First off, this post has lots of spoilers about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want it to be ruined, don’t read this post! But since it’s been a week, you should have seen it by now! If you haven’t, go see it!
I wanted to do a review on Friday or Saturday, but I figured I’d give people a few days (or a week) before reviewing it since not everyone likes to see it the first day or two.
Overall, I loved it, and thought it did the book justice. There were a few things that I wished were in the movie (like Percy making up with his family) but overall, I thought it worked out rather well. I thought it was not only a great movie, but a really good adaptation as well.
Here’s a few of my favorite things from the move:
- Snape’s memories: I thought it was really well done, and I couldn’t help but start crying. The scene that did me in was the part where he was holding Lily and crying. Reading it was completely different than actually seeing it on the screen, and it really made Snape’s feelings for Lily come to life.
- The scene with Harry, his parents, Sirius, and Lupin in the forest: that made me cry as well, especially when Harry asked Lily if she would stay with him, and she said always. It was also really well-done.
- And we have a tie between Neville, McGonagall and the duel between Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix. “Not my daughter, you bitch!” is one of the most memorable lines from the entire series. I always pictured it as being yelled across the great hall, but either way, it was a great line, and I wan’t disappointed. As for McGonagall, I knew she was a stern, yet caring professor, but I was always sort of indifferent to her. Until this movie! Her duel with Snape was amazing, and two of my other favorite lines in the movie came from her. When she was excited about bringing the statues and suits of armour to life, and told Mrs. Weasley that she always wanted to do that spell was hilarious. It made her seem like one of the very students she taught. Overall, I saw her in a completely different way. My other favorite line was when she told Neville to have Seamus do some pyrotechnics, as he had an aptitude for it. And of course, Neville! I can’t review Part 2 and leave Neville out of it! He was awesome, and the change between the Sorcerer’s Stone and Deathly Hallows was unbelievable. My favorite Neville moment was when he cut off Nagini’s head, closely by his speech to Voldemort.
The battle was a lot more disorganized than I expected it to be, but considering it was a battle, and they were fighting for their lives, I would expect it to be chaotic. I do wish there was a celebration after Voldemort died, but clearly, I can’t change that part of the movie.
And of course, I need to mention the epilogue! The audience definitely had this whole “oh, here we go,” vibe when the 19 years later popped up on the screen. Honestly, I didn’t mind the epilogue, which surprised me, because I wasn’t a fan of the epilogue when I read the book. They did cut a lot from it, only focusing on Harry talking with Albus about being in Slytherin, and then ends with Harry, Ron and Hermione watching their kids go to Hogwarts.
This review is getting pretty lengthy, so I think I’ll end it here…there are a few other things I wanted to mention about the movie, so I think I’ll do that tomorrow.