HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1 Post-Release - Page 6

Yeah, a few of us really would love to see the next film open with Dumbledore vs Grindelwald. It would allow the audience to more directly understand that story line, and assuming they're going to follow through on that stuff, it's a nice kick in the ass to open the finale.

I still agree, the torture scene was badly nurfed in a number of ways, obviously to prevent the movie from being "too much." Worm tail gets a goofy exit, Ron doesn't offer himself in stead of Hermione or scream her name in concern or anything. To top it all off, they use the unexplained hunk of glass to save the day. Looking back the entire movie was so eerily what I imagined in my minds eye, that the torture scene failing so badly really hurts the package.

I know in the book Harry has the Horcrux vs Hallows debate earlier than Malfoy Manor, but it makes a lot of sense to open the first act of Part 2 with that debate in mind, so it's a fresh problem for the audience.

It turned into a comedic scene due to the muzzling of Ron's reaction and the focus of the scene being on Dobby. The audience is laughing out loud while Hermione is screaming in agony. That should not happen.

You're right. Worm tail's goofy exit, Dobby showing up gets a laugh, "Of course sir, I'm an elf!" gets a big laugh, followed by "I like her very much!"

If they had been able to commit to the tone of dred I think it could have been the best sequence in the movie, or at least the most intense.

You know, I said earlier that you couldn't hang the conclusion on the decision to go after horcruxes instead of hallows because it's introduced so late in the game, but it occurs to me that this would be easily solved by switching the order of the trips to see Luna's father and snakelady. Ron doesn't serve any real purpose with Lovegood, so you can still have the segment without him, and having a third wheel in a different part of the house would allow for an extended snake fight, since they have to teleport together or lose each other again. As it is, it seems like Harry and Hermione hang around to take a few more shots at the snake when they should just get out of Dodge at their first opportunity.

Sure, the way it is follows the order of the book, but the snake visit is so superfluous I don't see what harm flipping it would've done.

That sounds like a really good way to restructure the first half. Especially since the only reason they don't go to Godric's Hollow right away in the books was because of some minor disagreements between the characters as to what purpose it would serve. Since the movie hardly bothered with that, it seems like a harmless change.

And yet it would cause RIOTS.

Let them riot!

It's an interesting idea. They haven't switched around scenes have they? They've only added new stuff, which has been generally really great.

The best discusson I have heard about the film yet.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/smodcast/SModcast-149.mp3

Pretty!

That is one of the best sequences in a Harry Potter film. I would love to see a follow up, short film, detailing some other aspect of the HP universe this way. Reminds me of Secret of the Kells and James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, well blended with a dash of Grand Marnier.

Thanks for the new desk tops.

Also, listening to Kevin Smith talk about Harry Potter while high was a lot of fun. I was expecting lots of haterade, so it was a pleasant surprise when they turned out to be fans.

Ok...

- really enjoyed my time with this, though a sense of confusion hangs with me
- book wise I'm reading OotP
- The piece of glass confused me
- I assumed Dobby could teleport into the dungeon cause he used to be the Malfoy's servant (didn't he?)
- The confusion surrounding swollen-face-Harry seemed weak to me. It sort of logically makes sense to me... they can't call big V till they are sure it's him, and (I think) Draco recognizes him but doubts whether he wants to sentence Harry to death. Overall it seemed like the execution could have been better.
- I loved the chase at the start. it was thrilling and Hedwig's sacrifice really got to me.
- some of the rules about teleporting confused me. Harry couldn't teleport at the start... but could later? Why didn't they teleport away from the snatchers prior to the forest chase?
- I don't understand why Voldermorts wand didn't work during the flying scene. The whole dream/visions of what he was up to confused me.
- Overall, I love the characters and love spending time in this world. I enjoy the films despite the confusion, and when I finally read the books it feels complete for me.

I'll give you the detailed play by play in the morning.

It's "apparate", not teleport. /nerd
You can't "legally" apparate before your 17th birthday.
If you want to get super nerdy, the flying Death Eater smoke trail thing isn't in the books at all (right?).
Dobby wasn't affected by the non-apparation jinxes (or whatever) because he uses House Elf magic, which those rules don't apply to.

I really wished I hadn't seen this film. The young actors can all act now. The visuals are gorgeous. It's all in service of a good story. Dobby bites it.

