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kerravonsenSo now I've seen Deathly Hallows Part 2. I managed to see it with my brother after all, and then go to their place for my father's birthday dinner. At which some of the conversation was about the movie.
From what I had heard from other people, I was afraid I was going to embarrass myself at Snape's death scene by crying, and I didn't want to do that, so I braced myself against it.
The thumps and crunches of the actual attack by Nagini were almost worse than seeing it would be. He didn't have a chance. It was such a sad and unheroic death, but that's how it was in the book too.
No, I didn't cry when he died, but I almost cried in one of the Pensieve memories. When Snape was holding the dead Lily in his arms and howling, with Baby Harry crying in his cot next to him, the tears pricked in my eyes. Because to see Snape like that, that was Devastation.
And the 19 Years Later scene, that was Vindication.
Which is, I surmise, why I wasn't as upset by what happened to Snape here as I was after seeing Half-Blood Prince, because I get more upset by someone's reputation being destroyed than I do by someone dying heroically - well, Snape didn't die heroically, but he was eventually vindicated.
Of course, I'm still going to write and read AUs where he doesn't die. He is, after all, my favourite character. My niece was just as appalled by this assertion as she had been when I said the same a few years ago. My sister-in-law declared Snape to be "sleazy" but my eldest nephew said that was the completely wrong word. He had this wonderful rolling phrase that he used to describe Snape, and now I can't remember what it was. I was saying things like "Tall dark and brooding" and "Byronic hero". My brother was on my side too.
Then again, I have to consider my niece's taste in Harry Potter to be questionable anyway, because there were a lot of characters she didn't like. She didn't like Harry (I supplied the term "whinger" and she agreed). She thought Ron was an idiot, and Hermione was annoying. When challenged, she said that her favourite character was Dobby.
My brother then said that his favourite character was Hagrid (good choice). My eldest nephew described Hagrid as "magnificently irresponsible".
But back to the movie itself. I'm not sure I can stand back and say whether this movie was the best HP movie or not. All I can say is that I liked it. The time went very quickly; it didn't feel like a long movie at all.
Various things in no particular order:
I was sorry for the poor dragon chained up in Gringotts. More than I was in the book, actually. It looked so pathetic, half-blind, bleeding from its chains, as white as a fish that never sees the sun.
I wish I could ride in a Gringotts cart; it looks like the most fantastic roller coaster ride ever.
Very good portrayal of an unstable Voldemort in the aftermath of the Gringotts break-in -- just the Goblin corpses on the floor, to show he'd gone on a rampage.
Another good bit in that regard - after one of the Horcruxes is destroyed, Voldemort Avada-Kedavra's the first Death Eater who opens his mouth.
I smiled at Filch yelling about students in the halls and Minerva saying that they were supposed to be.
An almost poignant Filch moment: after the battle, he's attempting to sweep up the rubble.
Luna Lovegood is wearing blue when everyone around her is wearing black.
There were a number of really good bits of dialogue:
- between Harry and Ollivander
- between Harry and Griphook at the start
- between Harry and Aberforth; and Hermione pointing out after that conversation that Aberforth, for all his words of despair, isn't behaving like someone who has given up.
The duel between Minerva and Snape was good.
When Snape flees, there they are thinking they've "won", but the battle hasn't even started yet...
Neville! Go Neville! I was expecting him to kill Nagini when he first picked up the Sorting Hat and was talking in the courtyard about how Harry lived on in their hearts, since that was more or less when he did it in canon (I think?) but I guess they wanted to draw out the tension by having this long drawn out battle where people kept on trying to kill Nagini and missing.
One thing that did annoy me - all the students running around like headless chooks when Harry was trying to make his way first to Ravenclaw tower, then to the Room of Requirement. I suppose that was meant to make it more dramatic, but I was just annoyed that they were all getting in his way.
It's interesting that in the movie, the final battle between Harry and Voldemort occurs without witnesses, rather than in the Great Hall as in the book. And they cut short Harry's "do you feel lucky, punk?" speech! And Harry didn't get to say that Snape was Dumbledore's man all along. (frown)
I think there are going to be a lot of things that people who haven't read the books will miss. But then my brother pointed out, when he was explaining why he watched the movies first and read the books afterwards; it is so that he will enjoy the movies more because he doesn't know, when he is watching them, how they depart from the books so he isn't annoyed by it, and then he enjoys the books more because he finds out all the little details that the movies left out.
I'm glad that the movie was different in this respect: that Harry broke the Elder Wand and threw away the pieces. IMHO, that's a much better way of ensuring that it doesn't cause any more strife. Putting the wand back in Dumbledore's tomb is just asking for someone else to steal it and kill Harry in order to master it. (Which Grangerous pointed out at the end of her story Phoenix Tears or, Hermione Granger and the Deathly Hallows)
I liked how they conveyed the "reluctance" of the Elder Wand in Voldemort's hands; as if it was cracking, as if the magic was being forced through it rather than flowing freely.
I thought it was rather symbolic that Voldemort's body dissolves into ashes.
Another nice visual: the bit where the students are being marched in phalanxes into the Great Hall; such a contrast between that and the earlier movies where they filled up the halls with happy chaos.
This was a very black and grey movie. It felt as if almost the only spot of colour was Luna's blue clothing. Another way of making her look out of step with her peers.
Oh, and the flashbacks with Snape were full of colour, especially the bits with Wee!Lily and Wee!Snape. They were lovely. My heart aches for Wee!Snape and his lost friendship.
