My LTTP on the Previous Movie:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=494734
It's been awhile since the last thread, because this happened:
The Wii, in a last ditch effort for attention before the next generation starts, claimed my TVs life.
So here we are at the end of the eight movies, after a broken TV and a month delay, I watched Part 2 of the Deathly Hollows. For those of you who didn't read any of the previous threads, a quick explanation.
Didn't know anything about Harry Potter, SO forced me to watch the movies, now I kinda like Harry Potter. Over the past three months I've watched the first 7 movies and this week I watched:
The posters for these movies seem to be getting more gritty, which is awful.
The last movie ended when Voldemort nabbed what was presumably the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb where he'd had himself buried with it in his final bout of stupidity and we open this movie with images of that and Harry and the Gang at a beach side hostel of some sort. The goblin from the bank in the very first movie (Griphook) is there and so is the Wand guy (Ollivander).
I don't remember either of these characters being AT the beach house. I had thought the goblin that escaped with them at Lestrange's was the conductor. I'm probably just being a goblin racist though. (They all look the same). Through various leaps of logic they assume that a Horcrux is in Lestrange's vault at the bank and after a few dire warnings from the Wandmaker Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Griphook are all off to pull the heist of the century!
To do it, they use a potion to make Hermione look like Bellatrix and Ron look like an extra from Blade and we're treated to a fantastic sequence in which Helena Bonham Carter channels Emma Watson playing Hermione acting like Bellatrix. It's wonderfully sideways. Especially if you remember in the last movie where we get a slightly erotic scene of Bellatrix mercilessly torturing Hermione for information. The of course get through the initial guards only to be foiled by a charm clearing waterfall during the ride to the vault.
An excuse to lose the get up? In the book? Either way, you'd think that Griphook would have warned them a bit more clearly that they would not be able to pass through that waterfall, and of the deadly fall that followed. Luckily they're wizards and fuck gravity.
There's a fucked up looking dragon they are able to pass and they all pile into Bellatrix's vault which is filled with the requisite glittery stuff. Despite a curse that actually doesn't amount to much, the trio get their hands on the Horcrux and are summarily betrayed by the little goblin fellow. As per their agreement, the goblin takes the sword and flees as the kids are being attacked by security. Shortly thereafter, he dies and the sword, of course, disappears... I think we'll see it again.
They ride Chekhov's Dragon out of that shithole (after he kills EVERYONE) and then leap off his back into the sea. While drowning, Harry sees that Voldemort is super pissed that someone keeps fucking with his stuff. He also gets a clue for the next set part of their epic quest and the Scooby Gang are off to Hogwarts via secret passages in Hogsmeade.
Nothing has stood out so far, nothing disappointing, but nothing is making me really lean forward in my chair like the wilderness scenes in DH Part 1. Probably because I already hate the idea of the Horcruxes and so far this movie may as well be called The Quest for the Horcruxes. Dumbledore's brother shows up and asks everyone if Albus had mentioned him. The Audience says 'Nope' and there is a hasty explanation in which we learn he had a sister too.
Longbottom leads them to Hogwarts where it's explained that after Harry left everything kind of went to shit and Neville was the leader who kept fighting the good fight. There's a bit of a nice scene where Snape is addressing the student body asking for information about Harry since they know he's in Hogwarts, and then Harry steps up and confronts him then and there. It sucks that the same kind of thing is repeated later, but it's effective I suppose. The Order of the Phoenix shows up out of nowhere and Snape flees, Hogwarts is liberated!
Once liberated, they waste no time in condemning all of Slytherin house to the dungeons. Kind of a dick move.
Harry finds the last Horcrux they're looking for and has a moment with Draco. Both the Chalice and the Diadem are destroyed which makes Voldemort fly into a rage and destroy the shield protecting Hogwarts with the power of the Elder Wand. The shield effect was very cool and so was it's destruction. Equally cool are the animated statues that help defend Hogwarts from the suddenly huge army of Death Eaters that Voldemort has managed to rustle up. The entire Wizard community seems to be behind Voldemort which makes me think they're all just evil bastards and the good guys are in the minority. The giant army lays siege to the school and Harry decides that before everyone dies, he should confront Voldy. It's a terrible plan, but they were doing fuck all else sitting there having the walls cave in around them.
Oh, before that we get the Snape death scene which really lives up to want I wanted from the Snape death scene. He's finally shown as the sympathetic character he is, caught between two equally powerful and careless wizards (Dumbledore and Voldemort). Without a way out, he's forced to help Dumbledore prime young Harry for his true destiny; to die at Voldemort's hand. It's a great twist that doesn't completely exonerate Snape but really makes you feel like he had no other choice. Snape doesn't want Harry to die because he sees so much of his lost love in him, but he also can't help but be bitter at the constant reminder of what he lost to PaPa Potter. Finally a good bit of writing.
