If this blog post seems in any way incoherent, it’s because I write this completely and totally keyed up beyond rational emotional response after seeing the final Harry Potter movie. I pretty much dislocated my arm due to repeated fist pumping throughout the movie, but this self-inflicted grievous bodily harm will in no way stop me from venting all of my fangirlie responses to you guys. After all, if Neville Motherfucking Longbottom (Yes, his middle name has officially been changed in light of this latest movie) can hobble over in serious pain towards Voldemort when all seems to be lost and still give him sass, I can do this.
You guys, I am not ready for Harry Potter to be over. But I take comfort in the fact that there are loads of you out there who get jokes like, “Is that a hair in my soup or is this Polyjuice Potion?” in an instant and are feeling exactly the same way.
SPOILERS ABOUND! YOU SHALL NOT PASS (ok, wrong movie!) if you have not seen the movie and want to go in completely blind.
I was always looking forward to the final movie the most because I knew it would be the time when Neville pwned all. People who know me in real life assume that Hermione Granger would be my favourite character, because I can pretty much self-insert as her, minus the bushy hair (my locks are dead straight, and curling irons cringe away in awe of how militantly they hold onto this condition). But, no. Neville is the character who captured my heart.
As much as I like Harry, he always had that Big Man on Campus courage vibe. Regular Spidey readers know that I’m not one for grand gestures or showy declarations of love. Similarly, I find smaller acts of bravery from awkward, bumbling characters who have come into their own more powerful than your typical alpha hero facing down his destiny in a Forbidden Forest (that showdown should have occurred within the Hogwarts walls like in the books, with Voldy and Harry circling each other in amongst all of the other characters, amiright?). Or the big moments feel more earned for me if they come from a character who has had many small moments that have made them sing to me and gotten me completely invested in them.
The moment that Neville haltingly stood up to Harry, Ron and Hermione in the first book, in an attempt to stop his friends getting in even more trouble than they were already in at that point, was the moment I first really connected to the world and characters JK Rowling had created. I truly think standing up to your friends takes greater courage than standing up to your enemies, and this scene meant a lot to me because it was obvious had had reached deep into the wells of his bravery to take this stance.
Likewise, Neville handing gum wrappers to his mother, who had been tortured into insanity by Voldemort’s cronies along with Neville’s father, made him even more of a tragic figure than Harry for me. If not for a different interpretation of a prophecy, Neville could actually have BEEN Harry. One of the most fascinating aspects of the series is that Voldemort only created an enemy in Harry as part of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Choice could have connected him to Neville, or no one at all. Neville is a constant reminder for me in the books that it is our choices, not fate, that define us. Never having been a big believer in fate (I think luck is when hard work meets an opportunity), this has been one of the key themes in the books for me.
The other thing about Neville that has always stayed with me is his character’s pervasive sense of never being quite good enough. I can completely relate to this feeling, and it made me root all the harder for him to become a true hero worthy of the Gryffindor sword.
So, a movie filled with Fuck Yeah Neville Longbottom moments is not surprisingly going to end up being my favourite out of the series.
Now that I’ve established that I’m a bit of a Neville swimfan, let’s take a dive into the shallow end, guys.
If you’ve seen the movie, your eyes did not deceive. That Cosby Sweater motherfucker was indeed Neville Longbottom.
Actor Matthew Lewis is like the reverse of a cute child actor becoming horrifically ugly after making their way through puberty. Who knew that my Harry Potter boyfriend would show up and be so insanely hot?
Maybe I have just been too blinded all this time by his character’s many positive inner qualities to notice the hottie struggling to get out from underneath that bowl cut and disjointed teeth. Finally, though, I have seen the light with this movie! Neville Longbottom, once you are finished being a hero, you need to visit my Restricted Section, stat.
I wish puberty had had the same effect on me that it did with Matthew Lewis. Well, okay, not so that I would end up as a scruffy spunk of a man, but just to have the ability to laugh maniacally in the face of my awkward phase, as he is no doubt currently doing.
