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Movie Review Update, Part 2
Dec. 19th, 2010 06:19 pmI remember what movie I saw that I couldn't remember in the previous post! The reason I couldn't remember it (I think) is because I didn't actually attend this one with Patricia Bray. Nope, I sent to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I with my mom over the Thanksgiving weekend.
My main thought going into the movie was that I hoped they didn't spend SO MUCH FREAKING TIME with Harry, Hermoine, and Ron wandering from place to place doing nothing, which was the incredibly boring part of the book. Just do a quick sequence indicating that they're spending lots of time hiding in various places, and then get to the real plot, where things happen and move forward.
No such luck. They spend as much time in the movie going from place to place as in the book. In fact, my biggest complaint about the movie overall is that they stuck so close to the book I wasn't really surprised or awed by anything. But the worst was the jumping around and doing nothing parts.
That said, and ignoring those parts of the movie, the rest of the movie was rather good. I really like the invasion of the Ministry section, probably the best part in the movie. I also liked the beginning, with Voldemort meeting with the other Death Eaters. This was suitably dark and deadly and gave me great hope for the rest of the movie. The section later on, when Harry, Hermoine, and Ron are captured and taken to the same house . . . didn't quite live up to this opening, however. They did push the limits with Bellatrix torturing Hermoine; THAT part was great, because it wasn't shown on screen, but still made me wriggle in my seat. They needed to go darker with Harry and Ron's reaction and actions after that though. They could have gone darker with other scenes as well, and they should have.
But all of the actual action scenes were good (revisiting Harry's birthplace, going to see Luna's father, etc) individually. The problem was the balance between those scenes as the other parts. And that's the issue I had with the previous movie. The director doesn't seem to have the right balance between the lulls and building the tension to that final moment. There's too much time spent on the lulls, some great buildup, and then not enough time spent on the action scenes. He builds you up to something much greater than what actually happens, in my opinion. Maybe this is just my own internal sense of pacing that's taken control here, but I don't think so.
In any case, in the overall ratings of the HP movies so far, this one ranks up there as one of the better ones, although not the best. I like the more adult nature and themes of the laster movies, but the pacing balance is off and the follow-through of the action skewed. With the earlier movies, the magic and sense of wonder is great and the pacing better, but they were targeting an audience much younger than me. So far, the movie that balanced everything the best for me--both age of the audience, content, and pacing--has been the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
We'll see how this director handles the second part of this last book this summer, I guess. I'm hoping that he treats the action/pacing balance well. I don't remember any long, boring parts in the book for this last part.
My main thought going into the movie was that I hoped they didn't spend SO MUCH FREAKING TIME with Harry, Hermoine, and Ron wandering from place to place doing nothing, which was the incredibly boring part of the book. Just do a quick sequence indicating that they're spending lots of time hiding in various places, and then get to the real plot, where things happen and move forward.
No such luck. They spend as much time in the movie going from place to place as in the book. In fact, my biggest complaint about the movie overall is that they stuck so close to the book I wasn't really surprised or awed by anything. But the worst was the jumping around and doing nothing parts.
That said, and ignoring those parts of the movie, the rest of the movie was rather good. I really like the invasion of the Ministry section, probably the best part in the movie. I also liked the beginning, with Voldemort meeting with the other Death Eaters. This was suitably dark and deadly and gave me great hope for the rest of the movie. The section later on, when Harry, Hermoine, and Ron are captured and taken to the same house . . . didn't quite live up to this opening, however. They did push the limits with Bellatrix torturing Hermoine; THAT part was great, because it wasn't shown on screen, but still made me wriggle in my seat. They needed to go darker with Harry and Ron's reaction and actions after that though. They could have gone darker with other scenes as well, and they should have.
But all of the actual action scenes were good (revisiting Harry's birthplace, going to see Luna's father, etc) individually. The problem was the balance between those scenes as the other parts. And that's the issue I had with the previous movie. The director doesn't seem to have the right balance between the lulls and building the tension to that final moment. There's too much time spent on the lulls, some great buildup, and then not enough time spent on the action scenes. He builds you up to something much greater than what actually happens, in my opinion. Maybe this is just my own internal sense of pacing that's taken control here, but I don't think so.
In any case, in the overall ratings of the HP movies so far, this one ranks up there as one of the better ones, although not the best. I like the more adult nature and themes of the laster movies, but the pacing balance is off and the follow-through of the action skewed. With the earlier movies, the magic and sense of wonder is great and the pacing better, but they were targeting an audience much younger than me. So far, the movie that balanced everything the best for me--both age of the audience, content, and pacing--has been the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
We'll see how this director handles the second part of this last book this summer, I guess. I'm hoping that he treats the action/pacing balance well. I don't remember any long, boring parts in the book for this last part.
