Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (David Yates; 2011)

Splitting this last film into two parts did two things for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—one to its benefit and the other to its (temporary) detriment. Primarily, it allowed most everything that was in the book (with a couple big exceptions) to make its way to the screen. Unfortunately for this film, in splitting up the final story, Part II is almost entirely climax, and doesn’t hold together much as its own film.

However, as I watched the first part the night before, this wasn’t really an issue for me, nor do I think it will be for anyone watching the films in the future, as they’ll probably view The Deathly Hallows as one movie.

The film begins with Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s bank heist, a pretty spectacular action sequence, and then brings us directly to Hogwarts for the final battle. Most of the book’s climax is here, albeit with the movie grandiosity turned up a few notches. I like the larger scale much of the time, as it works well on screen, but I did miss the simplicity of Harry’s defeat of Voldemort in the book.

The best sequence from the book, involving Snape’s past, is really well done here, but my other favorite scene, Harry’s conversation with Dumbledore, is somewhat of a letdown. It was good, but it would have been more effective had the films delved into Dumbledore’s past at all. The best moment of that scene is when Dumbledore asks Harry to forgive him, and that’s not here. Regardless, the scene still works very well, and is one of the best in the film.

The character of Neville is given a lot of great moments here, as he is in the book. These moments would have been more effective in the movie had the rest of the films not neglected Neville’s character almost entirely.

The (apparently controversial—who knows why and who cares) “19 years later” epilogue is included in the film. They made the desision to use the same actors and age them using makeup and more “grown-up” clothes and hair cuts. Although this results in the occasional humorous shot—Draco looks like 45 year old Marty McFly in Back to the Future II—it was nice to have the actors who are so closely identified with the franchise close it out. It was also nice to hear the return of John Williams’s wonderful main theme from the first three films (the later composers have done an acceptable, but unremarkable job).

The Deathly Hallows, on the whole (both parts), is the best film in the series. It’s an excellent adaptation of the final book, and it made me wish all of the movies had been done as well. Harry Potter is a wildly uneven film franchise. Only The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Deathly Hallows are particularly good movies, and The Goblet of Fire and The Half-Blood Prince are pretty terrible. The rest fall in between. This is regrettable, as they had seven great books to draw from, and the good films in the series showed that they were capable of pulling all of them off.

The series’s greatest strength remains with its cast, from the more venerable supporting players to Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, who have all proven themselves to be really good actors. The films’ producers rarely (if ever) made a bad casting decision, and that is a surprising feat.

Regardless of the questionable quality of some of the earlier films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II ends the film series on a pretty triumphant note.

Ranking of the films-

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (both parts)

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (David Yates; 2010)

With the sixth film being what it was (shit), the fact that The Deathly Hallows had been adapted into two movies wasn’t exactly exciting news for me. Yet, somehow, director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves really stepped up for this final installment. Although it’s the most faithful adaptation since The Chamber of Secrets, The Deathly Hallows is easily the most genuinely cinematic of the films, aside from The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Even though this is an excellent adaptation of the final book (if they don’t fuck up Part II), it falls apart somewhat when it’s placed in its context within the series. When characters who have been absent from the Potter films, like Mundungus Fletcher and Bill Weasly, suddenly show up and introduce themselves to Harry, it’s almost laughable. The films from Goblet of Fire to Half-Blood Prince really damaged the continuity of the franchise by chopping out entire seemingly “minor” characters and subplots, all of which culminate in The Deathly Hallows. Since they made the decision to make the final book into two films, Kloves was required to include almost everything from the book (he has four and a half hours to fill, after all), making many emotionally potent scenes dealing with the formerly missing elements suffer in the translation, even if they are well staged and performed.

Yates finally delivers on the promise of the excellent climax of the otherwise solid, but unremarkable The Order of the Phoenix. Much of the story is told visually, and Kloves finally stops forcing the characters to spout exposition at all times. When Ron leaves Harry and Hermione, Yates displays a surprising and as yet unseen gift for emotional depth. The scene in which Harry and Hermione dance to a mournful song on the radio is one of the best moments of the entire film series, a credit not only to Yates, but to Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. It’s also a great cinematic moment. Whereas most of the best moments of the films have been (understandably) word-for-word from the books, this dance scene is a great interpretation of a somewhat vague area in the book’s narrative. Radcliffe and Watson, along with Rupert Grint, don’t have much of a supporting cast in this portion of the story, and they prove they are more than up to the task of carrying their own picture.

