I finally got a chance to watch the last film in the series, and I can say that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 was definitely a worthwhile film.
As I write this blog, I can still feel the sticky tear stains on my cheeks and the sides of my nose. I expected this, of course. But despite knowing what was going to happen, me having read the book and all, I still wept.
I started weeping at that moment when Harry bravely stepped out from among the throng of students at Hogwarts and challenged Severus with a scathing “How dare you stand there, where he used to stand?” “He” referring to Dumbledore, of course, whom Snape had killed in Half Blood Prince.
Truth be told, though, my tears started way before that, way before I even stepped into that cinema, wheezing for breath after having ran like mad from the MRT station because I was already late. No, my tears began when I watched this trailer of all the eight films.
My favorite book series of all time came to an end four years ago, but it lived on as long as the films were still running. And now that the last film finally came out, I couldn’t help but feel as emotional as when I said goodbye to my friends in the Philippines when I had to leave and come here. When I found out that I could make advance ticket bookings, I did so, and collected 12 tickets for me and my friends a couple of weeks ago.
I had made a pact with myself to stop comparing movies to their book versions as I would almost always end up disappointed that way, so I purposely did not reread the book so that the less I remembered, the more I would see the movie as a standalone. I did so well up until a few scenes towards the end, though.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie overall. The special effects were amazing, from that nailbiting sequence in Gringotts down to the battle scenes in Hogwarts, and we watched the 3D version and I thought it was pretty good, though I think the 2D version would have sufficed.
Humor is also an aspect I find to be very important in films and this one had some funny one liners that had the entire cinema roaring, like when Professor McGonagall uncharacteristically giggled, “I’ve always wanted to use that spell!” after bringing all the Hogwarts statues to life to help them protect Hogwarts, and a couple of scenes involving Neville (who, by the way, looks a lot hotter since the last time I saw him) and Ron.
There was a lot of action, too, and most of all, drama.
The scene that made me cry the most in the book is also the same one in the film – when Harry willingly marched to his own death so that Voldemort could be killed.
Of course, another tearjerking moment caused a trending topic on Twitter – Severus Snape, the boy who loved. I’m glad he added “You have your mother’s eyes” after saying “Look at me” to Harry as he lay dying. I actually missed the point of that when I first read that in the book until my friend Zenie pointed out its significance, that is, that he had wanted to look at Lily Potter’s eyes even as he took his last breath.
Until the very end.
Always.
Waaahhh.
I wish they had shown more scenes showing his love for her in the pensieve scenes, though. They felt too abrupt for me. But then again maybe it was just me.
And this moment, of course, was when my resolve started to break and I started to compare to the book. Because of course, in the book, it was more elaborated.
Another scene that seemed lacking for me was that last duel scene between Voldemort and Harry. I wish they had yelled out their spells like they did in the book, so that the audience would understand what was going on – that Voldemort had used a killing spell but Harry had used a deflecting one, and just like in the beginning (I mean when he first tried to kill Harry as a baby), Voldemort’s own spell rebounded on him and ended up hurting him instead of Harry. But this time, it finished him off for good.
I also know that the film had failed in some way due to the fact that I got a lot of “explain to me what this meant” questions afterwards from those who had not read the books. It didn’t explain why Harry didn’t die even after Voldemort used the avada kedavra on him, for example. The answer to that is below, which I found in this helpful link.
Voldemort unwittingly makes himself a Horcrux for Harry, although it might not be called that, by taking his blood earlier. In taking Harry’s blood to regenerate himself, Voldemort ensures that Harry will not die if Voldemort kills him. The blood ties Harry to Voldemort’s life, therefore Harry will live.
But I knew that it was a good film due to the fact that we talked about it excitedly at length afterwards. And only good films do that. “I wanna watch it again,” we even said.
And I just might, because the time and money would be worth it. So please don’t tempt me. I will definitely reread the books though, now that I have no movies that I’m afraid to spoil. 😉
P.S. Here’s a funny tweet I discovered in relation to the trending topic “Severus Snape” – “What if Severus Snape was in love with Harry’s Father? It would have made for a much less touching death. ‘You have your Father’s glasses.'”
Related Reads:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book review
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 movie review
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