Erin from Forever Young Adult, a group of high priestesses of young adult fiction and TV/movie adaptations of this fic, laid out the Neville Longbottom effect in a way that cannot be rivaled in her 10 High School Lessons I Learned from Harry Potter (seriously, check out this hilarious list!):
There will come a time when the guy you’ve been crushing on for years becomes suddenly popular. This could happen in a variety of ways. Maybe he scored the winning touchdown in the big game. Maybe he found out he was secretly the child of Big Time Movie Producer, Michael Bay, and therefore has lots of money and Fast Cars. Maybe he sticks a giant sword through a really big snake. I mean, it could be anything. And then, all of a sudden, a bunch of johnny-come-latelies come out on the interwebs and facebook and your twitter feed, all about how the boy you have had a crush on for the last decade is soooo hot. And you’ll be like, “YEAH, NO DUH, I THOUGHT THAT YEARS AGO!” And then they will try to get all up in this guy’s business with their twitter breasts, all, “ooh, Neville, your biceps are just so big!” while you seethe in the background. So the most important lesson Harry Potter taught me was to Lock That Shit Down Early. Get them while they’re still nerdy and no one has figured out that those teeth are fake and he has an awful bowl haircut! Because when he realizes his full hottie potential, he’ll be so grateful to you for seeing into the real him and then he will MARRY you and MAKE BABIES OFTEN. Or, like, not make babies often, cause whatever, that hurts, but he’ll still totally have lots of sexytimes with you. MARK MY WORDS, internet. In related news, I really should have registered fuckyeahnevillelongbottom.com years ago.
So, after this obscenely long ode to the awesomness that is Neville Longbottom, let’s look at what I liked, what I didn’t like, and what I am genuflecting to the movie gods for not screwing up when it comes to Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2. For any Muggles out there, I’ve used some of the levels from the O.W.L.s grading system.
Outstanding
Umm, pretty much every Neville moment in the history of ever… or this movie… Sorry, I’m prone to ridiculous embellishment at the moment! Neville basically pwning Nagini, Voldemort’s henchsnake while holding a sword only true Gryffindors can hold, Neville shouting out, “Yeah? You and what army?” to the Hogsmeade Voldy cronies held back by a magical force field (and him saying “That went well” when pulling himself up from the remnants of the bridge that was broken when the force field was diffused and the cronies chased him all the way back to Hogwarts), Neville basically giving Voldemort the speech equivalent of waving at him with only one finger when Voldy wrongfully thought he wanted to be welcomed into the Death Eater fold… all of these moments and more from Neville were pitch perfect. The fact that he did this while making a Cosby sweater look like the sexiest article of clothing on the planet, even more so than a low slung pair of Damon Salvatore leather pants, was just absolute gold (fighting words, I know those are ;))
“Always”. Has this word ever been said with more loaded emotion behind it, other than perhaps Nathan and Haley from One Tree Hill’s “Forever. And Always” catch cry? Haha, jk – I loved me some Naley but I do have SOME grip on reality. Seriously though, Alan Rickman just said this word with such unrequited longing and sadness about past regrets that I was deeply moved. I was so scared you guys, SO FREAKING SCARED, that the sequence of Snape’s memories in the Pensieve would be screwed up. Amazingly, with a deft hand and light touch, Yates conveyed all of Snape’s deepest feelings for Lily Potter and why Rowling has had many of her characters ram us in the head with the message that love is more powerful than any magic. Snape was I think the most complex of Rowling’s characters and his death scene just really captured the conflicting aspects of his personality, from his inability to let go of his hatred of James Potter manifest in his animosity towards Harry to the end, to his undying love for Lily that meant he was horrified at the thought of keeping Harry alive to kill Voldemort at the right moment – as Snape put it, “raising a pig for the slaughter”. Having Snape’s tears while dying hold the secrets unlocked in the Pensieve was a nice touch.
Ron and Hermione kissage. Was there ever any doubt it would be less than Oustanding? Yes, I cursed Yates when a freaking LONG SHOT interrupted the kiss midway through, but it had this desperate romantic feel to it and made me feel all fuzzy inside. I’m not even a particular shipper for this pairing (more below), but this was a kiss ten years in the cinematic making, and I was excited to see it happen.
Rupert Grint’s many amazing, inexplicable facial expressions and the reappearance of old faithful “bloody hell”. I will miss these violently.
Helena Bonham Carter playing Hermione was an absolute classic. She had all of Hermione’s mannerisms down pat, and it was surreal seeing this evil character all glowy with innocence.
Minerva McGonagall facing down Snape was just awesomesauce and amazeballs and everything else suggesting amazingness and faint hunger.
Narcissa helping Harry to save her son. This was a fantastic moment in the books, showing that you can do the right thing for deeply personal rather than generally heroic reasons, and I was SO GLAD it was kept in.
Snape’s death scene was spectacular. Having Nagini’s attack on him shown through frosted glass was more powerful for me than if we had been shown it unfiltered.
Exceeds Expectations
The Kings Cross life/death limbo scene featuring Harry and Dumbledore was just well played by Yates. Along with the book’s epilogue, this was the moment with the most potential to be cringeworthy for me when translated to screen. Surprisingly enough, I felt like it evoked much more emotion in the cinema version than on the page. The blemish of the Voldy baby on the intense white was creepy as hell, and really brought home one of Rowling’s overarching themes that there is a little bad in something good, and vice versa. Extra points for Yates resisting the urge to use a smoke machine in this Kings Cross version of Heaven, or Stairway To. Points detracted because as powerful as this scene was, a little voice in my head was singing at one point, “Beauty school dropout, go back to high school.”
