The Harry Potter Finale
Grab your seats, class is in session.
Probably the most important thing to get out of the way right up front is this: I have never read any of the Harry Potter books. I have a somewhat limited attention span when it comes to reading, so if it’s not a book I have been waiting for or seriously want to read, I usually won’t even bother. I know, people tell me all the time that they are great books and that I should read them, but chances are against it. Main reason I bring this up is it may color my opinions a bit. So, with that…
I liked it. I liked it a lot. It’s a really great ending to the series. Is it the best movie of the 8? That I’m not totally sure of, I would need to sit and watch them all through again, but it’s certainly one of the best ones.
I normally start with what I liked about the movie when I do these reviews. Tonight I’m going to go with what I didn’t like because, quite frankly, it’s a much shorter list.
The bad stuff
Not much. Honestly. Thinking back on the movie, it really is hard for me to come up with bad things. There are a few spots in the movie that drag, one in particular towards the end that kind of brings the movie to a screeching halt before slamming it back into drive. The more I look back at that scene, it made sense to slow things down. The more I thought about that, the more I wish it had been slowed down some more in other spots, because if there was anything else I didn’t really like, it’s that the movie can be very hard to follow if you haven’t read the books and don’t know what’s going on. I’m quite sure there were a lot of pieces that I missed because I didn’t even know they were there. Even that, however, didn’t take me out of the movie. There is one other scene that really did take me out of the movie, but unfortunately, it’s not spoiler free, so for now, I’ll keep that one to myself.
The good stuff
Pretty much everything else. There is probably too much to get into to list here without giving away some of the movie, so I’ll try to go basic. The main thing that makes these movies so enjoyable is even more so in this movie. Let’s call it “the Majesty.” The visuals, the scenery, the creature creations…things like that. Simply amazing. You go in expecting an incredible sensory experience and still somehow manage to be amazed by what they are able to do. The epic, grand scale on which things are created is breathtaking. Honestly, the only movies for me that ever topped this series in that regard were the Lord of the Rings movies and more than likely, the upcoming Hobbit movies will as well. I also am amazed at the transition these movies have taken from movie one, which was essentially a movie for kids, into this finale two-parter, which is almost purely for adults. It’s dark, it’s disturbing, and it’s fantasticly done. There isn’t an emotion you can’t feel with the on screen characters. You really do find yourself going through everything these people go through, particularly once the big, final battle begins. Without giving exact details away, know this: people die. Major players die. Characters you’ve seen since movie one give their lives to defend both Harry and Hogwarts. All the while this is happening, other characters who were almost in shadows since day one step out and become heroes. That part brings me to the last thing I’ll talk about that I really did enjoy: the acting. Even if you only take into account the main 3, it’s amazing what we have seen them do and how much we’ve seen them grow. They’ve gone from innocent kids to confused teenagers to battle-worn young adults and for me, at least, it’s been believable the entire way. The most unfortunate part for the three of them is they will always be those characters, no matter what they do next. Course, if it upsets them that much, they can probably dry their tears on the ridiculous amount of money I’m sure these movies have made them.
I have to apologize, I lost my train of thought in the middle of writing this, as I made the mistake of putting on a movie for some background noise. For the record, X-Men: First Class is a terrible movie. Those who tried to tell me that this was the best comic book movie ever made, have your heads examined. This ranks somewhere between the Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider.
Anyway, somewhat back on track, I’ll finish up with this: this is a great finale to an awesome movie series. If you are at all a Potter fan, you should go see this in the theaters as soon as you can. I myself went 3D, which yes, is a little dark like some people have complained about, but I still dug it and that didn’t bother me at all. Granted, I’m a 3D fan to begin with, so I’m somewhat biased.
Next up will be one the Professor has been waiting some time for. Next week, my favorite shield slinger hits the big screen and I can not wait. The last video I saw showed some of the actual shield throwing action, and it was exactly what I was hoping for. It best not disappoint.
That’s all for now.
Class dismissed.