Once Part II is released on DVD, The Deathly Hallows will likely be thought of as one film, and if that one is good (I’ll give it a write-up tomorrow after I see it), the Harry Potter film franchise will have ended respectably, even if it was a somewhat regrettable journey getting there.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates; 2009)

In my generally positive review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I expressed hope that retaining that film’s director, David Yates, for the remainder of the movies would result in a more consistent, fulfilling series of films to cap off the franchise. I have yet to see The Deathly Hallows- Part 1 (or Part 2—I’ll be seeing both next week), but if The Half-Blood Prince is any indication, I was sadly mistaken.

I’m all for changing things from the source material (if you recall, strict fidelity was my main problem with the first two films), but the additions made by Yates and series screenwriter Steve Kloves to the sixth installment do not serve the story and do nothing but confuse the narrative drive of the film. A scene at the very start of the film involving Harry’s interest in some muggle waitress is completely superfluous, and actually undermines later romantic developments. The other scene inserted into the film was an all out attack on Ron’s home (“The Burrow”) during the Christmas holiday, resulting eventually in flames. You’d think his family’s recent descent into homelessness might bother Ron, but of course it doesn’t. This scene is only there to insert an action setpiece in the middle of a story somewhat lacking in action setpieces. Who cares if it stops the film cold and offers nothing exciting or new?

The look of the film is, to be blunt, hideous. Why is the palette so fucking drab? I know the series gets “darker” as it goes along, but I like to be able to see the characters. It’s not “dramatic” lighting, it’s an ugly over color corrected mess.

It may sound like I hated this film, but there’s some stuff that I liked. Ron and Hermione’s and Harry and Ginny’s relationships are pretty well handled. The melodrama is much more genuine and palpable here than in the the hideous Yule Ball scene from Goblet of Fire.

It was nice to see Quidditch come back, but Ron’s success in the game isn’t as effective, since the entire Quidditch subplot was removed from The Order of the Phoenix.

All of the old regulars are pretty good here. The three kids are all pretty good actors, especially Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who have a great scene moping together. Alan Rickman finally gets a lot more to do, and he’s as great as he’s always been. Warwick Davis actually gets a few lines this time, too!

Michael Gambon is fucking great as Dumbledore, taking advantage of his significant increase in screen time. Unfortunately, his lessons with Harry are quite trimmed down here, with only two of the four or five memories of Voldemort making an appearance. This will pose more problems for The Deathly Hallows, a movie which must have been very difficult to make, considering all of the subplots and important threads left out of the previous films. Surely discovering more about Voldemort’s past was more important than the inane attack on the Burrow?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is entertaining enough, but it lacks the weight of the book. That’s kind of the problem with the whole film series. By cutting so much out of the text, the makers of most of these films have sucked much of the interest out of the stories. Since I’ve read the books (recently), I can fill in the blanks and have a pretty good time, but these things are light, inoffensive fun and sadly, nothing more. The books deserve better.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (David Yates; 2007)

After the extremely weak Goblet of Fire, I wasn’t expecting much out of the fifth Harry Potter film. However, new director David Yates somehow manages to adapt the longest book into the shortest movie without feeling rushed or even leaving all that much out.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a welcome return to the quality of the third film. Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg distilled the mammoth 870 page novel down to its essence and instilled it with that book’s leisurely pace, allowing characters to breath and experience small moments, something completely absent in the frantic Goblet of Fire.

The three main actors are coming along quite nicely here, especially Daniel Radcliffe, who pulls off all of Harry’s emotional peaks and valleys throughout this installment. Michael Gambon is wonderful as Dumbledore, especially in his scene with Harry at the end. Unfortunately, Helena Bonham-Carter brings way too much insipid Tim Burton whimsy to the role of Bellatrix. Hopefully she tones it down a little in further installments.

