HOME | DD

Description
Mayleaf's Harry Potter 7 part II review, including stuff I loved, stuff I hated, and stuff that should have been in the movie but wasn't:

*Some spoilers, but not as many as I could have had!*

Stuff I Loved:

-Griphook the Goblin. He was actually a really cool character, and he had this laconic way of speaking that made him seem really real.

-Lucius "Scruffington" Malfoy, still played by Jason Isaacs, is a riot in this movie. Every time he came on screen, looking like Hell with stubble all over and wearing a velour dressing gown like England's best-dressed hobo I knew that I was a happy girl.

-Lord Voldemort. I know, I know, but still! There is a scene where Harry "sees" Voldemort's mind and realizes he knows that Harry is hunting for Horcruxes, and it cuts back to Voldemort and he's gone absolutely NUTS in Gringotts. The floor's covered in blood, bodies scattered everywhere. Now THERE'S a villain.

-The siege of Hogwarts looks pretty damn cool. And McGonagall! Who knew that she would have one-liners!

-Speaking of Voldemort, who you see a lot of in this movie, more than the other films combined, I think, after the scene where Hermione destroys the cup he has kind of a breakdown. One of his followers comes up to him and goes "My Lord?" and Voldemort just blows him away. Kills him for absolutely no reason. I may have a morbid sense of humor, but I found that hilarious. "Interrupt my alone time will you? AVADA KEDAVRA! Dust bunnies under the bed? AVADA KEDAVRA! Asking well-meaning questions about my blatant and obvious freak-out? AVADA KEDAVRA!"

-Speaking of Hermione destroying the cup, I loved that scene. You'll know why.

-Snape is always great. His flashbacks, given to Harry in the form of tears (LAME) are generally really, really good. The images of him moving through the Potter's house after Voldemort's little visit are in particular really moving, as is the "Always." scene.

-After Harry "dies", Voldemort collapses briefly and Bellatrix goes over to try to help him. This sets up the greatest "No one loves you Bellatrix" moment in the entire series. Voldemort snarls that he doesn't need any assistance and gives her a nice, solid shove. Because no one loves Bellatrix.

-The epilogue from the book is in the movie. I was dreading this scene, but it's actually really good.

-The entire movie is worth seeing for the epilogue scene cameo of Tom Felton as older Draco Malfoy, King of the Pimps. He could not pimp any harder is he were wearing a big purple hat with a feather in it surrounded by women dressed in slave Leia costumes. That is how much Draco owns.

Stuff I Hated:

-The Dumbledore subplot is almost entirely ignored. Aberforth, Ariana, none of that is explained, I expect due to time constraints. But come on! It was a huge and very interesting part of the book! They try to summarize it at Aberforth's pub, but allot more than 2 minutes of screen time to something that cool.

-When they're destroying the horcruxes, I kind of expected Voldemort to slowly look more human. Unless "more human" equals "more head-veins", this does not occur. His skin even stays a nice shade of greenish-grey the whole movie, too.

- The one gripe I had about Snape was this: his flashbacks, while great, skimmed over the memories I most wanted to see. Also, the boy cast to play young Snape looks like Satan himself. I mean, young Tom Riddle looked like that boy from the Omen, but this kid doesn't look human. His face looks the least like a human face of any face I've ever seen. When he appears suddenly, I was like "Gah! Not only was that not how I expected young Severus to look, but his skull looks like flesh-toned silly putty sculpted by a five-year old! Why?!"

-You know everyone who dies in the books? My favorite characters? They die in the movie, too. Yes, even Fred Weasley. And it's incredibly sad.

-The scene at King's Cross Afterlife station is okay on the whole. The beginning however, was truly bizarre. You see something under a bench. Harry goes in for a closer look and OH MY GOD it's fetus-Voldemort. GAH! What the Hell?!

-Also in that scene, Dumbledore's greeting: Oh Harry, you brave boy, you marvelous man. My reaction: All of Dumbledore's back-story and subplot is gone, but the pedophilic subtext is intact? What is this, the Harry Potter drinking game? Every time Dumbledore goes from kindly to creepy take a shot?

-Okay, here's the deal with Neville. I loved it in the books where Neville kills the snake. Loved it. In the movie, instead of telling Neville to kill the snake, Harry tells Ron and Hermione to kill the snake, and Neville saves them when they botch it up. Harry passed Neville on the way up- why didn't they just keep it the way from the books and have Harry tell him?

-Here's something I really loathed: the climactic fight scene between Harry and Voldemort.

-First off, they're both up in a tower, and Voldemort smacks the shit out of Harry, and then gives him a good kick in the ribs. Does this seem like the kind of thing Voldemort would do? I mean, Cruciatus curse, sure, but "muggle fighting" doesn't exactly seem his style.

-Next, for reasons I cannot even begin to imagine, Voldemort turns his robe into ropes that grab Harry's hand and feet. He doesn't do this to torture Harry or anything, he just…does it for kicks. Kinky?

-Then, Harry says something action hero-y, like "Let's finish this how we started it: together!" and he grabs Voldemort and jumps off the tower. EXCEPT VOLDEMORT CAN FLY. Should have thought that plan through just a little more there, Harry. And Voldemort's bashing Harry into buildings and stuff, then there's a shot where he grabs Harry's head between his hands and laughs maniacally, I have no idea why.

-Remember in the book where the ultimate showdown was done with dignity and gravity, with Harry explaining to Voldemort about the wand's loyalty? Well, in the movie LASER BEAMS! And then, to add the ultimate insult to injury, just like every video game boss ever, Voldemort goes to his final form after his last Horcrux dies. The form of EVEN BIGGER LASER BEAMS!

-And after Voldemort is disarmed of his wand by Harry, he just…disintegrates. In a deserted courtyard. What, you could show Fred Weasley's corpse but not his? Now we'll NEVER know if Voldie was boxers or briefs! And another thing, if I were a wizard, I know I wouldn't believe that Voldemort was dead without seeing a corpse.

Stuff I would have liked to see:

-In the forest when Harry has summoned all his dead friends and his parents, he mentions Remus Lupin's son not knowing his father. When did Harry find out about about the kid? Is that a deleted scene? Because I definitely don't remember the movies mentioned that little fact.

-You remember in the book how the "climactic fight scene" wasn't really a fight scene at all, but Voldemort's wand rebounding and killing him in the Great Hall surrounded by witnesses and cheering? I WANTED TO SEE THAT.