Harry Potter is the only movie where you’ll find screaming kids and grown men saying “fuck” at the top of their lungs because they can’t get a better seat. The theater I saw it in started leaking heavily during the climax–making it feel like I was watching it in the middle of a rainfall–and no one left, they just moved seats. There were crying babies, overgrown babies that were 40 crying, people sitting on the floor, a leaky roof, a broken air conditioner, and every other condition that would replicate being in the hull of a refugee ship. Still, no one left and almost everyone left happy. That’s how I know I was in the middle of a true phenomenon.
What Works: I almost feel like I should skip this section because I haven’t read any of the books. So what I think works or doesn’t work is complicated by the fact that the movies are based off the most popular books since The Bible. I really enjoyed the darker tone of Harry Potter 7 Part 1, and the early part of this movie feels similarly chilling. In fact, most of the moments I really remember the day after seeing this movie come from before the halfway mark.
What Doesn’t Work: I will probably get death threats for saying this but some of the emotional stuff in the last hour didn’t deliver like it should have. I felt weirdly unaffected by the death of Snape and some of the flashbacks felt low rent compared to the excellent quality we’ve come to expect from the Potter series. Also, the horcruxes really got old. The one thing that has always bothered me about the Potter series is their reliance on McGuffins (a term Hitchcock came up with for a plot device that fuels the action). “We’ve got to get the sword of Griffindore so we can open the vault to get a magic cup and we can only destroy that cup after we’ve found a certain powder…” It’s McGuffins within McGuffins and after Harry has finally destroyed all the horcruxes, there’s only a minute of battle left. I feel like the horcruxes should be over before the climax, not during.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Just saying that will imply the movie could be improved on which implies the books can be improved on which implies I am ready to be martyred by the Potter faithful. I will say that I haven’t read the books so there’s no way to say but I am glad J.K. Rowling introduced us to the world of Potter and kicked off a literary phenomenon. Anything that gets kids reading actual novels–many of them fairly lengthy–is excellent and I’ve heard she’s a great writer. So instead of saying what I would have done differently, I’ll treat Harry Potter like I do the Obama presidency: it’s a very good thing that is more hopeful than perfect, but maybe that is perfect in the times we live in.
Ouch ! Dude, at least leave a spoiler alert.