Although I enjoyed this film, it further confirmed my belief that it was a mistake to begin the film series before the books were completed. Order of the Phoenix was the last film to be made before the final book was released, and it continues to ignore the house elf subplot begun in Goblet of Fire. The subplot culminates in The Deathly Hallows and it simply won’t have the emotional payoff without the setup in the three previous movies. If they had waited until the final book was published, then the makers of the films would have known which subplots and smaller details were important, and viewers who haven’t read the books wouldn’t be left scratching their heads.

Still, I’m looking forward to the last three films. It’s nice to see David Yates returned for all of them, as the franchise was in desperate need of a consistent hand guiding it.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell; 2005)

The first two films in the Harry Potter franchise spent too much time mimicking the books word-for-word. I bemoaned this, hoping for a genuine adaptation for the third movie, which I received. Unfortunately, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, while not boringly faithful like the first two installments, is a truly terrible adaptation.

This film moves way too fast. Harry is already hanging out with Ron and Hermione, on his way to the Quidditch World Cup at the very start of the movie. I don’t beg for forty-five minutes with his aunt and uncle, but that initial setting is important for Harry’s character, and it must be included to put his magical life in perspective. This film chops elements from the story (characters, subplots) with no regard for character development, leaving only the absolute essentials for the plot. Somehow, even with all of this cutting, the film is still overlong, at 157 minutes.

There are huge gaps in the story, which I’m almost positive I’d have been confused by had I not read the book. The three events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament happen so quickly in succession, it almost makes it seem too easy for Harry. We see little to nothing of him struggling with clues or even the events themselves.

The teen melodrama elements that drew me into the fourth book are badly mishandled here. Ron’s brief falling out with Harry is not well explained here, leaving the viewer confused more than anything.

There are some good things. Surprisingly, Robert Pattinson is a decent Cedric Diggory, Harry’s rival in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and the sequence portraying Voldemort’s return to power is fittingly chilling. Ralph Fiennes is effectively cold and distant as Voldemort, even though he looks a little silly.

I was afraid things would go in this direction for the later (much longer) books. Adapting a 700 or 800 page novel takes more creative filmmaking than the director of Four Weddings and a Funeral (a film I enjoy) is probably capable of.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuaron; 2004)

From the opening scene of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, director Alfonso Cuaron wrenches the franchise from the clutches of Chris Columbus, immediately instilling the film with a visual interest and a proper sense of pace, two elements completely missing from the first two installments. The third film strikes a good balance between the word-for-word blandness of the first two films and the seemingly random cherry-picking of the fourth film (write-up forthcoming). This one feels like a movie, not an audio book. Events are re-arranged, scenes are cut, new scenes are added; it tells the story of the third book in its own way.

The two major additions to the cast, David Thewlis as Lupin and Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, both do a good job with their characters. The three leads are all developing nicely here, especially Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Daniel Radcliffe is mostly just as good, but there’s a few moments when he’s required to shout, and they are a bit laughable. Michael Gambon replaces the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore, and he actually fits the role better. He gets the kind of absent-mindedness of the character which Harris never had the chance to achieve.

I must say, I was surprised to see the film end on a freeze frame. That felt a bit awkward. Otherwise, I was quite satisfied with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, especially considering what a train wreck the next film was.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Chris Columbus; 2002)

Many of the same issues with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone are also present in the second film in the series. Its slavish devotion to the text of the novel is frustrating, and limits the movie from becoming anything more than an alright retelling of the events of the book, making it a rather pointless exercise.

Some good things: Kenneth Branagh does a great job with the role of Professor Lockhart, a character I didn’t think would translate particularly well to the screen. The rest of the cast is still quite good, even the kids, who, a few clunky line readings aside, seem to be developing into good actors. Also, since I forgot to mention it in the first review, John Williams’s theme is wonderful, even if the rest of his score is relatively by the numbers.

I’m looking forward to the third film, as it’s one of my favorite books of the series, and its director, Alfonso Cuaron (Y tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men) is a far more inventive filmmaker than Chris Columbus. We’ll see.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Chris Columbus; 2001)

A very standard, by the book adaptation. Chris Columbus is entirely… competent, inserting very little visual flare into the inherently interesting setting. The pacing of the film is also a little odd. It moves remarkably quickly for a two and a half hour film, but the climax (in which Harry, Ron, and Hermione go through the various challenges to stop who they think is Snape from getting the Sorcerer’s Stone) comes out of nowhere. There is no sense of mounting tension. As soon as they find out what the Stone is, we move directly into the action set pieces.