Neville using the line, “My name may not be Luna, but I sure know how to Lovegood” being a canon possibility in the films. JK Rowling dashed the hopes of Luna/Neville shippers once upon a time, saying that she felt Luna’s flights of fancy would be too much for Neville, although later retracted this and said she could see the possibility of a love connection between the two. Thank God Yates saw the wisdom of this realization and had these characters hook up instead of Neville marrying some random like in the books.
Luna being spick and span when she plops down next to Neville on the Hogwarts battlefield even though everyone around her is covered in muck and dust. Heehee!
“Not my daughter, you bitch.” Why not Outstanding, you ask? This deserves at least a decent grade because it was an awesome moment in the books. Unfortunately, it lost impact on screen. It would have been better if we had seen Ginny in mortal peril rather than just standing behind her mother while Bellatrix gave them cray-cray eyes. Plus, the fact that this kickass statement was framed with Molly standing all mama bear in front of several Weasley cubs made this very specific sentiment just seem out of place.
Lupin and Tonks reaching for each other’s hands while facing down the enemy and not quite touching was an epic metaphor for their relationship, and how they were always so close to total happiness but never quite found it within their grasp. I mean, they went through all that angst about Lupin feeling like he couldn’t be with Tonks because he would endanger her as a werewolf but Tonks wanting to be with him anyway (omg! Forwood unicorn angst better be this good)… only to die in battle after sorting their shit out and having a baby son Teddy who now would be orphaned in the way Harry was.
The portrayal of Albus Dumbledore. In the book series, I loved how Albus Dumbledore’s arc destroyed every wizened mentor cliché and revealed him as a good man who ultimately could be ruthless and was prone to being corrupted by power. The movie did gloss over the details of his story outlined in the book – I guess it would have been tough showing the intense character study required for us to understand the suckier moments of Albus Dumbledore while still loving him enough for the King’s Cross scene to have weight, within the time constraints, so I wasn’t too fussed. I feel like Snapes, “raising him [Harry] like a pig for slaughter” drove home the moral ambiguity of Dumbledore’s decisions quite nicely and subtly. I’m just glad they gave us hints of the flawed individual he was, because I was afraid he would be whitewashed in this final instalment in favour of a more heavy-handed good/bad distinction. Plus, the delivery on the line, “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?” resonated so much with me and is really just a great war cry for fangirls and fanbois over the world, no?
Poor
A gratuitous shirtless shot lingering on Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint’s happy trails when really us females would have preferred to see Tom Felton and Matthew Lewis stripping off.
Sadly, we may never know what these GQ Motherfuckers are like minus the GQ
Ron and Harry are absolutely adorable nerds who I love and the actors are insanely likeable, but I felt like I’d just ingested a Puking Pastille when watching that scene. Hermione, who was looking on, probably wanted to revive S.P.E.W. for entirely different reasons that an ongoing commitment to elfish welfare. *ducks tomatoes thrown by Dan and Rupert fangirls*
Zilch chemistry between Harry and Ginny. It’s unfortunate, because Hermione and Harry’s dance in the last film was just exploding with sexual tension, as controversial as it might have been because of its departure from the source material and characterization. I could go into my it-didn’t-fit-the-whole-Harry-is-a-stoic-hero-who-didn’t-know-how-to-handle-Hermione’s-feeelllllllllllings-about-Ron-leaving-in-the-book-thing, but I won’t. Heh. I always multi shipped Hermione with Ron AND Harry (I always felt like the trio was just crawling with hetero and homoerotic tension and Ginny was just an unwanted insertion into that dynamic – sorry Harry/Ginny fans), so it didn’t bother me too much, but I did want my hero to appear to have at least a vague connection to his lady love. Alas ear wax, it was not meant to be.
The epilogue. It was cheesy as hell in the books and made me feel like blood was gushing profusely from my eyeballs at the time, and I regret to say that the movie did nothing to remedy this reaction in me. It was kind of weird that everyone was all aged up and Emma Watson still looked young and hot, but whatevs. Sentimental streak, I do not have one.
The glossing over of the existence of Teddy. Rather than the epilogue that left me reaching for a Nosebleed Nougat, I would have preferred more focus on the kid who brings Harry’s whole story full circle. It moved me in the book that despite Harry thwarting evil, there would still be families broken much like Harry’s own in the wake of the recent wizard war, and Teddy represented that most poignantly for me. So, a noble remark from Ghost!Lupin about his son was not enough for me.
