emma thompson’s sister is in it. other than the gleesons and the phelps twins, i think that is it for relatives.
if you want to see what the end looks like, there is a you tube in russian that has about the last 15 minutes of the film including the epilogue. it starts just before the jump off the ledge.
it was. and i did.
overall i thought it was very, very good. not perfect, but a very satisfying end to the series. the prince’s tale is very well done, and was one of the high points for me. alan rickman is fabulous. very good. very emotional. sorry this is kind of rambly but it’s late and i’m still processing.
cliff’s notes: it’s good. go see it.
Well I just saw it and I’m going to rain on this parade. I think the last half of the book was the best thing Rowling wrote of all the books and the screenplay hosed it all up. The movie was doing fairly well until Harry and crew got back to Hogwarts and then it diverges heavily from the book for no apparent reason. The final fight scene (as written in the book) would have been epic given how well the graphics were. And by that I mean they didn’t over-use special effects.
I generally liked how the previous screenplays had cleaned up the books but in this case I would have deferred to Rowlings.
Thumbs up. I laughed, I cried, I totally forgot to eat my popcorn. (Seriously–I can’t remember the last time I left a theater with half a bag of popcorn, especially with a long movie.)
Passing out now. G’night!
I just got back also. It’s far from the best in the series, but of course I recommend seeing it. My biggest unboxed disappointment is that most of the faculty of Hogwarts is basically cameos, though McGonagall does have her best scenes and comes across as quite the badass when driving Snape out (while, unlike in the book, the other faculty members just stand around contemplating their navels).
A question about the book because I haven’t re-read it since the year it came out:
Do Griphook and the other goblins die in the book like they do in the movie?
There must be a lot of deleted scenes. Among other things I can’t imagine they’d have hired Jamie Campbell Bower for Grindelwald if they didn’t film more than 4 seconds worth of footage of him; any actor who was the right type would have sufficed, it wouldn’t have to be one with a name.
You REALLY have to have read the book for this to make sense. For instance,
They never mention Dumbledore’s sister (save to identify the girl in the picture as her) or the backstory.
and
they never even mention Remus and Tonks’ baby in the movie until Remus’s shade says his son will grow up knowing about his parents
I thought they did a reasonable job of "19 Years Later"ing Harry but they barely tried on Ginny, Hermione and Ron, and 30-something Draco looked almost silly.
in the book there is a massacre including goblins when Voldemort finds out. It doesn’t spell out Griphook so the movie makes an assumption.
Grindelwald would have been in the first part of the book.
Most of the movies need explaining to really understand them. Such is the nature of screenplays.
did they consult a martial artist regarding wandless fighting techniques to compliment wand spells?
There was a lot I did like in the movie, I should add. The dragon was one of the best realized CGI’s I’ve ever seen and a truly pathetic creature- loved the rips in his wing skin. You could believe him (or her) as a horribly abused captive creature.
I thought the scene where Harry learns who all has been killed in the battle was well done. And I agree that Alan Rickman does some great acting beyond just being menacing Snape in his final scenes.
I really hoped- even though the scene itself is not in the book- that they would show the failed attack on Neville’s Gran. His telling that story was one of my favorite in the book.
In the movie
It implies Neville and Luna end up together, though Rowling has specifically said this isn’t the case
I liked the more subtle CG stuff like the spells used to reinforce and then break down the shield around the castle.
What I didn’t get is the complete removal of everything beyond the stone bridge. It’s just gone after the battle.
Actually I don’t know which theater they went to, and my daughter spent the night at her girlfriend’s to avoid driving while tired, but I will check with her.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I am going to.
Regards,
Shodan
[quote=“shantih, post:34, topic:588952”]
Well, no (to the spoiler). It’s part of the final battle at Hogwarts.
/QUOTE]
:smack: Argh, I read that as Harry, Hermione, and Ron at first. I knew that. really. And that was one of the scenes I didn’t really like. Mostly because it’s not what I expected.
so, some more bullet points:
-i wanted to see harry repair his wand!
-ditto the last scene in the headmaster’s office
-would have liked more of a reaction from ron and hermione when harry was presumed dead. ginny is the only one who really reacts in that scene.
-same for when he’s leaving to walk to his death. i was ok with that change, since it would be difficult to show harry’s internal monologue as he makes that final walk, but ron barely reacts at all. maybe it didn’t quite click for him at that moment, but still.
-the resurrection stone scene was perfect. equally as moving as the scene from the book.
-i actually liked how the epilogue was done. short, sweet, to the point. no inclusions about how teddy lupin is snogging victoire weasley and blah blah blah, just the grown up harry and co, the line about snape, and the departure of the hogwarts express. perfect.
-i got a battle of helm’s deep vibe from a couple of the shots of voldemort and his army. not a bad thing, just an observation.
-bellatrix as hermione disguised as bellatrix was very funny and spot on.
-i really liked mcgonagall’s “hogwarts is threatened” and then her giddy “i always wanted to use that spell!”
i wanted to hear neville say “i’ll join you when hell freezes over!” but, overall, neville is awesome and his moment was great.
snape’s last words. i didn’t mind the change. the prince’s tale was very well done. it was a bit jarring to see the normally inscrutable snape sobbing and holding lily’s body, but it worked.
i need to see it again, i think. a very emotional ride for me the first time around.
one i forgot:
i jumped at the sight of the piece of voldemort in the king’s cross sequence. revolting, which it’s supposed to be. well done.
Once the removed the scene from Order of the Phoenix where Neville’s Gran takes him to visit his parents, they kind of removed the main time she appears and we see what she is like. I admit, though, his explanation in the book is classic.
Hey, is Percy in the movie?
no, unless i missed him in a background shot. sadly.
Can we not continue using spoiler boxes? It already says spoilers in the thread title.
fine by me. i just saw others using them and followed the crowd.
Actually, he is - he’s visible between some of the other Weasleys during one of the scenes in the courtyard. Still manages to look priggish, too.
Continuing on my curmudgeon rant… I understand and appreciate the job of converting months of time in a book into 2 hrs of movie but they added in fight scenes that didn’t exist when the book so nicely laid it out.
[spoiler] Harry doesn’t battle Voldemort in the book except for the final battle which everything builds to. In the book Belatrix is killed in full view of everybody ( to the great anger of Voldemort). And Neville chops the head off the snake in full view of everybody and THAT is what triggers the final battle. It was all built up so perfectly in the book with Hagrid chastising the centaurs for not fighting. He drove home the emotion everybody felt and was unleashed by Neville’s actions.
Rowlands finally served up a full course meal and the screenplay turned it into hamburger served up on roller skates.
And from what orifice did they pull Malfo’s new best bro from? They had to insert a token black person when they already had Angelina to use from the story line? I half expected him to be wearing a red shirt. I almost started laughing when I saw him.
Filtche’s comic relief was misplaced from the book because of the editing which made it forced.
While I don’t understand why they swapped the boat house for the shrieking shack it doesn’t detract from the movie.
I suppose having Harry break the elder wand in the end makes mores sense to the story line since it takes away any thoughts of future attempts to kill him for it. But I miss the scene with Dumbledor’s painting.
I liked the stair scene with Luna. It was a departure from the book but it worked well and cuts down the search for the diadem.
[/spoiler]
I liked the first part of the move and most of it overall but feel like it would have been better had the final battle scene mirrored the book closer. There was much more emotion to it as written.