harry is the best hope we have. trust him.
ASDLKFJAS;LDFJKASLKDFJAL;SKDJFA;LSDJKFL;ASJKDF
IT WAS AMAZING AND ALL I WANTED TO DO AFTER I FINISHED IT WAS TO JUST STAY IN MY SEAT AND SHAKE AND CRY AND WAIT FOR THE REEL TO START PLAYING OVER AGAIN
Gah. Okay, so obviously I was never going to be able to be objective about this. 1) IT'S HARRY POTTER, 2) I have literally never been more excited for a movie in my entire life, 3) From the moment the first trailer came out, I have spent months on end living and dying by the wonderful DH graphics that pop up on my Tumblr dashboard every single day. Never before have I been more spoiled for a Harry Potter movie. And most important of all: as a fan of the source material, I live and breathe by the canon that I remember.
With all of that in mind... damn. Damn, damn, damn. Deathly Hallows Part 1 was fucking amazeballs.
1. RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY, LIGHT OF MY LIFE. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 He has always been my favorite, the one I have loved best since I was twelve, my very first literary boyfriend. I'm fully aware of Steve Kloves's history, and after the shafting Ron got at the end of Half-Blood Prince (...and in pretty much every movie before this, tbh), I had incredibly low expectations for him on this one. I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE HAPPY TO BE WRONG. Oh, my heart, my heart, my hearttttttt. He was still used as comic relief, but not once did he look stupid doing it. And even if he did, the rest of his treatment totally made up for it.
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The way he talked Harry down when he tried to leave? That was absolutely pitch-perfect, and I'm all verklempt that they gave that speech to Ron. He was definitely the one Harry needed for that wake-up call, the one who's not afraid to give it to Harry straight, no bullshit. I thought they were going to botch the buildup of his leaving and make him look like a tool, but they didn't. The Harry/Ron fight KILLED MY SOUL, Dan and Rupert were so so good, argh. Then Ron came back, destroyed the Horcrux, told his Deluminator story, and he was just amaaaaazing all the way to the end. Oh Ron, it's about time they finally treated you right.
2. The movie did my favorite character justice, and surprise, surprise - they got my OTP so very right, too. I AM DEAD OF SHOCK, LET ME TELL YOU. Like with Ron, I had really low expectations when it came to how Ron/Hermione was going to be handled - again, Kloves's track record; and although Emma Watson may be the biggest R/Hr shipper alive, in the last ten years' worth of movies, it never seemed like anyone else in the creative team had much respect for the 'ship. Then again, JKR was much, much more obvious about their relationship in DH, so I guess they had to write it out, but still. IT WAS MAGNIFICENT, ALL OF IT.
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Stolen looks! Blatant staring! "Always the tone of surprise" (my absolute faaaaaave)! Hand-holding while asleep! Piano scene! Unnecessary contact! She took off his glasses! When Ron touched Hermione's chin in the diner, I just about melted in my seat. And their reunion OMG SHE THREW LEAVES AT HIM. AMAZING. I can't wait until part 2 where all they do is run around holding hands and fall into each other's arms. :3 lol I guess this stuff really shouldn't matter because hey, I know they got their happy ending, but I've been aching to see this stuff in the movies for fucking ever, and suddenly here they are. HEARTS.
2a. Harry's bemusement at his best friends' shenanigans was adorable, too. "Just keep talking about that ball of light that touched your heart and you'll be all right" LOLOLOLOLOLOL I love their friendship so much, I do, I dooooooooo. TRIO4EVA
2b. I had been dreading the H/Hr scenes that were added to the script, and now I don't even remember why I was worried at all. The dance scene was all about their dorkiness and Harry trying (in vain) to make Hermione feel better after Ron left. The locket sequence was terrible, lol I thought they were going to make it ~hotter~ than it had any right to be, but for all of DanRad's platonic chemistry with Emma, their naked kissing... not so much. I just. I have been so used to H/Hr being horned into the movies - usually at Ron's expense - and THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN! NOT EVEN ONCE! Have I mentioned how awesome DH was? Because it really, truly is.
2c. I'm just going to leave this here. stormiesthaze got it so right:
I just don’t understand why so many people had such a problem with the Harry/Hermione dance. They are two best friends who are literally alone in the wilderness with a daunting quest to complete and no help beyond what they can give each other. It wasn’t as if the dance marked joyous embracing of their *~aloneness~*/of no longer being romantically encumbered by other parties but was rather a momentary escapist acknowledgement that at least they have one another. Not to mention the fact that they are teenagers living with each other 24/7, to suggest that the potential for there to be something more never existed seems horrendously naive. For whatever reasons (Ron&Ginny, sheer practicality) they choose not to act on that instinct but all the potential is there just reinforcing one of the whole morals of the whole HP tale, that our choices define us far more than destiny/fate ever could.
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3. ILU GOLDEN TRIO. They carried the movie wonderfully, oh my goodness. They were all so so so good.
3a. Dan had the most material to work with, obviously, but he was still so good with things that I don't think were ever written outright. He's had anguished!Harry down pat for years and years now, but he did it even better in DH, somehow. And the best part of it was, so much of his humor showed up in his performance - the hilarious/awkward beginning of his dance with Hermione, how he talked to Hermione when she figured out the thing about the basilisk and Godric's sword, his fistpump of celebration when Hermione agreed to go to Godric's Hollow - I think I might be able to catch more when I see it again, but DanRad is just aces, he really is.