List fin.
This is all I can think of right know. My mind is all fuzzy because I can’t quite process that this is the last Harry Potter movie EVER, and my heart feels like it has been rampaged by stampeding Hippogriffs.
What did you enjoy with the strength of a love potion? What did you hate? Who did you ship when you read the books? In your opinion, is it blasphemy for me not to have a definitive answer on the Harry/Hermione vs Ron/Hermione preference?
Sound off! 😉
myspideysenseistingling 
July 17th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Great review! Tho I’m not a worshipper of all things Longbottom, but I appreciated your point of view. Comparing the Cosby sweater to low-slung Damon Salvatore leather pants totes threw me off–I had to stop reading for a while to get rid of the visual……but you know me from tvrecappersanonymous posts! Oh, my Woobie! Loving the ingenious O.W.L.S. ratings. I personally would have rather seen some of the stuff they cut out of the books (I think they could have left in the Ariana backstory and not put a permanent “Dark Mark” on Dumbledore, but in the big scheme of things, guess it wasn’t integral to the story). The “between life and death” scene between Harry and Dumbledore could have totes gone to the brie side of cheesy, and I agree it was handled well. Flashback sequences were done REALLY well, and pulled up the emo quotient for Snape’s character a bunch. Was a tad disappointed in the epilogue sequence as well (is THAT what’s supposed to happen when we age, you cut your hair and change clothes–nobody told me!), but did like two things. Albus Severus waving out the departing Hogwarts Express to his dad much as Harry waved to Hagrid out the window in the first movie (that always makes tears well up), and the fact that they went back to the original “musicbox” sound of Hedwig’s Theme at the very end–that sound can catch you in a crowded mall and you immediately think, “Harry Potter!”
Overall, a fitting end to a great book and movie series! Brilliant!
July 19th, 2011 at 5:38 am
Hi mak75231! It’s so cool to have you stalking my blog after enjoying all the hilarity, hijinks and Damon Salvatore loving of yours I’ve always appreciated on Julie’s blog!
I’ve always been a fan of Neville, but seeing the actor go through the ugly duckling to beautiful swan process was just the maraschino cherry on top of the icecream sundae! I’ve always cooed, “Aww, he’s so cute!” only to receive, “back away slowly from her while we still can” looks, to I feel strangely vindicated 😉 I really do need to make a post about my favourite articles of clothing – Damon Salvatore leather pants, Cosby sweaters, invisibility shirts AKA shirtlessness… It was funny though, I was thinking to myself, “How in the world can I encapsulate just how damn appealing he was to me in that Cosby sweater, and it seemed natural to turn to Mr Vampire Sex God himself. I always loved the O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts names, and wish I had taken those rather than Yr 10 and Yr 12, which sound so much more boring in comparison. Heh. It would almost be worth getting the bottom grade of Troll just to say you had actually been given a grade with that name.
I definitely agree that more of the Ariana and Dumbledore story would have been nice – great phrasing from you about how it could have been in there without leaving a permanent “Dark Mark” on him! I guess I’m just relieved that they at least were unflinching in showing his ruthlessness in the “pig raised for slaughter” line. I wasn’t sure that they would go there. The Kings Cross scene was on the healthy Velveeta cheesy side, not brie, amazingly enough! If a most improved translation from book to screen award existed, this would be the winner for me. Heh. Me hating the epilogue scene was at least consistent with the experiences of the books. Aww, the Albus Severus wave and Hedwig music was definitely a nice touch! I just prefer to let my imagination do the work for what our fave wizard trio got up to after defeating Voldemort.
Thank God that The Hunger Games trilogy is being filmed. I need fandom movies to look forward to the way that Tinkerbell needs applause to live!
July 17th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Ok, I would have never guessed seeing a Potter recap here but I am pleasantly surprised, albeit I am not a Longbottom fan ;).
First, I never expected the two films to be a copy of the book, I think even the most brilliant director couldn’t have managed that in such “short” time. And I didn’t hate anything of the film.
Was there applause at the end as well when you saw it?
Neville’s moment was as equally important in the film as in the books, albeit the way to it was different. But I would have liked to see him with the long hair of the book.
And I agree that Snape’s portrayal was also very fitting. Sadly we didn’t see the full extent of his and Lilly’s relationship. Or Petunia, I think her hatred of her sister was actually rooted in jealousy.