So anyway, with this knowledge in hand, Harry confronts Voldemort and lets himself be killed. We're sent to a pretty awesome version of the afterlife where Dumbledore (or Harry's image of Dumbledore) is waiting to tell comfort Harry and lay a little knowledge on him. I don't think this is actually Dumbledore, because I don't believe the old bastard really cared that much about Harry or anyone else for that matter. He only cared about seeing his plan come to fruition.
Harry decides he doesn't like being dead, so he stops it. Mama Malfoy is sent to check and make sure the boy is dead and when she sees that he isn't, asks him if Draco is alive. It's... subtle, in it's own way. I really like the Malfoy family, they feel very real to me. Convinced that Harry's dead, Voldemort has Hagrid (who was tied up in the forest... for some reason) carry the boys lifeless body to Hogwarts where he makes good on his earlier promise. Harry's dead, they've won, lets all kiss and make up. It's actually extremely magnanimous of him. Neville, though, is an ungrateful prick and starts making a rather eloquent and impassioned speech all about how they can't give up just because Harry's dead.
Everyone's starting to love Neville and Harry can't stand for that, so he unceremoniously rolls out of Hagrids arms (SURPRISE FUCKERS!) and ineffectually tries to kill Nagini. Voldemort and Harry have a final confrontation, Neville kills Nagini (the very, super duper last Horcrux) and Voldemort disappears into the wind. THE DAY IS SAVED!
Why didn't the Elder Wand eat Harry's lunch?
Because Voldemort and his followers apparently were stupid and had no idea how wands worked.
You see, it's not just killing another wizard that makes a wand choose a new owner, simply disarming that wizard does the trick. Draco disarmed Dumbledore, Harry disarmed Draco, and so the Elder Wand liked Harry. That's bullshit. Voldemort must be the stupidest Wizard in history.
Also that epilogue was awful and old Ron is a guy I'd have a beer with.
...
It wasn't as good as Part 1, but served very well as a finisher. In the end, the Horcruxes remained a bad plot point and the wand lore was forced, but as usual the set pieces (especially the After Life) proved visually stunning to look at and I couldn't help but be sucked in by all the well animated action. The climax of Neville's speech in which Harry pops up and spurts out a spell was odd and out of place... and the first hour felt like a completely different movie... but I left satisfied. It's been a long watch, but I'm glad I decided to shed my Harry Hate and watch these movies, if only because now I get all those in-jokes.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=494734
It's been awhile since the last thread, because this happened:
The Wii, in a last ditch effort for attention before the next generation starts, claimed my TVs life.
Never expected this to be appropriate in this thread.
So here we are at the end of the eight movies, after a broken TV and a month delay, I watched Part 2 of the Deathly Hollows. For those of you who didn't read any of the previous threads, a quick explanation.
Didn't know anything about Harry Potter, SO forced me to watch the movies, now I kinda like Harry Potter. Over the past three months I've watched the first 7 movies and this week I watched:
The posters for these movies seem to be getting more gritty, which is awful.
The last movie ended when Voldemort nabbed what was presumably the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb where he'd had himself buried with it in his final bout of stupidity and we open this movie with images of that and Harry and the Gang at a beach side hostel of some sort. The goblin from the bank in the very first movie (Griphook) is there and so is the Wand guy (Ollivander).
I don't remember either of these characters being AT the beach house. I had thought the goblin that escaped with them at Lestrange's was the conductor. I'm probably just being a goblin racist though. (They all look the same). Through various leaps of logic they assume that a Horcrux is in Lestrange's vault at the bank and after a few dire warnings from the Wandmaker Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Griphook are all off to pull the heist of the century!
To do it, they use a potion to make Hermione look like Bellatrix and Ron look like an extra from Blade and we're treated to a fantastic sequence in which Helena Bonham Carter channels Emma Watson playing Hermione acting like Bellatrix. It's wonderfully sideways. Especially if you remember in the last movie where we get a slightly erotic scene of Bellatrix mercilessly torturing Hermione for information. The of course get through the initial guards only to be foiled by a charm clearing waterfall during the ride to the vault.
An excuse to lose the get up? In the book? Either way, you'd think that Griphook would have warned them a bit more clearly that they would not be able to pass through that waterfall, and of the deadly fall that followed. Luckily they're wizards and fuck gravity.
There's a fucked up looking dragon they are able to pass and they all pile into Bellatrix's vault which is filled with the requisite glittery stuff. Despite a curse that actually doesn't amount to much, the trio get their hands on the Horcrux and are summarily betrayed by the little goblin fellow. As per their agreement, the goblin takes the sword and flees as the kids are being attacked by security. Shortly thereafter, he dies and the sword, of course, disappears... I think we'll see it again.
