It All Ended!
A decade, a generation and we can finally say goodbye to Harry Potter. It’s an epic finale to a very long journey that seemed will never end. The movie begins with the last final minutes of Part I where Voldemort open’s Dumbledore’s grave to steal his wand which I think was a good opening. The story goes very fast from there on as there’s much to be told and rhythm keeps the audience on their toes, it’s a roller coaster.
David Yates has become better and better by each movie and especially in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 he shows that despites the critiques’ he’s able to control the pace and give us an insight into the characters beautifully. In the final movie I think he wasn’t able to control everything as successfully which could be due to the fact that there was a lot to cover. Unfortunately this could be seen in the edit too and some of the cuts seemed a bit rushed and there was continuity issues, in fact the whole movie looked rushed. This was especially visible in the King’s Cross sequence with the lack of linking shots between the cuts although not damaging the storyline but creating jumps between the cuts. Overall everything works and it’s a pleasing experience, however, I think the book’s fans will make a better connection to this film as many of the flashbacks in the movie are very short, vague and could be even a bit confusing. The Snape’s back story for example which is a very critical piece of information could have been much better explained and visualized.
Acting is very good as expected from a line of prestigious British actors, and Daniel Radcliffe has a better performance as well and he is less dry when he speaks which I think it’s his downside as his facial expressions particularly in the last movie are brilliant. I found Voldemort’s character to be more creepy and sad than scary! His portrayal in the book is much stronger but movies don’t and don’t really have to follow the books line by line. The actor chosen as Harry’s son in the epilogue is sadly very poor and I’ve found the entire epilogue’s sequence not to be that great actually and somehow unnecessary if it was to be shown like this, but it’s always interesting to see a glimpse of the future I suppose.
Soundtrack composed by Alexandre Desplat which carries on from Part I with a nicely frames shots of Eduardo Serra are nicely blended together and you can hardly notice the soundtrack on its own, a complement to how well it’s been integrated.
The majority of the Visual Effects, if not all, are provided by the London Houses such Double Negative, Cinesite, MPC and Framestore where I was a part of their team. Overall outstanding work and definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination. They are all serving the story extremely well with nothing extra just as it should be. I wasn’t surprised but a bit disappointed that in the premiere the producers and director thanked everyone except the visual effects artist who actually made this happen. VFX’s important is yet to be recognised.
It’s not easy to say good-bye but it is the time. Harry Potter and the deathly Hollows Part II is an entertaining movie that tries to say a lot in little time. Despite the minor points I’ve mentioned I don’t think anyone will leave the theatre unsatisfied and the movie even deserves a second viewing.