I found it funny how Ron and Hermione had their kiss scene, especially all the water. Before that I liked the “Harry talks in his sleep” idea good. Also the film showed how smart Ron actually is. In the books it was part 5 where it was said that Fred and George were to a huge part responsible for Ron’s insecurities (I liked the flashback in part 6 were Ron related how their father was furious for the twins trying to make Ron do an unbreakable vow, they really stressed the line a lot). I also liked Ron in that disguise he had, man he looked good with the long hair, beard and damn I wish I had a coat like that. 😀
Yep, Carter was damn good; it’s a shame that such good actresses never get the same amount of fame like K.S. did, simply because so much in modern film is due to marketing and not actual quality of film and acting.
I guess they could not possibly have left Narcissa’s scene out. How else could it have been possible to faint Harry’s death without changing the scene totally?
I think the King’s cross scene was the one referred to in some newspaper articles of Harry supposedly being naked, well he was in the book, but oh well they had already shown so much Radcliff flesh that nasty viewers can be satisfied. And yeah the scene was pretty well done. I wonder what Dumbledore saw while being there with Harry, looked like he may have seen something differently.
I agree that the fight scene between Mrs. Weasly and Lestrange was less spectacular than in the books. In the books Lestrange had just defeated Ginny, Hermione and someone else at once and Mrs. Weasly brings down one of the most dangerous witches of all times all by herself.
However, the film did portray Mrs. Weasley as a very powerful witch (let’s face it, not something you would have expected by her previous portrayal, albeit there were hints) by adding here as one of the four erecting the force field around Hogwarts. Something like that requires a lot of power and knowledge.
I think most of the fangirls would disagree with you and your shirtless comment. They probably wanted to see Radcliffe and Grint. 😉
And yes the film didn’t really catch the emotions between Harry and Ginny; Half-blood prince managed that to some extent, but not this one. I guess because many of the scenes from the book showing it were left out of the films.
Are you sure you are not Batman? However, I think the last scene was more to focus on the next generation and their similarities and differences to the one we know. It was better in the books, they could have added these few minutes.
And I am not sure but in the last scene there was a teenage boy shown coming out of the train together with a blond girl and holding hands. That could be a reference to Teddy and Victoire but that was really only a spontaneous guess when I saw the film.
One thing, these “Hogsmeade Voldy cronies” … I am 90% sure that these were werewolves in their human forms. It really wasn’t obvious because you could only hear some growling at the start, but I guess their dirty appearance and the fact that they all seem to have been men (something practically generic in modern fantasy fiction) it is safe to say that they were werewolves.
The fight scenes in the film were different. More (and smaller) giants, the werewolves and the way the Dementors were driven away. But it was nonetheless well done, especially the way the defenders erected the defenses against Voldemort’s followers or the defenses themselves, albeit I was a bit disappointed not seeing animal statues or Hagrid and Grawp among the defenders.
However the scene were Narcissa just walked away with Draco and Lucius following had the same ambiguous flair the ending in the book had. It really makes you wonder whether Dracos existence had changed his parents so much or why they had allied with Voldemort in the first place.
July 19th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Heh. One of these days, you and I will actually have a common love for a character/pairing in a book that is unparalleled in its ferocity, and that day shall be the first sign of the apolcalypse. The second sign will be if I actually find a boy band song that I DON’T love with huge fervour. I thought you would have been a big Neville fan, given he is the underdog and all.
Aww, I’m surprised you didn’t think I’d be a Potter fan? Is it because I come across a vampire luver only? Aside from their peripheral inclusion in the books (Honeydukes sells blood flavoured lolly pops, no?), the lack of vampires in Potter has no impact on my enjoyment. I’m all about an author/scriptwriter engaging in successful world building – you know, worlds that you want to live in and inhabit, or just feel SO DAMN REAL. I also love the Hunger Games trilogy, and am toying with the possibility of doing chapter by chapter recaps in light of the upcoming films. I just need to get my blogging schedule back on track (stupid real life keeps getting in the way!) and we shall see.
Eh, I’m not a book purist who gets up in arms about every little exclusion. In fact, I think that the films in some cases IMPROVED on the source material (e.g. Kings Cross scene, which I found hopelessly cheesy and slightly confusing in the final book). Yates and I had just very different ideas on what was most important in the books and deserved prominence in the movies in some cases… so while I definitely agree with you that you have to cut the director some slack, my love of the books is such that I can’t hold back on offering some criticism.
You have a great eye for detail! You are totally right that Neville was lacking his longer locks from Book 7. OMG the thought of long haired level in a Cosby sweater basically sends me over the edge, and the producers were probably thinking of us fangirls and our inability to take any more hotness than what we were already going to be presented with.
