Saturday 7 March 2015

Film Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, Part 4

Oh, we’re at the end of the whole film series. I’ve really enjoyed rewatching all these films a little more closely than I have done in the past. I think I’ve spotted some things that I’m definitely going to be watching out for on future rewatches.


In the last bit of the film we saw the Battle of Hogwarts get well and truly underway with the lost diadem Horcrux being destroyed. We also saw the loss of Snape, Remus and Tonks and Fred Weasley. It was very sad.

Now we get to see the final battle of good versus evil as Harry heads out to face Voldemort alone. We get to see Dumbledore again briefly, who, despite being dead, is still pretty much awesome. Oh and everyone grows up and has lots of babies.

88. Harry looks so lonely walking through the grounds by himself. The bits I can see anyway. The problem with walking through the grounds in the dark is it’s tricky to make out what’s happening.

89. It’s the snitch again. Harry’s made his peace with dying and now at last it opens. Look, it’s the resurrection stone, which doesn’t really look the way I pictured it. I always imagine it being more pebble shaped than having pointy edges, but whatever.


90. And now there’s Lily, James, Sirius and Remus. This bit actually kind of makes me feel choked up.

91. It’s kind of funny that Harry mentions Remus’s son. The son we’ve not actually heard anything about until this point.

92. Harry looks so small compared to them all. I don’t know if they’re floating or if he’s just a bit short but it makes him seem a lot younger. Like a little boy lost in the forest.

93. Voldemort’s kind of disappointed that Harry hasn’t shown up. Harry’s predictable so Voldemort shouldn’t have doubted himself. Hagrid’s not impressed at Harry’s display of nobility. Everyone is happy to sacrifice themselves for him.

94. And just like that Harry gets Avada Kedavra’d.


95. And wakes up in a pure white King’s Cross Station. That’s kind of unexpected (for him I mean, I knew this was coming because I’d read the book).

96. There’s a gross looking Voldemort-ish thing under one of the benches. Harry’s disgusted by it, but then Dumbledore shows up to offer Harry some advice and information. Voldemort’s just destroyed the bit of him that remained within Harry. So Harry’s not a Horcrux any more. And he’s got the choice between going back or taking a train somewhere.

97. Dumbledore just continues to be awesome. ‘Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic’. So true.

98. And then Dumbledore goes, leaving Harry to decide what the right thing to do is.

99. Meanwhile Voldemort is trying to get up. I wonder if he felt that Horcrux being destroyed.


100. Once again Voldemort doesn’t do his dirty work himself, giving Narcissa a chance to check that Draco is still alive. I love that she helps to destroy Voldemort in her own little way, even if she just does it to protect her family. She might have been a bad person in the past, but I hope this shows her turning into a better person.

101. Harry’s tactic is a good one, but I do feel sorry for everyone as they see him, apparently dead, and feel that crushing sense of despair that it’s all over. No one looks particularly happy to learn that Voldemort is now their undisputed master.

102. No one is in much of a hurry to declare their allegiance to Voldemort. Not even Draco wants to step forward, until his Mum asks him to. That hug from Voldemort looks like the most awkward thing ever.

103. I love this bit as Neville steps forward and Voldemort thinks he’s coming over to the dark side. Not so much. Neville even gets an awesome little speech, even though lots of people have died, they’re going to remember them and carry them in their hearts.

104. And then Harry is still alive and people start deserting Voldemort and the Malfoys take their opportunity to get away. And you just know this is going to be the best grand finale, the one you’ve been waiting for though the last seven films.


105. Harry and Voldemort are having a little duel on the stairs and everyone’s just leaving them to it by the looks of things. Hermione’s waiting though, after Harry disappears off the edge of a staircase. Her technique to kill the Nagini!Horcrux is apparently to throw stones at it. Kind of questionable.

106. Oh Bellatrix, you don’t mess with Molly Weasley’s family: ‘Not my daughter, you bitch!’ I love that they gave her that crowning moment of awesome.

107. Harry decides to point out to Voldemort that Snape died in vain, since the Elder Wand’s allegiance wasn’t with Snape anyway. And then he jumps off the building, taking Voldemort with him, for crying out loud!

108. It’s okay, they’re wizards, they can handle a drop from the top of the castle.

109. This helpfully puts us back outside where it’s now daylight and we can see everything that’s happening. The snake is after Ron and Hermione now, but luckily Neville gets it with the sword and she disintegrates into a sort of smoke made up of skull shapes, while Ron gets to have a little cuddle with Hermione.


110. That means there’s nothing stopping Harry from killing Voldemort. Except Voldemort himself. And Harry doesn’t even kill him. He just disarms him. And then Voldemort disintegrates, which does not look pleasant at all.

111. And that’s it. It’s over.

112. I love that Luna just sits down next to Neville and they share a little smile. And everyone is in the Great Hall and they’re all chatting and kind of happy, in a relieved sort of way. We get little snippets of conversation and it’s sweet.

113. Hehe, Filch is using a broom to sweep up the dust and rubble.


114. And I love the cute little look Hermione gives Harry when she and Ron walk in holding hands.

115. I feel kind of twitchy when I see Harry standing way up there on the rubble on the edge of the bridge. You didn’t survive being Avada Kedavra’d twice by Voldemort just to fall to your death from a ruined bridge. Get down from there!

116. Hermione asks the question that everyone who hasn’t read the book is asking. Who really owned the Elder Wand? It was Draco, he disarmed Dumbledore, until Harry disarmed Draco. So it’s his, and Voldemort couldn’t get it to kill him because obviously it wouldn’t want to kill its master.

117. I wish that we’d seen Harry fix his own wand before he snapped the Elder Wand. Also, Ron looked like he would’ve jumped off the bridge after it when Harry threw it away. Hermione looks impressed though.

118. Aww, look at the three of them. I bet they’re wondering what they do now, seeing as they spent the last seven years trying to defeat Voldemort.

119. 19 Years Later. I do kind of love this bit as well.


120. Look it’s the mini Potters. They’re so sweet. Also I like how they’ve aged up the other actors. Draco’s got a receding hairline, Ginny looks a lot like her mother, Ron’s got a bit of middle-aged spread going on. It’s subtle but it works.

121. It does kind of make me laugh that after hating Snape for so long, Harry’s changed his tune about him enough to name his son after him.

122. And so it’s starting all over again with a new generation. Except these kids will probably have fewer adventures, since there won’t be a dark wizard hell bent on destroying wizarding society as they know it.


123. Now it’s all over and we have decidedly plain end credits, jazzed up with a little bit a gold, but you know what. I like them (just not as much as the ones from Prisoner of Azkaban which are obviously the best ones ever).

So that’s it from the trio and Hogwarts.


Tune in next week for another film review (I just have to decide what I'm going to watch)!

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