Escape to the Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

[Giest4life]

The fanboy inside me is screaming: no way will it top the Return of the King. No fucking way.

On a side note, I'm looking forward to this one, but my problem with the Harry Potter series has always been that they are good movies but they are shitty adaptations.

Just my 4 cents.

 

[Warachia]

when will people realize that there are better books out there? It's like how there are better plays than shakespeare, these people appealed to a wide genre first, and then did their own thing, smart tactic but it makes me sad that others won't track down similar but better stories and authors like most of Orson Scott Card, or everything by Garth Nix.

 

[Jin-Roh]

1) What channel is trying to declare war on Japan? I seemed to have missed something.
2) ESPN is going to overthrow Castro follow Kobe Bryant's appearance in that Black Ops commercial.
3) Happy the movie is good. Would have seen it regardless. This is the first HP movie I'm not seeing opening day, so you know I'm a fan. Fucking class schedule getting in the way of my movie seeing.

The Cable Channel Movie Bob is talking about is the worst one of all Discovery channels, Animal Planet. Yes it is nice to maybe see a dog and cat, but there are sponsoring an environmental nut-job.

 

[Jin-Roh]

1) What channel is trying to declare war on Japan? I seemed to have missed something.

what's with the cable network declaring war on japan? i dont follow American or even Danish tv but from what popculture reference i have gathered over the years i would guess that those guys are either some green group or the cast of the deadliest catch, and i dont see how either could start a war.

Looks like something with that stupid Whale Wars show. I'm more or less against whaling, and even I think these guys are assholes. I'd just ignore them; Green Trolls are green and trolls.

"Green Trolls"
No more like eco-terrorism....

 

[AlexR89]

I just want to say thank you to the ever helpful MovieBob for renewing my faith in a Harry Potter movie. For what it's worth, you actually did change my mind and I am now ready to see the film.

 

[lastoflancas]

I checked three times and spun my spinning top. It's real, man. It's real.

Can't believe he also compared Ron with Han Solo.

My mind must be playing tricks on me... makes me think I just saw Bob comparing "Ron" Weasley with Bruce Wayne. That didn't happen in the review .... did it ?!?

 

[Mstrswrd]

That's actually quite heartening to hear, because the 7th book wasn't, uh, the strongest in the series, let's just say that (it was better than the 6th book, though that isn't hard in the world of Harry Poter, where literally every other book has stuff happening, and book 6 just kind... doesn't, at least, not really in any great way until the end).

 

[AvsJoe]

"-- that it's subtitle HAS A SUBTITLE!"

Oh I am sooo using that one! Thanks Bob!

 

[luveenw]

THANK YOU! After seeing the movie and basking in the oodles of sheer awesomeness, the reviews I read on metacritic and other sites were really beginning to bog me down.

***SPOILER ALERT***
Incidentally, wasn't showing Hermione obliviating memories of her parents a master-stroke? Also, Rupert Grint is a comic genius and the strongest young actor of the lot!

 

[Death God]

I just got back from it and well, it was DAMN amazing for a movie. If you guys haven't seen it yet. Do it soon!

 

[Spydiggity]

that's a pretty crazy endorsement, Bob, for a series that has otherwise been a giant turd.

 

[NeoShinGundam]

Wait, RON gets to be Batman?! Did I miss something? I haven't seen past movie 4, so I guess I'll have to catch myself up to see if MovieBob's comparison is accurate.

 

[pearcinator]

Ok I saw this on Thursday night and I think its the best Harry Potter movie since the 3rd one.

However I am surprised why you didnt mention the 2nd movie...which I personally think is the best one and there are so many ties from the 2nd movie into this one (Dobby, Gryffindor's Sword, Ron's fear of spiders etc. all came from the 2nd movie and are important to the events in this movie)

Another thing I'd like to point out is that they were smart to split this into 2 parts. In my opinion they should've done that to the 4th, 5th and 6th movies too! For exactly the same reason you said...to take time to let the story flow and sink-in. The 4th,5th and 6th movies felt rushed and were much worse than the book.

I HATED the last Harry Potter book! It was boring to read, however, this movie is one of the best Harry Potters by far! I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was compared to the novel. This is one of those rare cases where the movie tells the story better than the book does. I hope they dont screw it all up in Part 2...I hope they extend some of the lackluster parts of the book...for example,

Spoiler

where Voldemort dies in like 2 lines in the book, what a letdown

 

[Mooly]

i dont completely agree.
i think the film was a beautiful artistic achievement. it shows what a talented production crew can do with a near limitless budget.
but the scripting was AWFUL! and Daniel Radcliffe's acting wasn't much better :\ (and what was with the fuckin shaky cam?)
i enjoyed the film, but i cant help feeling a little saddened by how close it came to being truly fantastic.
doesn't mean i wont go see the next one on opening night, it just means ill have something to gripe about in the meantime.

 

[ThisNewGuy]

I agree that it's the series taking a break. Nothing really happens. There's no plot or any narrative drive. It's all about the bromance and the romance of the three main characters. And if I keep in mind that the target audience is probably younger teens, this is probably ok, or even awesome (compared to Twilight, this is gold). But, it's not exactly for me. I didn't enjoy all the petty "problems" that they had or the downright Disney-esque romance. I also didn't enjoy that the main bad "guy" of the movie, the locket, was used in exactly the same way as Lord of the Rings. It was a pretty exact copy, but a lot less evil. It's like a Nickelodean's version of Lord of the Rings.

I also didn't like how the movie just started killing people by telling you. There's no emotional attachment, almost like a newsreader. "this guy died...ok moving on". And the movie is doing what most video games are doing now: make everything gray. I really didn't like that.

But, at this point, if you enjoyed the previous titles, this one won't disappoint. If you didn't enjoy them all that much, this is pretty much more of the same, but way slower in pace.

The GOLDEN character in the movie was Dobbie. Absolutely outshines everyone else.

 

[rddj623]

I couldn't agree more with your little quip at the end about those crazy Whale Wars people. I mean come on. This is just going to end poorly for someone...probably not Japan.

 

[kovutigerdemon]

Food Network battling Castro? Sounds like the greatest absurdest piece of literature never made

As for your bold prediction, I think that's going a little too far. While I am very pleased to see that WB was lucky their three main leads all ended up maturing into fine, young acting professionals, the script is far from perfect. Don't get me wrong, the STORY of Harry Potter has always been it's greatest draw for me and when reading all 7 books it came together relatively nicely and satisfactorily. But the dialogue and writing was never anything stellar, and the same goes for the films. It's not bad, just slightly shallow. Still though, I'm looking forward to watching this. I've seen all 6 in the theater so far, so I want to close it out the way it's been going

I whole agree, i saw this at the midnight viewing, and while the movie was 2.5 hours long, the dialogue was mediocre at best. all together the dialogue would take up MAYBE a whole hour at best put together. I also never felt any UGENCY, or death creeping near as the characters were on their quest to find the horcruxes. In the book it was reinforced many times about the dire need to get things done, in the movie it just felt like they were taking their time. Another HUGE flaw, was that it just seemed to jump from one scene to another, like one minute they are in the ministery getting the locket, next they are setting up their tent, to next they are going to Godric Hallows, then NEXT they are int he forest getting the sword. It jumps from scene to scene so fast and so much, that you really cant get any sense of urgency or connection with whats going on. The ONLY time i felt remotely fearful, was when they were fighting the deatheaters as they were transporting harry. After that, it went though fast cutty paces that just never seemed to since in before i took another breath of the film. However, despite my complaints, i understand they were restricted with so much info and time. It was an over all great movie.

 

[repeating integers]

I saw it, it was a pretty good movie. As good as the 6th, probably not, but probably at least as good as the 3rd. Certainly better than the absolute pile of complete shit that was the 5th movie.

4th movie was pretty fun. I can't even remember the 1st and 2nd, I don't care about them at all.

EDIT: Also what's with all the Forrest Gump and Hurt Locker hating?

 

[bigredlyms]

The only downside for me was that it was only part one and HAD to end halfway through the seventh story. But, i think yahtzee said it best, "If your only complaint of something is that it's too short, then that's not really a complaint at all, is it?" The movie was freaking great, and I've been hugely disappointed with EVERY single one so far, so it feels good to finally say that.