Thinking about that makes me want to read AUs. Or EWE SSHG stories. Or write them. Though I'm not really for writing much now as NaArMaMo starts tomorrow.
From what I had heard from other people, I was afraid I was going to embarrass myself at Snape's death scene by crying, and I didn't want to do that, so I braced myself against it.
The thumps and crunches of the actual attack by Nagini were almost worse than seeing it would be. He didn't have a chance. It was such a sad and unheroic death, but that's how it was in the book too.
No, I didn't cry when he died, but I almost cried in one of the Pensieve memories. When Snape was holding the dead Lily in his arms and howling, with Baby Harry crying in his cot next to him, the tears pricked in my eyes. Because to see Snape like that, that was Devastation.
And the 19 Years Later scene, that was Vindication.
Which is, I surmise, why I wasn't as upset by what happened to Snape here as I was after seeing Half-Blood Prince, because I get more upset by someone's reputation being destroyed than I do by someone dying heroically - well, Snape didn't die heroically, but he was eventually vindicated.
Of course, I'm still going to write and read AUs where he doesn't die. He is, after all, my favourite character. My niece was just as appalled by this assertion as she had been when I said the same a few years ago. My sister-in-law declared Snape to be "sleazy" but my eldest nephew said that was the completely wrong word. He had this wonderful rolling phrase that he used to describe Snape, and now I can't remember what it was. I was saying things like "Tall dark and brooding" and "Byronic hero". My brother was on my side too.
Then again, I have to consider my niece's taste in Harry Potter to be questionable anyway, because there were a lot of characters she didn't like. She didn't like Harry (I supplied the term "whinger" and she agreed). She thought Ron was an idiot, and Hermione was annoying. When challenged, she said that her favourite character was Dobby.
My brother then said that his favourite character was Hagrid (good choice). My eldest nephew described Hagrid as "magnificently irresponsible".
But back to the movie itself. I'm not sure I can stand back and say whether this movie was the best HP movie or not. All I can say is that I liked it. The time went very quickly; it didn't feel like a long movie at all.
Various things in no particular order:
I was sorry for the poor dragon chained up in Gringotts. More than I was in the book, actually. It looked so pathetic, half-blind, bleeding from its chains, as white as a fish that never sees the sun.
I wish I could ride in a Gringotts cart; it looks like the most fantastic roller coaster ride ever.
Very good portrayal of an unstable Voldemort in the aftermath of the Gringotts break-in -- just the Goblin corpses on the floor, to show he'd gone on a rampage.
Another good bit in that regard - after one of the Horcruxes is destroyed, Voldemort Avada-Kedavra's the first Death Eater who opens his mouth.
I smiled at Filch yelling about students in the halls and Minerva saying that they were supposed to be.
An almost poignant Filch moment: after the battle, he's attempting to sweep up the rubble.
Luna Lovegood is wearing blue when everyone around her is wearing black.
There were a number of really good bits of dialogue:
- between Harry and Ollivander
- between Harry and Griphook at the start
- between Harry and Aberforth; and Hermione pointing out after that conversation that Aberforth, for all his words of despair, isn't behaving like someone who has given up.
The duel between Minerva and Snape was good.
When Snape flees, there they are thinking they've "won", but the battle hasn't even started yet...
Neville! Go Neville! I was expecting him to kill Nagini when he first picked up the Sorting Hat and was talking in the courtyard about how Harry lived on in their hearts, since that was more or less when he did it in canon (I think?) but I guess they wanted to draw out the tension by having this long drawn out battle where people kept on trying to kill Nagini and missing.
One thing that did annoy me - all the students running around like headless chooks when Harry was trying to make his way first to Ravenclaw tower, then to the Room of Requirement. I suppose that was meant to make it more dramatic, but I was just annoyed that they were all getting in his way.
It's interesting that in the movie, the final battle between Harry and Voldemort occurs without witnesses, rather than in the Great Hall as in the book. And they cut short Harry's "do you feel lucky, punk?" speech! And Harry didn't get to say that Snape was Dumbledore's man all along. (frown)
I think there are going to be a lot of things that people who haven't read the books will miss. But then my brother pointed out, when he was explaining why he watched the movies first and read the books afterwards; it is so that he will enjoy the movies more because he doesn't know, when he is watching them, how they depart from the books so he isn't annoyed by it, and then he enjoys the books more because he finds out all the little details that the movies left out.
I'm glad that the movie was different in this respect: that Harry broke the Elder Wand and threw away the pieces. IMHO, that's a much better way of ensuring that it doesn't cause any more strife. Putting the wand back in Dumbledore's tomb is just asking for someone else to steal it and kill Harry in order to master it. (Which Grangerous pointed out at the end of her story Phoenix Tears or, Hermione Granger and the Deathly Hallows)
I liked how they conveyed the "reluctance" of the Elder Wand in Voldemort's hands; as if it was cracking, as if the magic was being forced through it rather than flowing freely.
I thought it was rather symbolic that Voldemort's body dissolves into ashes.
Another nice visual: the bit where the students are being marched in phalanxes into the Great Hall; such a contrast between that and the earlier movies where they filled up the halls with happy chaos.
This was a very black and grey movie. It felt as if almost the only spot of colour was Luna's blue clothing. Another way of making her look out of step with her peers.
Oh, and the flashbacks with Snape were full of colour, especially the bits with Wee!Lily and Wee!Snape. They were lovely. My heart aches for Wee!Snape and his lost friendship.
Thinking about that makes me want to read AUs. Or EWE SSHG stories. Or write them. Though I'm not really for writing much now as NaArMaMo starts tomorrow.