The film is entirely watchable, though, mostly due to its excellent cast. Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, and Richard Harris all pretty much perfectly capture their characters.

Overall, it’s alright, much like a higher budget BBC television adaptation. A little more liberties taken with the source material (this is a movie, after all) and some even slightly confident cinematic direction would be appreciated in future installments.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

As Harry Potter quickly won me over, I knew my general impression of it would depend largely on its conclusion. Conclusions are often the weakest chapters in long sagas, as it is difficult to wrap up the events of three or five or seven stories in one, all while making it a satisfying installment in its own right.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is, luckily, quite strong, perhaps the strongest book in the series. This is a traditionally grand conclusion, with a massive final battle, a big cast reunion, and even an epilogue to let us know how the surviving cast members turn out. Maybe it isn’t an ending you haven’t seen before, but it’s the right one for this story.

The action is removed from Hogwarts for most of the book, as Voldemort has taken control of the Ministry of Magic, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for the four remaining Horcruxes, pieces of Voldemort’s soul which must be destroyed before Harry can confront him.

Much of The Deathly Hallows is spent exploring Dumbledore’s past, making him a more complex and interesting character in retrospect (not that he wasn’t a king already). We also finally find out everything about Professor Snape and his true motivations in an excellent chapter which certainly doesn’t disappoint.

The cast of the series, by this point, has ballooned to a surprisingly large size, but the final installment wisely chooses to focus of the three main characters, and those whom we care for the most: Harry, Ron, and Hermione. We spend most of the book with them, and it fittingly ends with them, together.

Many have already placed Harry Potter in the canon of classic children’s literature. I still think this is premature, mostly because I prefer to allow what becomes a “timeless classic” to sort itself out, rather than being forced upon whatever the latest pop culture phenomenon is. This isn’t a slight against the series, however. As a great appreciator of children’s fantasy literature, Harry Potter holds up quite well in the company of The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia, or the work of Roald Dahl. It only ended four years ago, so only time and future generations can determine if it will endure (I think it probably will), but, as it stands, Harry Potter is a genuine achievement in storytelling: a vast, rich world, populated by great characters, moving through a riveting tale of good versus evil.

P.S.—I am obsessed with ranking shit, so here’s a quick, off-the-top-of-my-head ranking of the books.

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

P.S.S.—I crushed this challenge so easily. I have a month until the deadline. Expect (shorter) reviews of the film adaptations over the next couple weeks.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

After the long, winding behemoth of a narrative found in the 870 page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, at 652, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince almost seems slight. It is certainly the simplest chapter since The Prisoner of Azkaban, focusing primarily on the personal and romantic lives of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

That’s not to say the battle against Voldemort is forgotten, as Harry takes private lessons from Dumbledore, delving into various people’s memories to piece together the Dark Lord’s past, and help Harry defeat him.

I enjoyed the quieter nature of this volume, with its genuinely amusing romantic mishaps and moving character moments. After the rather (wonderfully) dour fifth book, it was nice to see the humorous roots of the series return, with new characters such as Professor Slughorn, a ridiculous creature, constantly trying to make connections with students whom he finds to have a potentially lofty future.

The love triangle between Ron, Hermione, and Lavender Brown, as well as Harry’s newfound affection for Ron’s sister, Ginny, are both played as equal parts comedic relief and perhaps overstated pathos.

The book ends a particularly downbeat note with the death of another major character. This loss leaves Harry (at least in his mind) all alone in his fight against Voldemort, causing him to make drastic decisions calculating his next move.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fulfills all of the requirements of a penultimate installment in a long series. We spend a lot of time with the characters to remind us why we care about them before the climax (presumably) puts them through untold dangers. More importantly, it forces its hero to grow up and know that he may have to face those dangers alone.

P.S. If you recall the terms of the challenge, I have until July 15th to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which I’ve already started) and to watch all of the film adaptations. That leaves me with a little over a month. Oh shit! Will I be able to read one novel and view seven films in such a short amount of time? I hope so. My reputation’s at stake.