Harry Potter 7

[cellio]

Spoilers in this post are few and marked; for comments you're on your own.

I had expected a movie this close to the end of the series, and one derived from the final book, to not feel so much like the middle book of a trilogy. I don't know what's coming in the second part, not having read the book, but it felt like the film-makers were just filling time in this movie, same as in the last one. Did the final book need two movies, or is that just the business arm of the franchise speaking? It wasn't a bad movie and it definitely had some nice touches (I've wanted a bag like that for a while; for that I'd actually carry one :-) ), but it felt slow to me for where it was in the series. $5 was a fair price to pay.

I particularly noticed the sound this time -- effective placement, so it sounded like things were coming from the right parts of the room. The visual effects were well-done (not the best we've seen from this series), and I could see some of the places where they were presumably planning 3D enhancements before they ditched 3D. I counted five visual-effects companies in the closing credits, but there was no indication of how the work was divided up. (They all had pretty much the same job descriptions.)

Spoiler warning:

Spoiler comment #1: What do they mean, "three left"? They've gotten two, right? Even if we presume that #7 is V himself, that leaves four others. Did I miss one?

Spoiler comment #2: Hedwig deserved better. That wasn't valiant or glorious or plot-changing; that was just pointless. :-(

Trailers:

• Kung-Fu Panda II: presumably targeted for the kids?
• Yogi Bear: definitely targeted for the kids.
• Voyage of the Dawn-Treader: maybe. I didn't recognize a lot of the trailer from the book; hmm.
• Green Hornet: looks like it could be entertaining if you like that sort of thing, but I'm not sure I do. Netflix, maybe.
• Red Riding Hood: um, what?
• Green Lantern: looks like they're having fun with it, which is promising. Does it at all resemble the comic book, out of curiosity? And did I hear someone in the trailer refer to the job of being a green lantern? He's not a singleton?

Comments

[cellio]

Just from the book, I understand why the movie may feel slow; the *book* moves kinda slowly. Sometimes, for this book, God is in the details; that necessitates the slow pace at those times.

Hmm. From the perspective of someone who has not read most of the books, it feels like the author is continuing the introduction of new plot elements way later than I'm used to. Halfway through episode 7 we learn for the first time about three uber-powerful artifacts that are (presumably) going to affect the final battle? And previously-powerful artifacts like that time-traveling device have just fallen by the wayside when it seems like they could matter? I realize she didn't set out to write a seven-book series at the beginning, but I guess it's feeling a little too much like "making stuff up as she goes", making me think that the film/book is long not because it's the culmination of six books' worth of plot but because she had some new stuff to throw in. I don't think I'm expressing this well and I don't dislike the movies, even while thinking they don't hang together as well as I'd like.

Or maybe it does all tie together neatly but it's just too hard to keep the details swapped in over nearly a decade of movies, and if I sat down and watched them all in a row (or read all the books) it would all fall into place. Dunno -- probably not going to do that. :-) (Definitely not the reading.)

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

At least in the book, Hermione makes a point of explaining that she has to return the Time Turner to whichever gov't agency is responsible for them. It was a loan that is not extanded for purposes of Hermione saving the world.

It is, to some degree, supposed to seem like there are powerful new artifacts. I hestitate to say more without knowing what the movie revealed already. If you say "spoil away", I'm happy to discuss further.

[cellio]

I don't expect her to still have possession of it, but in an all-out, public, war, I would expect artifacts to be made available to those in the front lines. Like, say, artifact #1 from the Deathly Hallows -- why wasn't that in a vault?

One weakness I have seen running through the entire series is that big important battles are happening, others have the knowledge and tools to help, and they don't. Yeah, yeah, the standard coming-of-age story requires Harry to figure out for himself things that Dumbledore could have told him, and that's fine and dandy when the stakes are small. But when wizards are getting killed? I of course don't expect realism in things like magic, but I do expect it in human behavior, or I expect to be shown why not. There's one more movie to go, so maybe an explanation will be forthcoming.

HP7 ended with the revelation of who had had DH artifcat #1 and who has just acquired it. I'm not going to worry too terribly much about spoilers, though please don't be gratuitious. :-)

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

The Hallows should seem new. The book at least had a theme of: Dumbledore didn't tell Harry everything he could have.

I suppose that those who have the Time Turners could and should be using them to help. On the other hand, the Ministry has fallen, so likely those are in the hand of the evil folks. I'd think that if Time Turners existed and those charged with law enforcement had them, they could prevent crimes. Even if one could only go back a few hours, as soon as a crime is discovered, one can go back and prevent it. Since this seems not to occur in the HP universe, there must be a reason it doesn't work that way (even if that reason is merely an excuse for: it would destroy the plot).

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

The time turners were destroyed during the battle in the Dept of Mysteries. I think it was made much more clear in the book than in the movie.

As to the artifacts, they seemed to have mythological status within Rowling's world, so wizards tend to think of them as being a story. However, the implication is that the three Deathly Hallows are Harry's cloak, the Sorceror's Stone, and this wand with an atomic core.... Voldemort clearly knows they are not myths, and although he has attempted to get the wand and the stone, one wonders why he has made no attempt to acquire the cloak....

Just musing.