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July 16, 2009 Harry Potter – movie review, yes there are spoilers

Ok, so I’m busy at work and I can’t be arsed going too Margaret and David on it right now.

I’ll say I enjoyed it, but that I was disappointed at certain ommissions. I was psyched for the final showdown…and it just didn’t. Showdown that is. The absence of Dumbledore’s Army and their bonds, the absence of the Order of the Phoenix, and the lack of that last majorly nasty, hectic, terrifying fight scene I think was a mistake – it felt like a hole, a major absence.

However, I do think it got some stuff right. WOW I even though Daniel Radcliffe was ok in most of it. Normally that kids stiltedness shits me to tears – ok maybe he wasn’t an actor pre Harry, but I don’t know REAL people that bloody wooden and awkward, and asking the kid to express emotion was always a fucking debacle. The big beef I had with the first movies, and the casting of Daniel Radcliffe (and the directing) was that Harry was SAD. Not goofily affable and wide eyed, he was fucking miserable! To me that was the point of the book – kids in misery being able to identify, but no, it became panto schtick and that family. Fuck. I hate them. Not in the way I hated them in the book (like you were supposed to) but like I hated watching them act out there “BOIOIOING” slapstick panto farce.

I think that like Azkaban, this movie got to some of the warmth of friendship, school life and adolescence. Azkaban in the end is by far the classiest of the movies in that it went for quirk and warmth above dumbed down cliche. But I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed last nights movie and I laughed at some of the warmth and sweetness. Yes, there were some cliches there (Ron’s love spell was a tad overplayed, but you know, it was decent fun) Luna was nutty as ever but I love her, the whole Lavender thing was ick, but for the rest I thought the movie was quite warm sweet and funny.

Despite my enjoyment, it was disjointed, (the story sort of jumped here there and everywhere though in thinking back the book did also, it’s just that the progression clanged a little at times) it lacked certain crucial parts (as noted above) and it played for cliched laughs with Lavender. WTF was that about? I mean I know she was over the top with the ‘Won Won’ bizzo in the book, but as far as I could tell she was one of the ‘cool girls’, a bit savvy and aloof, giggly but not manic like this character. It was occassionally vaguely amusing but it was very much overplayed and was patently a ‘Ok, let’s laugh at this girl cos the movie needs a running gag’.

Some of the romance stuff was well played, though when Ginny bent down to tie Harry’s shoelace – um WHAT? I think they overdid the Harry/Ginny stuff, so that rather than the slow dawning realisation it was in the book, it was ever present, and presented to us as if we were simple and wouldn’t get it without it being made bleedingly obvious. I do like the actor that plays Ginny though and she was given a few moments to be in the movie this time around.

Poor Neville was disappeared out of the movie though, and I love him in the books.

What I *did* think was well played out (or better than in previous movies, and indeed in the books) was boys having emotions. Harry acknowledgin pain in relation to girls rather than the books hapless confusion, Harry crying (albeit not terribly movingly/convincingly) and poor old Draco struggling all the way through. He worked up to a good old fashioned sob before Harry so rudely interupted him. I would have liked to see a little more than that, but that in itself appeared too much for our audience there was some nervous shrieking laughter of the OMG BOY CRYING variety. The one time I almost laughed was when it appeared his tears were over a dead canary. I just can’t picture Malfoy giving a fuck about a bird. Clearly it was meant to be the consequences of his actions, but it still came off slightly comical. Or maybe my arse was a little sore by then.

Anyway…it kept me entertained, and my major peeve was the lack of the D.A and the big ole fight scene at the end – I mean does ANYONE imagine that Fenrir Greyback would enter the castle and just accompany Draco to the tower, watch Snape do his thing and quietly leave? What the fuck was the POINT of getting the fucking Death Eaters inside the castle? It’s not like Voldemort needs the witnesses, dude knows shit!

Anyway, the whole point of this damned post was that in the SMH the reviewer was all like ‘OH, not this good since the fourth movie’ at which point I was like ‘Huh, what? What about three?’, and then he said ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’. Oh dude. If you’re going to review Harry Potter, and if you’re going to hark back to ‘This film is the best since…’ it’s best to get your films right! Prisoner of Azkaban was the THIRD movie. Sheesh. (Am I just obsessive and nerdy? I do think if you get PAID to go see a new movie and review it it doesn’t hurt to google stuff first). Ok…now I wonder if I’m going crazy. I just looked at that review again and it says third. EITHER they’ve edited it OR I’m delirious with tiredness and this headache and read it wrong from the beginning. Who can tell? Oh well, I’m happy to admit it’s possible I’m an idiot rather than delete the whole section.

Anyway, I agree with some of this guys points – I really liked the way this movie started with the end of the last – I think that the climax of the movies can sometimes leave out the emotion, leave out Harry having to deal with/process what’s happened, and those, for me were always the bits that moved me, Harry screaming that he didn’t care, Dumbledore insisting that he did, it was what made him human, Harry screaming that he didn’t want to be human. At those points I was always sobbing, and I was annoyed that Rowling didn’t have Harry sobbing, the poor little bastard could really have done with some good hard cathartic wailing sobbing. But no – manly stoicism for the most part.

So that was a nice touch I thought, and I didn’t mind that the beginning bore no resemblance to the book, with the hanging in cafes getting macced on by hot waitresses. I was enjoying being pulled along. I did however get pissed over the ‘heroic’ leap the fire/chase the baddies bit, and the liberties taken with the protections etc there. I did mind no ‘ear drama’. I did mind Harry playing daft caveman hero and Ginny following – it was a dumb arsed move that put everyone they left behind in danger as well. And to me, the films do this too much – Harry the swordraising hero, whereas I didn’t feel that the books did that. And anyway, I would far have preferred the action come from the action in the final sequences of the book. But whatever. It did nearly make me wet my pants to have Fenrir sniff at Ginny. And the scene in the cave when the bloody inferi come out of the water – I KNEW it was coming but I and the friend next to me both screamed, leapt from our seats and ended up holding hands – and we aren’t hand-holding friends!

Anyway, I don’t do the star rating thing, too much pressure, but it was a decent night at the movies. I’m not in a rush to race out and see it again, but for sure, better than the first two, and better than four and five. Equal to three? I dunno, I’d have to watch it again, but I’m a sucker for some quirk and that movie had quirk. It was a good fun movie, it took advantage of the sweetness of watching these actors grow up, it good some decent performances from the main characters, and threw in some unexpected moments. It left some stuff out, it was a tad jumpy but on the whole I thought it was much more masterfully told and held together than the majority of the previous movies. Anyhow. Having said I wouldn’t it seemed I did (crap on about the movie for a long time). Better go do more work!

Oh, I have to say that traditionally I have not been a huge fan of Alan Rickman’s Snape. He didn’t appear mean enough, more just bored and sardonic, the drawl was just kind of “what”? I LOVE Alan Rickman too so I don’t know why I just didn’t care for his way of playing out Snape previously…but in this movie the humour of it, the enmity between the two, the comic timing got played out better I thought. Anyhoo. That’s just me.

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