wanted him to just angrily spin around and go "YOU SON OF A B*TCH..." But no. Snape was a good person who had crap thrust upon him, and Dumbledore was too focused on the greater good to give a rat's ass about Harry as a person.   

"BEE TEE DUBS, HARRY, YOU HAVE TO DIE. KTHNXBYE!"

And then, to top off this already implausible interaction, Harry's last words to his deceased mentor are "WHAT DO I DO, PROFESSOR?" Dumbledore died in the sixth movie (and book) because he was the mentor figure. Just as Gandalf or Obi-Wan Kenobi pass on to the great beyond, so does Dumbledore. And why is this? To allow the protagonist to develop on his own. He no longer needs the wise elder to tell him what to do, he's supposed to go out and make his own choices. This seemed like a big regression in character to me, and made Harry even less interesting than he already is.

"SAVE ME, ELDERLY MAN!"

3. The Effects

The effects in this movie were also a mix of good and bad. As I mentioned, I've liked the way Voldemort looks on screen, and that continues in this movie. However, there are several moments when he is speaking in everybody's minds, and it just sounds like a voiceover. There's a smidgen of echo, but I really think they could have done some more reverb or other sound editing to make this sound more interesting. The "moving" voice of Professor X in Logan's head in the first X-Men film, or the elder Spock mind-melding with young Kirk in the newest Star Trek film both accomplished this better. To me, it felt like Ralph Fiennes just sat in a recording booth, read his lines, and they cut and pasted it over the scene. The End.

 "You guys can just edit me out, right?"

One moment I thought was pretty good was the scene you can see in the trailer, where Harry grabs Voldemort and pulls him off the tower. They then go whooshing off into the air in a grappling, twirling, stream of black smoke. I'm told this scene wasn't in the book, but I thought it was pretty intense and helped make the final confrontation as decent as it was.

"And I would've got away with it too, if it weren't for that meddling Potter!"

The opening mine cart ride through Gringotts was a little showy. If I had gone to the 3d showing, maybe it would have been impressive? But as with most 3d, I think it would've detracted from the plot more than this sequence did already.


The gross Voldemort fetus inside Harry's mind was excellent. Everyone in the audience was audibly grossed out by it, and that was exactly what the film makers were going for, so I think that was successful.

 I don't want to spoil its creepiness for anyone. Here is a penguin instead.

4. The Ending

All good things must come to an end, and this includes the Harry Potter film series. I have to say though, for a conclusion, I was expecting a little more. I don't really know what exactly, but a little more "Umph". This was a pretty good movie, and had a lot going for it as I've mentioned, but it didn't necessarily seem like a finale that took seven other films to get to. Voldemort's death is pretty uneventful, for being the Uber-boss he was built up to be. I've played video games where the final boss's defeat had more of an impact on me. I think after all the torment this great evil put the world through, they could have had him go out more spectacularly than crumbling as his henchman/body Quirrel did in the first film. 

And he wouldn't look at the explosion either.

I was also frustrated by Harry's decision to destroy the Elder Wand at the very end. I understand why this was done though. The in-story explanation has to do with it being such a curse and a burden for people to constantly be challenging you for possession of it. From a structure standpoint, they couldn't have Harry keep the series' Ultima weapon. If Rowling ever wanted to do a follow-up series, they couldn't make the same uber-weapon that easily accessible. Little Albus Potter can't come running in and go "Dad! Some new evil threat is chasing me! Use the unstoppable weapon to kill it!" "Okay, son!" The End. 

"And home in time for bangers and mash!"

So she had to get rid of it somehow, while giving it enough closure so that there aren't a thousand fans out there asking "When new evil creature shows up, why didn't Harry just use the super duper wand?" It'd be like if you started out every Zelda game with the Master Sword and all your gear from the previous dozen or so installments. It takes the quest portion away.

"We could go through 8 dungeons, or we can just use the stuff we have already, and kill Gannon."

What did I think of the "19 Years Later" epilogue? I'm not sure exactly. The aging effects they used on the actors was alright. It was certainly better than the de-aging effects from X-Men: The Last Stand and Wolverine. I don't think they really looked nineteen years older though. Harry was a little scruffier, that was about it. Ginny and Ron looked the same. They did give Hermione some crow's feet, which made sense, given her age, and stress she probably put herself through constantly. Malfoy was going bald which I think matched his age well. There were some issues with eye color between all the Potter's that some of my movie-going party found distracting, given the repeated use of the line telling Harry he has his mother's eyes, despite him not. I didn't notice it, but yeah, they probably should have given that some thought, given its relevance.

But EYE wasn't bothered by it! ZING!

So overall, yes Harry Potter #8 was a movie worth seeing. If you enjoyed the other films this one won't disappoint you. At the very least, you should be satisfied and entertained. Its clearly the second part of a whole movie though, so I'd recommend watching Part One right before you go to the theater.




Bonus Section: The Experience

This is the fourth Harry Potter I have gone to a midnight event for, if I recall correctly, and as much as I enjoy the films and enjoy midnight showings, the Harry Potter fan base is a bit too much for me. I understand nerds, obviously, and I'm already prepped to wear my Captain America shirt to that movie next Thursday, but between the giant Styrofoam snake, the impromptu trivia contest, and the squealing games of electronic "20 Questions", it was a very childish audience. I'm pretty sure there were some people whose lives peaked last night. The five or six hours in line I had to spend near these people was bad enough, but their responses during certain parts of the movie were quite frustrating. I was totally understanding of the bawling at sad portions of the film, but some of them also laughed at somber moments. There were a few people who laughed every time Professor Slughorn was on screen. Even when it was during the epic final battle, or in between the fights when they were mourning their dead. There was just a lot of awkward inappropriate behavior from this overcrowded theater. Not enough that it ruined the experience or anything, and yes, it could have been much worse, but I'm ready for the more adult nerds I'm anticipating at Cap next week. I have higher expectations from my branch of nerd.