UrbanWireBy Taina Teravainen and Kon Xin Hua
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
A seventh episode finale to a beloved wizarding series that is so big it deserves the attention of 2 UrbanWire reviewers. So here goes:
Read Taina’s review here if you want to stay away from the spoilers.
And for those of you who already know the book inside out, click here for Xin Hua’s review.
By Taina Teravainen
Synopsis: It’s hard to believe that after next July, us Muggles won’t have anything left to look forward to in the magical world of Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) from J.K. Rowling. The movie adaptations have faithfully seen us through the past 9 years and part 1 of Deathly Hallows is shaping up to be the darkest of the entire series by far. With Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) dead, Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) power and influence grows by the day. The Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts has fallen to his legion of supporters while a huge price is placed over Harry’s head which forces him to go on the run with his 2 best friends.
Plot Development: As the trio’s hunt to destroy the remaining Horcruxes (the Dark Lord’s secret to immortality) wears on, it gets obvious why fans of the book dubbed this instalment “Harry Potter and the Extended Camping Trip”. For a while, it seems that they’re just lunging around blindly in desolate landscapes, hiding out in their shabby tent and growing increasingly weary of their seemingly directionless search. With no Hogwarts, Quidditch matches or Charms lessons to provide the necessary distractions, the audience shares our heroes’ frustrations about the meaning behind the mysterious gifts Dumbledore bequeathed them and the elusive Horcruxes. There is no room for light humour when the Dark Lord has begun his Nazi-reminiscent regime.
The Cast: Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) hold their own beautifully as their characters’ friendship gets pushed to the breaking point. Their emotional intensity grabs you and when Ron spits at Harry: “You don’t understand, you don’t have any family. Your parents are dead,” – the audience gasped collectively in the theater.
Emma Watson’s performance as Hermione Granger in Deathly Hallows is decidedly the best of her career. As much an orphan as Harry (she had to wipe out her parents’ memory to protect them, erasing her existence from their lives), Ron’s sudden departure (influenced by a Horcrux), leaves her torn with her resolve quickly flagging at the breakup of the group. The Brown University undergraduate manages to capture Hermione’s quiet pain of losing one of her friends and losing hope.
The romantic tension between Ron and Hermione also goes off the charts in this one with scenes littered with clandestine glances and lingering touches lending small breaks from all the doom and gloom.
Verdict: This movie tries to cram as many facets of the novel into part 1 as all the focus is on Harry, Ron and Hermione’s mission. As a result, juvenile villain Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) literally only gets to snivel in the meager scenes he has, and familiar faces like Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) and Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) get barely any screen-time. Even the deaths of well-loved characters such as Mad-Eye Moody are hardly given attention, and still, the movie runs for 146 minutes.
The ending, expectedly, is a cliffhanger but also very heavily foreshadows the impending battle that will close off entire series. Let’s hope director David Yates, who gave us Order of Phoenix and Half Blood Prince, pull out all the stops to bring us the epic film conclusion that Harry Potter’s story deserves.
Rating: ★★★★✩
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By Kon Xin Hua
Synopsis: Get your wands at the ready, for the final battle is just about to begin. Well, at least that is the fate of the 3 musketeers of the wizarding world – Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.
Deathly Hallows sees Potter, The Boy Who Lived, flanked by his 2 loyal friends, embarking on a treacherous and emotionally-charged journey in a bid to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, dark objects that contain bits of the Voldemort’s soul in order to vanquish him forever.
Plot Development: Diving into the deep end of the intensity pool from the start, the 146-minute film doesn’t waste any time in setting its tone – even more foreboding and ominous than the previous instalment of Half Blood Prince. Voldemort kills the Muggle Studies professor has his snake, Nagini, devour her lifeless body in the first part of the movie alone.
Hogwarts is the last thing on the minds of the trio as they make a run for the safehouse that is Ron’s home in The Burrows, with the help of Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and gang. All these are familiar faces except for Mundungus Fletcher (Andy Linden).