They ride Chekhov's Dragon out of that shithole (after he kills EVERYONE) and then leap off his back into the sea. While drowning, Harry sees that Voldemort is super pissed that someone keeps fucking with his stuff. He also gets a clue for the next set part of their epic quest and the Scooby Gang are off to Hogwarts via secret passages in Hogsmeade.
Nothing has stood out so far, nothing disappointing, but nothing is making me really lean forward in my chair like the wilderness scenes in DH Part 1. Probably because I already hate the idea of the Horcruxes and so far this movie may as well be called The Quest for the Horcruxes. Dumbledore's brother shows up and asks everyone if Albus had mentioned him. The Audience says 'Nope' and there is a hasty explanation in which we learn he had a sister too.
Longbottom leads them to Hogwarts where it's explained that after Harry left everything kind of went to shit and Neville was the leader who kept fighting the good fight. There's a bit of a nice scene where Snape is addressing the student body asking for information about Harry since they know he's in Hogwarts, and then Harry steps up and confronts him then and there. It sucks that the same kind of thing is repeated later, but it's effective I suppose. The Order of the Phoenix shows up out of nowhere and Snape flees, Hogwarts is liberated!
Once liberated, they waste no time in condemning all of Slytherin house to the dungeons. Kind of a dick move.
Harry finds the last Horcrux they're looking for and has a moment with Draco. Both the Chalice and the Diadem are destroyed which makes Voldemort fly into a rage and destroy the shield protecting Hogwarts with the power of the Elder Wand. The shield effect was very cool and so was it's destruction. Equally cool are the animated statues that help defend Hogwarts from the suddenly huge army of Death Eaters that Voldemort has managed to rustle up. The entire Wizard community seems to be behind Voldemort which makes me think they're all just evil bastards and the good guys are in the minority. The giant army lays siege to the school and Harry decides that before everyone dies, he should confront Voldy. It's a terrible plan, but they were doing fuck all else sitting there having the walls cave in around them.
Oh, before that we get the Snape death scene which really lives up to want I wanted from the Snape death scene. He's finally shown as the sympathetic character he is, caught between two equally powerful and careless wizards (Dumbledore and Voldemort). Without a way out, he's forced to help Dumbledore prime young Harry for his true destiny; to die at Voldemort's hand. It's a great twist that doesn't completely exonerate Snape but really makes you feel like he had no other choice. Snape doesn't want Harry to die because he sees so much of his lost love in him, but he also can't help but be bitter at the constant reminder of what he lost to PaPa Potter. Finally a good bit of writing.
So anyway, with this knowledge in hand, Harry confronts Voldemort and lets himself be killed. We're sent to a pretty awesome version of the afterlife where Dumbledore (or Harry's image of Dumbledore) is waiting to tell comfort Harry and lay a little knowledge on him. I don't think this is actually Dumbledore, because I don't believe the old bastard really cared that much about Harry or anyone else for that matter. He only cared about seeing his plan come to fruition.
Harry decides he doesn't like being dead, so he stops it. Mama Malfoy is sent to check and make sure the boy is dead and when she sees that he isn't, asks him if Draco is alive. It's... subtle, in it's own way. I really like the Malfoy family, they feel very real to me. Convinced that Harry's dead, Voldemort has Hagrid (who was tied up in the forest... for some reason) carry the boys lifeless body to Hogwarts where he makes good on his earlier promise. Harry's dead, they've won, lets all kiss and make up. It's actually extremely magnanimous of him. Neville, though, is an ungrateful prick and starts making a rather eloquent and impassioned speech all about how they can't give up just because Harry's dead.
Everyone's starting to love Neville and Harry can't stand for that, so he unceremoniously rolls out of Hagrids arms (SURPRISE FUCKERS!) and ineffectually tries to kill Nagini. Voldemort and Harry have a final confrontation, Neville kills Nagini (the very, super duper last Horcrux) and Voldemort disappears into the wind. THE DAY IS SAVED!
Why didn't the Elder Wand eat Harry's lunch?
Because Voldemort and his followers apparently were stupid and had no idea how wands worked.
You see, it's not just killing another wizard that makes a wand choose a new owner, simply disarming that wizard does the trick. Draco disarmed Dumbledore, Harry disarmed Draco, and so the Elder Wand liked Harry. That's bullshit. Voldemort must be the stupidest Wizard in history.
Also that epilogue was awful and old Ron is a guy I'd have a beer with.
...
It wasn't as good as Part 1, but served very well as a finisher. In the end, the Horcruxes remained a bad plot point and the wand lore was forced, but as usual the set pieces (especially the After Life) proved visually stunning to look at and I couldn't help but be sucked in by all the well animated action. The climax of Neville's speech in which Harry pops up and spurts out a spell was odd and out of place... and the first hour felt like a completely different movie... but I left satisfied. It's been a long watch, but I'm glad I decided to shed my Harry Hate and watch these movies, if only because now I get all those in-jokes.