Yup this film is threatening to suck me back into Harry Potterdom or whatever it's called.

I loved it. I loved that Ron isn't a git but under a One Ring kind of malaise fulled by deep seated jealousy. I love that the friendship between Harry and Hermione is really allowed to shine but remains very chaste. I love that a lot of moments that really struck me in the book work so well in the film.

Up thread Schwartz mentions switching the Lovegood and Godric's Hollow scenes. I have to disagree. Those moments are very small emotional moments in Godric's Hollow with some pretty powerful emotional beats. Harry seeing his parents' grave for the first time might have been a bit marred by Ron. Look at the past quiet, albeit strong, moments like that. Ron's always taken a back seat. It's Harry's show with a friend thrown in for comfort's purpose. Ron has definitely never fit that bill. It would have actually taken away from the moment because Hermione would be in friend mode and, to help his subplot along, we'd have to cut away to Ron looking all jealous.

And the fight with the snake would have been even messier then it was with a third wheel fighting to get upstairs and then apparate away.

The torture scene didn't bother me much either. I mean a woman was carving a curse word into a girl's arm. That's pretty intense visually. It wasn't as tense as the same scene in the book, but it didn't strike me as light enough to really detract from the overall film.

I loved the film, and going through the other films on blu-ray (That 6 films for $30 was too good to pass up) I'm finding myself liking it more and more.

I was saying that Godric's Hollow could come after Ron's return and killing the necklace, when the jealousy angle had been resolved. If it was still important to keep the moment between Harry and Hermione, have him standing a ways away keeping guard. Which would actually make more sense as it appears on screen, since they (rightly, imo) ditched most of the invisibility cloak/disguise stuff for the movie. Hell, cut away to him not looking all jealous of the two having a moment, just to underline that that conflict had been put to bed.

Making the snake fight messier was also the whole point of the suggestion. There's a part where I wondered why they weren't just teleporting away already.

Instead of whining how about actually paying attention to what's going on on the screen? It was pretty obvious that it was a a two-way mirror, not unexplained at all.

Where did Harry get it? Why does he keep looking at it? That's the stuff that was never explained. Maybe it will be in the 2nd half, but the way it's used in the first half didn't work for me.

Welcome back, Swanson.

I was referring to the previously discussed aggravation over the shard of glass appearing from seemingly no where. But thanks for that contribution.

Finally got around to seeing this, and while I agree with some of the pacing complaints (as well as that some emotional moments weren't quite there, like the torture scene, but apparently they actually had to cut that down to avoid an R rating), this is still an excellent film, and I can't wait for Part 2. Stuff I loved laundry list:

 

-Daniel Radcliffe's hilarious physical acting in the Seven Potters scene, especially Fleur and Hermione. I'm perhaps most interested in where Radcliffe's career goes out of the main trio, although Watson and Grint could certainly go places. All three are phenomenal here, and I can't wait to see Radcliffe face off with Ralph Fiennes again in Part 2.

 

-Speaking of which, Ralph Fiennes has made Voldemort so much more interesting as a villain. He was fine on the page, but Fiennes brings a malicious glee to his actions that's irresistible, and he totally rocks the makeup.

 

-Hedwig's death being both much more badass and way sadder, which I didn't think was possible.

 

-The wild car chase feel when the Death Eaters are chasing Harry and Hagrid. It's here that I was convinced that John Williams had returned to do the score, but no, it's simply Desplat sounding his most Williams-y.

 

-The improvements in both CGI house-elves (Dobby in particular looks much improved from Chamber of Secrets) and CGI snakes.

 

-The intentional incongruity of a Nick Cave song in a freaking Harry Potter movie.

 

-"DOBBY IS A FREE ELF!", which makes his subsequent death infinitely more heartbreaking. And I had forgotten that his "only to maim, or seriously injure" line was a callback to Chamber.

 

-"Hey, losers, he's not here." A nice bit of set-up for Neville's crowning moment of awesome in Part 2.

 

-Alan Rickman's immensely subtle physical acting in the opening scene. I just love his studied non-reaction to Charity Burbage's plea for help.

 

-Of course the Tale of the Three Brothers was awesome, though I do somewhat miss Harry and Ron's snarky commentary.

 

So yeah, can't wait for Part 2! I still can't believe we've been able to watch these films (and these kids) grow and improve so much. I'll honestly miss these films.