The plan of duplicating 7 Harry Potters, when he’s to leave the protection of his Muggle home, is thwarted by Voldemort’s followers, Death Eaters, who have gotten wind of this scheme and an ambush results in the untimely death of Mad-Eye Moody. How this and Fred Weasley’s (James Phelps) ear loss were trivialized onscreen was disappointing, as I’d expected a greater sense of loss there. No doubt this was done to fit the massive amount of material in the final book of the series. Which explains why even most of the veteran cast, barely registered their presence, as the focus is mostly on the trio. How unfortunate, because their appearances lift the scenes they are in.
The absence of Hogwarts, too, has taken magical, mystical elements out of the equation and all we are left with are the busy London streets – where the 3 friends end up roaming while trying to get away from Death Eaters – and sparse, deserted forests where they set up camp while trying to find ways to destroy the locket, their first Horcrux.
The pacing of the movie is just right, with many sudden dramatic jolts that will surely get your hearts racing. Musically, it also flows, thanks to Alexandre Desplat, who adds dramatic effect to several scenes when necessary, while coaxing the tears to fall in others. A heart-wrenching scene with Hermione erasing her parents’ memory about 2 minutes in is enough to turn on the waterworks.
Still, sobfest aside, the humour that has been present in previous Potter films is retained, and often, you might find yourself laughing – not just at the jokes, but at how director David Yates ingeniously weaves in these moments into a dark setting.
The Cast: This being the beginning of the end of a 9-year long project, little more needs to be said of how the young actors’ well inhabit their characters, giving their best performances to date. The plotline deals a lot with emotion, which is put across in a superbly convincing manner. Just check out how insanely jealous Ron gets of Harry and Hermione spending more time together while they were on the run, or how Hermione is stricken with panic when Ron gets splinched and part of his body is separated while Disapparating (teleporting) from the Ministry of Magic.
The relationship between Harry and Ginny is largely left unexplored in this movie, while that of Ron and Hermione will get fan girls worldwide melting into a puddle in their seats – their chemistry is so hot.
CGI has also vastly improved following the disaster of Goblet of Fire. If you thought the werewolf in Prisoner of Azkaban was epic, be prepared for a mind-blowingly realistic Nagini slithering onscreen, and devouring you whole, literally. The way Disapparition, Patronuses, Death Eaters and house-elves are portrayed is also miles better than before. It could be because the movie had been first slated for a 3D release, only to have those plans cast aside due to time constraints.
A pity too that the house-elves were not given as much screen time as it was in the book, especially Kreacher’s change of heart towards Harry. Understandably, sacrifices have to be made in cutting the plot of the book down to a bite-sized film version, and the house-elves were The Chosen Ones (pun intended).
A lot of tears flowed on-screen, and apparently offscreen as well, as I could hear sniffles in the audience when they witnessed how Dobby the house elf died while heroically saving Harry Potter and gang from the clutches of Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) at the Malfoy Manor.
Also, if you’ve heard of the war between fans of Harry Potter and the vampire-themed flick Twilight, then look out for a hilarious moment that I suspect was deliberate, when a titular character references the latter to being “better”. You will know what I mean when you get there. Seriously, those scenes of the trio running through the forests looked creepingly similar to the ones in Twilight as well.
Verdict: Potter fanatics will be satiated as director David Yates is kind enough not to leave his audience with a cliffhanger, choosing instead a well-crafted end to the first part of the finale that still fills us with enough anticipation for the next part in July.
Yates who also directed Order of Phoenix and Half Blood Prince must be applauded for his outstanding work in this latest Potter film for having a great eye, and knowing his audience well. The heavy burden that he shouldered when he took upon this project can be lifted as his vision and direction have obviously led the cast and crew into producing what I feel is the best film of the series thus far.
Rating: ★★★★✩
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Duration: 146 minutes
Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes