In an act of willful defiance of bedtime Jo and I decided to catch a midnight showing of the penultimate Harry Potter film. Having been a fan of the books and movies for over ten years now I was looking forward with great anticipation for this movie. However, after sitting in front of what may have been the nerdiest group of Potterites in Utah County (they played Would You Rather - HP style. "Would rather ride a hippogriff or a thestral, etc?") I realized I was barely excited for the movie compared to the groupies behind me. Perhaps one day I will repent, but for now I must be content with being a mere initiate in the world of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the unfortunate realization of my incompetence as a Harry Potter fan, I still enjoyed the film quite a bit. Despite slow parts and missteps the seventh movie lives up to the glory of the precursors and sets us up incredibly well for an amazing finale.
Anyone familiar with the book knows that this film was going to be the slower of the two finales. And just as you would expect the film has it's slow bits. I mean most of the film is Harry, Ron and Hermione walking around being grumpy with each other, but the director, David Yates, does a fair job at keeping the pacing quick enough to hold your attention.
Different from the previous six films, Deathly Hallows takes place entirely outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With Voldemort back in power and Dumbledore dead, nowhere, especially his beloved school, is safe for Harry Potter. After a few attempts on his life that endanger his friends Harry decides (along with Ron and Hermione) to go on the lam to keep those he loves safe and simultaneously continue his search for Voldemort's Horcruxes (cursed items in which the Dark Lord has hidden bits of soul in an attempt to be immortal). During this search there are many moments of looking out across the vast wilderness longingly and hissy fits among the trio due to the evil effects of one of the Horcruxes.
The search isn't all bad, though. There are some beautiful moments quiet (Harry and Hermione's dance) and otherwise (a creepy run-in with a Bathilda Bagshot impersonator). The film is beautifully shot and very well put together. I wouldn't be surprised to see this on the Oscar list for Cinematography just like other films in the series. The script has it's weak points, but I believe most of that comes from omissions in previous films. Now the writers have to introduce characters that haven't been in previous movies (even though they're in the books) so that important plot points can come out. This isn't to say that the script is bad, for the most part it's very strong, but whenever a movie goes into, "The reason why this is..." mode I tend to do a mental eye-roll.
So while this movie may be slow, it was expected and to be honest I really enjoyed some of the slower moments. Maybe there was a bit too much pining, but even some of those could be poignant. The film's final act picks up and leaves you hanging in excruciating agony. Of course they would end it where they did. Not leaving you sad, happy or angry, just extremely anxious for the final film. We know the direction things are going and it was nice to have this methodic, deliberate film before the director puts the pedal to the metal in the final film. Bring on July!