You know, even though we didn’t see the full extent of Snape’s relationship with Lily, I really liked the light touch. I think they conveyed the depth of his emotion without resorting to some of the histrionics that Vampire Diaries can go to when trying to prove how epic a couple is. I think Petunia’s role in the movies was basically reduced to annoying aunt of Harry’s, and, while it would have been nice to shed light on why she treated Harry as she did, think they had dropped the ball if they had wanted her relationship with her sister to be one of the key psychological threads in the overall story. It was really just a side arc that proves one advantage books have over movies – the ability to add life, colour and vibrancy even to the peripheral characters.
I LOVED the “Harry talks in his sleep” line. Just showing how oblivious Ron was to the romantic undercurrents of their relationship, consciously at least, whereas Hermione was completely keyed onto that feeling and was thinking in terms of the innuendo of that line.
Hmm… does the film show how smart Ron is, or that he occasionally actually listens to Hermione, no matter how much he might argue to the contrary if ever confronted with this fact? 😉 Actually, I’ve always thought that Ron can be quite wise and observant. Like he was the one who noticed that Harry felt a bit ambivalent after he kissed Cho, rather than overcome with joy as he had expected, whereas Hermione didn’t pick up on this.
You are totally right, long hair and beard do become Ron. DAMN hot!
With the Narcissa scene, I get what you mean, but they have removed other stuff from the movies that make certain scenes make less sense, even if it means that audience members who’ve never read the books are left scratching their heads. Case in point: Dumbledore’s nonverbal binding spell on Harry isn’t made plain in movie 6, even though I think that is fairly integral to understanding why he didn’t try to take down Snape despite being such a proactive and impulsive character. I would have cringed if Voldemort had taken as fact that Harry was dead without getting someone to check for him.
I think the power of the “not my daughter” moment was also lost because it was played as a humorous “fuck yeah, fist pump” moment for Molly, whereas it was from a place of visceral, volcanic, defiant anger in the book, and therefore was so unlike the kindly witch we had known beforehand.
I don’t know about your assessment of the fangirls – I think Felton and now Lewis are the ones known for being hot, whereas Radcliffe and Grint trade more off playing major, beloved characters.
What do you mean by the Batman line? As a sidenote, I know I should pledge my allegiance to Spiderman given the title of this blog, but I actually prefer Batman as a superhero.
Nicely spotted with the Teddy and Victoire doppelgangers. I guess we’ll never know, though I like to think they were detail-oriented and put things like this into the movie for eagle-eyed viewers like yourself.
I completely forgot about the armies of werewolves! You are probably right! I knew the people looked pretty funky, but I just figured they were all dirtied up just to look evil.
And yes the film didn’t really catch the emotions between Harry and Ginny; Half-blood prince managed that to some extent, but not this one. I guess because many of the scenes from the book showing it were left out of the films.
Hmm, I think Grawp was removed because the visual effects superviser mentioned in an interview that his greatest regret was the poor visual effects behind his creation on screen in an earlier film.
I like ambiguous endings where you get to make up your own mind, don’t you? I suspect that the Malfoys joined Voldemort’s ranks initially because they were seduced by being part of a powerful fold and likely promises of even greater riches if they were loyal servants to the Dark Lord. They saw that he had the potential to be the biggest bully of the playground, and are the types of people to go where the power seems to be strongest. I think Voldemort’s treatment of even those he considers his most loyal followers (e.g. feeding Snape to Nagini),when he deems them disposable or if it suits his ends, started to strike fear in the Malfoy family’s hearts that they would one day find themselves in this position. Fear easily grows into hatred and a willingness to sell someone out. Also, the Malfoys strike me as self-preservationists first and foremost. Once they saw that the downfall of Voldemort was imminent, they decided to abandon they sinking ship, so to speak.
July 20th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Well maybe, we will find a character that suits as both. And I like the Potter books very much, but I am not a “huge fan”.
I am not surprised that you are a potter fan; I simply didn’t expect something like that here.
And I don’t know about the Hunger Games, what is that?
Man, I had to check the word “histrionics” but now I know what it means. 😀
And that was what bothered me with TVD, it is not so hard to explain certain things, you just need a few lines or pictures, e.g. Jason’s and Derek’s bodies in True Blood and Teen Wolf were explained with a few words and pictures, or Sookie’s pain about her grandmother’s death (still one of my favorite scenes). That is an art TVD hasn’t really mastered if you ask me. I actually agree with you that they did a poor job in showing Caratt as a couple, just the way they do it with Jeremy and Bonnie (or even Stefan and Elena). Think back at Buffy, when Tara stroked Willow’s hair and Spike saw it, a few pictures, everything explained. Just like in the film with Snape and Lilly.
I admit I missed it in the film that they had left that little sideline with Petunia out, when it was shown that she seems to have been jealous at her sister. Maybe it was something similar to what Ron experienced with his brothers (you know what the Horcrux in the last film said).
