Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Yup, here are my late thoughts on the final Potter flick. Then it's back to my review workpile before going to see Captain America. Word of warning- my review is very spoiler-filled. It's very tough to accurately discuss this film without talking frankly.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

You don't need me to tell you how pervasive the Potter franchise has become, 'specially as every other reviewer is using Deathly Hallows Part 2 as an excuse for retrospective bum-gazing on the series as a whole, and pondering about where exactly the Potter films will place in cinematic history. It's hard to overstate the impact the Boy Who Lived has had on popular culture. I don't know about you, but when I sat down to watch Part 2 and realised the decade long Potter saga was at its end, I felt rather (deathly) hollow.

"From this day forth, you put your faith... in me."

In a shocking twist, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 continues directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Harry (Daniel Radclifffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are still on the hunt for the remaining Horcruxes to weaken Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) enough to stop him once and for all. Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters wage war on the last bastion of good, Hogwarts castle, now run dictatorially by fan favourite Severus Snape (Alan Rickman). If Part 1 was all set-up, Part 2 is all pay off. Thing is, amongst all the truly epic battles and suprisingly bloody character deaths, I felt a sense of disappointment starting to grow.

I haven't read the Deathly Hallows book since it intially came out, so I'm a bit foggy on the details, but I remember it being a lot more satisfying than the film was. It genuinely hurts me to call Part 2 out on these things, but I can't just give it a free pass as many other people seem to be doing. I appreciate it's got to be nigh-on impossible to flesh out every character as much as the fans would like, but Christ, Ron and Hermione are pretty much sidelined here. They're physically there with Harry, but not given too much to do. To me, the series was about the three of them, not just speccy Potter. The much-awaited getting together of Ron and Hermione is rushed and strangely devoid of an "oh, finally!" feeling. Maybe it's because I've always thought that Harry was the least interesting character in the series and the film (understandably) focuses on him battling Voldemort. That's not to say I don't like him. I feel the same about Batman and I love Batman.

So, yes- the big talking point with this film will be Snape. It's good that we finally see Snape's true colours and his reasons for being the way he was, but I feel it was mishandled. His love for Lily is touching, but it certainly didn't make me cry as I had been preparing to. I had a real problem with the "emotional montage tear" power that Snape apparently has. It smacks of corner-cutting to me. They've had two films for one book, there should be enough space to let certain things breathe. I'm fine with stuff being cut and/or altered for film, but the book's emotional gut-punches should not be changed or skimped upon- both of which have happened here, giving a brilliant character a not-so-brilliant send off. It's a running theme as Fred, Tonks and Lupin are all killed off-screen and not really paid much heed apart from some corpse shots to show you they did indeed get fucked up. It says a lot that I was more affected by Dobby's death in Part 1 than I was by any of the departures in Part 2. Also, why the fuck do Voldemort, Bellatrix and Nagini explode into goth confetti when they die? Just have them fall over and lie still, it's fucking lame to have them explode.

"You have your mother's eyes."

The film isn't bad by any stretch, most of it is pretty decent. There's a lot to like. I thought Ralph Fiennes was awesome as Voldemort and as I said, the battles are epic and the whole wizards vs. Death Eaters war is really well done. The Gringotts sequence is great too. The effects are also frickin' fantastic in both senses of the word and the film feels suitably big, but for me the Devil was in the details. You may (and probably do) disagree with me and found it to be a great farewell to the Potter universe. That's totally fine. Personally, I found it to be a decent end, but not the worthy conclusion I wanted it to be. I find the fact that the Potter series has now ended to be infinitely sadder than anything in this film.