To start off, anyone expecting a stunning show-stoppping showdown, with all-out carnage hinted at in the stunning trailer, may well be slightly underwhelmed. I can't comment on the 3D presentation as I avoid the format like the plague.
Don't get me wrong, it's spectacular, thrilling stuff but it just feels like at times there's something missing from proceedings. Spells are cast, debris, blood and bodies fill the screen but it all somehow seems a little rushed. Sure, old cast members make cameo appearances (Horace Slughorn, Sybill Trelawney) and the current cast are all present and correct, but....I don't know. Considering the average running time for the previous 7 films is about 150 minutes, this film, clocking in at 130 minutes including credits, is about half an hour off the mark. And it shows.
Compare it to the other big film of the summer, Transformers 3; Dark of the Moon spends just over an hour building up to a stunning 75-minute denouement - as I said a previous post:
"...Bay carefully sets everything up for a fabulous payoff...an orgy of building-demolition porn and robot snuff...It's Transformers meets Spielbergs' War of the Worlds meets Black Hawk Down and it's pure awesomeness..."
Although let's be totally clear Dark of the Moon doesn't offer anything remotely comparable in emotional terms, I was expecting more from Potter in terms of "...pure awesomeness..." Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 spends an hour and a half building up to a defining showdown between Good and Evil - then throws it all away in about half an hour.
That said, the acting is as good as ever, though particular attention must be paid to Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon and Ralph Fiennes, who all put in stellar performances. A crucial scene with Rickman as Severus Snape offers the series' most powerful and emotive scenes and should draw a tear or two (or at least itchy eyes) from even the most hardened of souls. Gambon is as deliriously cryptic as ever in his scene(s) as Dumbledore and Fiennes is clearly having an absolute ball being gleefully, maniacally evil as He Who Must Not Be Named.
If only the same fevour for the task at hand could've been shown by Radcliffe; here he seems to dial in his performance from miles away, never quite raising his game to match the enormous scale of this film. Perhaps it was a little too much pressure on such young shoulders, but some attempt to match his peers would've been appreciated.
The final scene, an epilogue set two decades after the climatic battle at Hogwarts, may well draw an illicit snigger or two from the audience with some questionable old age make-up. Harry looks fairly convincing as thirty-something, though it appears the make up team forgot to work on Ginny's face and simply made her hair bigger and her clothes frumpier. Ron and Hermione also appear: Ron is noticeably paunchier though again, Hermione's clothes look older than her make-up does. Malfoy drew the biggest laugh from me, as he bears a resemblance to a paler version of That Yellow Bastard from Sin City. The photo below doesn't really do justice to the comedy of it all;
Dodgy makeup aside, eternal credit must be given to David Yates (and his team) for his unwavering vision and guidance through the last 4 movies; Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and two parts of Deathly Hallows. The production design remains fantastic and the visual effects are mind-blowingly superb, really top notch.
Watching back parts of The Philosophers Stone again tonight, it's wonderful to see how the cast have grown through the years, though doubtful whether the series could've continued with the success it's had, had they remained the cutesy, kiddie-friendly vehicles they were for Philosophers Stone and Chamber of Secrets. I for one am still thrilled with the change of direction the series took from Azkaban onwards. In fact, my personal favourite of the Potter films is Azkaban, closely followed by Half-Blood Prince. My favourite novel, curiously, is The Goblet of Fire, a film which doesn't rate that highly with me.
Anyhoo, back to the subject at hand! All eight(!) of these films do the British film-industry immeasurable justice and we should be proud to call them own.
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