The film did show how smart Ron can be starting at the second half, you know the many times Hermione surprisingly states that what Ron said or did is brilliant.
I was referring to Batman because many attribute him with having a heart of ice when it comes to romance.
Hm, Grawp was a bit odd in the fifth film. He was like a big baby, while the book version was more brutal and more ugly.
Your theory about the Malfoys makes sense.
July 18th, 2011 at 3:45 am
I can not agree with you more on most of your comments. To avoid repeating everything you wrote I’ll try to keep this short. Several deviations I absolutely loved, when harry steps out in front of Snape I literally had to control myself from screaming, clapping and jumping over people to get a better look, I loved Neville in this movie and was also very happy with Ron and Hermiones kiss. I was also very disappointed with Harry and Ginnys chemistry. I also feel like there were a lot of characters cut short. As you stated with the lack of elaboration on Lupin and Tonk’s leaving their son behind. Ron doesn’t say a word to Harry when Harry says he is going to the forbidden forest. Seriously??? Your friend is going to sacrifice himself and you have nothing to say? I loved the serious and was very happy with the movie but do have some complaints. I think this post was awesome and you hit the nail on the head with several criticisms including: the bellatrix and molly fight scene, harry and ginny chemistry, and nevilles role.
July 19th, 2011 at 9:12 am
Obviously, you have exceptional taste given that you loved a lot of the same things 😉 Who is your favourite character? OMG, the lack of chemistry between Dan Radcliffe and Bonnie Wright is the biggest, most epic FAIL of the entire movie franchise. I think Bonnie has an elegance that suits the character, but I was expecting a more fiery, dynamic, spirited Ginny than the one translated on screen. I can’t really fault Bonnie, because she was hardly given anything to work with, and moved me with her “NO!” when she thought Harry was dead. I just find it annoying that they barely gave any attention to fleshing out the love of our hero’s life.
Ron and Hermione’s kiss was just everything you expect a first kiss to be – slightly awkward and fumbling but very enthusiastic and leaving both a little goldfish-y afterwards – you know, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in disbelief that it has actually happened. Plus, their giggle afterwards was a great little way of breaking the awkwardness of two good friends finally taking it to the romantic level.
I know what you mean about Ron’s silence when Harry went into the Forbidden Forest – he should have said it was stupid and idiotic and Harry doesn’t always have to do everything by himself, in true Ron fashion. On the other hand, Hermione tends to be the one who wears her heart on her sleeve whereas Ron holds back and denies, denies, denies, so having Hermione giving Harry a big bear hug and having Ron hang back was blocking that felt very true to both characters. I just would have liked to see more of a flash of emotions across Ron’s face rather than his stunned mullet look.
There’ll definitely be more Harry Potter and some Hunger Games goodness on this blog, so hope to see you again! By the way, I see you’ve just started up your own blog, and can’t wait to read all of your sure to be ingenious posts!
July 18th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Good stuff. I saw it last night, and will be writing my own (no doubt somewhat less Neville-focused) blog post between Macbeth rehearsals and (insanely busy) life in general – so I probably should just wait and make it a dvd review…
July 19th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Can’t wait to read your review! I would imagine you would take a cool, calm, collected stance, whereas I was somewhat caught up in the rush of having just seen the movie and just had thoughts spilling out of me in every direction :). A DVD review would be great, potentially encompassing LOTR calibre extras if they go all out for the final movie.
I’m extremely excited about seeing you act in Macbeth so that I can take my review your performance like crazy. I solemnly swear not to objectify you as I did Matthew Lewis in this review, so long as you aren’t sporting a Cosby sweater!
July 20th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
[“Neville using the line, “My name may not be Luna, but I sure know how to Lovegood” being a canon possibility in the films. JK Rowling dashed the hopes of Luna/Neville shippers once upon a time, saying that she felt Luna’s flights of fancy would be too much for Neville, although later retracted this and said she could see the possibility of a love connection between the two. Thank God Yates saw the wisdom of this realization and had these characters hook up instead of Neville marrying some random like in the books.”]
This was sooo STUPID! It really was. If Neville and Luna did not hook up in the novel, what was the point in allowing them to do so in the movie? And as I recall, Luna became good buddies with Dean Thomas during the whole Malfoy Manor/Shell Cottage sequences. If DH1 had ended with the trio’s capture by the Snatchers, Kloves and Yates could have added this or ignore it altogether.
Instead, they kowtowed to a bunch of squeeling fan girls mooning over the idea of Neville and Luna.
July 23rd, 2011 at 3:42 am
Hi Lady Lavinia!
