Review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) by Tgillet1 — 19 Jul 2011

I love Harry Potter, thought Part 1 of Dealthy Hallows was the best movie to date, and recognize the fact that changes need to be made from books when making movies. I also thought that Part 2 was overall a very good and enjoyable movie with some phenomenal effects and several outstanding performances. That said, I am in utter shock at the overwhelmingly positive reviews here and particularly at Rotten Tomatoes. The movie was quite good, but it nonetheless had some glaring flaws. The pacing was off throughout the movie, the attempts at humor were mostly complete failures, and some of the changes made from the books were poorly considered. ***SPOILER ALERT***.

Positives: Helena Botham Carter as Hermione - best performance of the movie, with the right type of humor; the dragon escape from Gringots - brilliant effects and understated emotional and thematic elements; Alan Rickman - no more need be said; Warwick Davis - his biggest role in the movies yet, and he's great. The stone knights of Hogwarts, and all of the other visual effects.

Negatives: Gringots was rushed, sense of danger too understated. How/why did Luna end up back at Hogwarts? Attempts at humor that distracted from the tone of the movie. Humor in a movie like this needs to shake one slightly out of their funk, laugh inside, and slingshot back into the dark mood with a reminder of the lightness that might yet be, not make a crowd laugh out loud or giggle (for examples, see almost anything done by Joss Whedon, or in the HP books themselves). Molly Weasley first being timid when approaching Bellatrix, then smiling after killing her just for a crowd-pleasing "yay" moment - not in character or tone. Finally, the last battle was too scattered and not nearly as good as in the book. Why not take advantage of a brilliantly written scene in which Neville is being burned under the sorting hat, with the rapid and dramatic change when he takes it off in defiance and removes the sword unexpectedly? Why send Ron and Hermione to try to kill Nagini when the surprise and shock of Neville killing her right in front of Voldemort would have been wonderful? This scene was drawn out by being stuffed with action, when it could have been paced properly to stress the emotions of the characters and the stakes instead. Instead of honest moments of triumph, we get false and contrived feeling moments.

Final positive: The epilogue - recaptured the spirit of innocence and magic, bringing the story full-circle. This was the one part of the story I felt was delivered better in the movie than in the book.