Aww, you’re not a fan of Luna/Neville? Obviously I’ve already worn my fangirly heart on my sleeve, but I am more a fan of the characters as individuals than as a ship. I was just disappointed in the books that they were paired off with randoms rather than someone whose character arc we had followed closely. I guess what links them in my mind is that they are both tragic characters (Luna losing her mother as a young witch to that terrible accident, Neville’s family being tortured to the point of insanity), yet they still have this innocence and goodness about them that remains intact no matter what.
I also think people overlook the tragedy they’ve had to face, and may not even be aware. Harry gets loads of sympathy for being an orphan, yet Harry himself acknowledges that he hadn’t asked Neville why he lived with his grandmother in the four years he had known him, when Dumbledore explained Neville’s parent’s fate. Don’t get me wrong, I love the character of Harry,but I’ve always understood why Ron felt like he was in Harry’s shadow until he came to terms with this in the Locket!Horcrux scene, because he isn’t the only one to be treated like this. The irony of course is that Harry doesn’t even WANT the sympathy.
So, I’ve digressed a little from Neville/Luna, but I could see definite commonalities between them beyond just superficial desires to want the underdog to get the girl. I can understand your frustration when people have virtually no reason to want characters together other than “just because”. I’d totally forgotten about the Luna/Dean character development, and honestly would have been just as happy if she had ended up with him, because it also would have felt like a logical conclusion.
I LOVE the fact that you adore these characters enough to defend their ships according to what makes sense to their development, arcs and past interactions. Sometimes I feel like I am crazy to be so invested in the journeys of fictional people, and it’s always fun to debate and discuss stuff people who are similarly passionate.
XO C
July 25th, 2011 at 5:41 am
I absolutely loved your review! I I’m pretty much the same way….. I felt how you did with your O.W.L. reviews….. And as far as Neville goes……. MAN! He stole the show! Like you, I’ve always had a soft spot for the not-so-courageous-kinda-nerdy-nobody-likes characters. I always feel sorry for him when he falls off his broom in the first movie, and I’ve been watching that movie for 3 years now….. I’m telling you I could go ON and ON and ON about Neville, and I’m sure you could, too, but I won’t…… Ron and Harry really should have kept their shirts on….. *shivers* They both need to work out a bit (or a lot) more……. It was d-i-s-t-i-r-b-i-n-g! When I went to see part 2 on opening night (at midnight), we were about half-way into the film and I was SHAKING! I couldn’t sit still for the life of me either! And every time I saw Neville I started clapping (luckily, everyone was to focused on the film….). The whole theater was clapping! Once we all clapped, waited for about 2 minutes, clapped more, waited for another 2 minutes, and clapped AGAIN! This movie was truely phenominal! I was a bit dissapointed at times, but I, truely, thought that it would be a HUGE let-down, as the first part wasn’t the best……
(About my name……. I’m referring to crepes….. That’s what I call them now…. “French Burritos”…… Ya, I’m weird. I’m a Harry Potter series/Neville fangirl….. I was born that way….. You learn to live with it…..)
July 27th, 2011 at 6:07 am
Hey French Burrito! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting! Neville and his Cosby sweater were the best part of this film IMO, and clearly you have exceptional judgment and taste since you reached the same conclusion! Don’t worry about wearing your Neville-loving heart on your sleeve. After my ode to his awesomeness, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people think the intensity of love for the character is a little weird… but you know what? I don’t give a damn! These are fictional characters we grew up, who we speculated on the fates of and became invested in, who captured our imaginations and became like real people to many of us (as is the case with the best types of stories). Neville is definitely the underdog who you root for, but then discover has hidden depths and capabilities all along and is underrated and underestimated… sometimes this can grow from their desire to prove themselves, but I think underdog characters tend to have a lot of heart because being undervalued gives them an entirely different perspective on events and people’s feelings than the Alpha Hero of a story will ever have.
You know how Hermione bounced up and down with her hand in the air, wanting desperately to answer a question in class in the first movie? That was pretty much me every time Neville came on screen, minus the hand of course. The movie had that overall effect on me, and for that I am truly grateful. I’ve loved the Harry Potter series for so long, that like you I was worried it would go out with a whimper and a murmur… luckily, it went out with an adrenalin-charged bang! You know how movies are usually broken into beginning/establishment of character, middle and climax… it was fun to just hurtle headlong into the climax from the minute the movie started and never have a chance to catch my breath. It was a fairly exhilarating experience, hence my rampant enthusiasm when writing this blog post immediately afterwards.
Final word. d-i-s-t-i-r-b-i-n-g = the ultimate way to describe Harry and Ron shirtless, in my books anyway.