3b. I've never really been impressed by Emma, but she was so great in this one, too. She still had her moments of Eyebrow Acting, but I dunno, I'm more willing to forgive her for that this time around, I guess. Being around the two boys definitely elevates her performance, and with so much of the script character-centric - just revolving on the three of them and what they're trying to do, no frills - she's obviously much more comfortable with that. She nailed the entire Bellatrix Torture Sequence so hard, omg I was shaking in my seat right along with her.
3c. RUPERT ALEXANDER LLOYD GRINT, THE OTHER LIGHT OF MY LIFE. ASLDKJFA;LSDKJFA;LSKJFAS;L <3________<3 He was absolutely fantastic, and he was far and away my favorite thing about the movie. He's the biggest reason why I think so highly of this movie, actually. He's proven to be really good at comic relief, but he handled Ron's ~*dramz*~ SO FUCKING WELL. There's this darkness he'd started to carry around, and a new ruthlessness to him since the war started that's only ever really softened when he's with Harry and Hermione. THEY FINALLY LET RON SHOW HIS LAYERS OMGYAY. Emma has talked up his performance in the scene where Ron comes back, and even if I had really high expectations, he still totally blew me away. I wanted to yell RUPERT, YOUR FAAAAAACE all through his Deluminator speech, and I just. It was absolutely pitch perfect, it really was. Everything he did was perfect, honestly.
4. Can we talk about that awesome Tale Of The Three Brothers sequence? Because damn. I never really put much thought to how they were going to do it, but the HP movies have a history of clumsy exposition, so I thought, eh, they'll manage somehow. Oh, man. That whole thing was fantastic. Severely out-of-place in a live action movie, yes, but it so effectively mixed the innate eeriness of the fable and the fairy-tale quality to it. Kudos to whoever was in charge of animating, it was a feast for my eyes.
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5. I am not ashamed to admit that I cried, like, barely a minute into the movie. idek, I think most of it had to do with the anticipation, with my week-long high/excitement, I just had a lot of feelings, okay. I started crying when Hermione put that spell on her parents and when they showed that shot of Aunt Petunia sitting in the car. SHIT JUST GOT REAL, Y'ALL. It hurt so much to see the trio saying goodbye to everything they knew. I also cried when Hedwig fell out of the sky. :( I cried when Ron left. :( :( :( I cried when Dobby died in Harry's arms. :( :( :( :( :( So basically I cried at all the parts I cried at when I read the book, lulz. So much of it was painful, seriously, none of this is kid stuff anymore.
6. Other random notes:
- A+++ Hair Continuity, Emma Watson!
- Clemence Poesy is so lovely.
- Evanna Lynch is perfect in every way.
- "How you feeling, Georgie?" JESUS CHRIST, MY HEART. I am never going to be able to handle anything twin-related ever again. :((((((((
- "These jeans? Not my favorite." Ron. <3<3<3
- NEVILLE ADLKJFA;SDLKJFA;DLSKFJAS;LJ Ugh I adore him; that little glimpse of the Hogwarts Express just about killed me - seeing these kids that I loved (lulz Cormac McLaggen) about to head into a truly horrible school year, my hearttttt.
- The entire Polyjuice At The Ministry sequence was freaking hilarious. A+++, seriously, to the guys who played Albert and Reg. They absolutely nailed the physicality of the two boys.
- Grindelwald is a hotass. Are we getting the Dumbledore/Grindelwald story in part 2? I never bothered to find out if they were ever going to show that stuff, but I really want them to.
- You guys, Harry/Draco at the Malfoy mansion. HARRY/DRACO, WHAT. I never really saw why people shipped them, but the undertones Tom and Dan managed to pour into that small moment, wow. That was some serious ~wand tugging~.
I just finished rereading the first half of the book - the first time I've opened my copy of DH in a year and a half, maybe more - and I gotta say, the screenplay did a very good job with adapting and streamlining the story. I really hope part 2 continues in the same fashion, with one caveat: DUMBLEDORE. My least favorite thing about part 1 was that they barely touched at his story. Also, not enough Snape.
What's always been a concern for me, though, is if the non-book-reading audience ever understood the HP movies. So many important details in DH were mentioned in such offhand ways and it took so much away from the story. Then again, in the 10 years that they've been doing this, the movies - aside from maybe PoA, but Cuarón cut out so much too - have never really been able to pin down everything that was fantastic about the books. JKR made it difficult, I think, and so much has been lost in the translation.
I have some more stuff that I didn't like, but most of that is just my nitpicky, canon-thumping brain feeling cheated that some of my favorite stuff was cut out:
- Dudley and Harry! "I don't think you're a waste of space." That was one of the last things we would ever hear from him! I won't ever change the opening sequence (TRIOOOOO) for the world, and I know that the Dursleys have never really been a huge part of the movies, but I wanted to hear Dudley say it.
- Ron and Hermione dancing at the wedding! The entire wedding sequence was way too short, actually - it was the book's last moments of real ~joy~ before everything got Really Real, and dressing everyone up for not even a minute of footage felt wrong.
- "She's like my sister" and "He must've known you'd always want to come back" -- the Silver Doe sequence was so much better than I expected it to be, and I'm so glad about that. BUT. That's probably my second all-time favorite chapter in all the HP books, so I knew very well how much had been cut. I don't really like that so much of Harry's part of it was removed - because really, Ron's coming back wasn't just about Ron/Hermione, it was about Harry and Ron's friendship, too - but blahblahblah canon cakes, I still love everything movie!chapter chose to be. :3
- "Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Good night." We got a taste of The State Of The Wizarding World in little throwaway snippets, but it didn't feel like enough. Potterwatch was one of the most important parts, something that bolstered Harry in his whole ordeal, and it's sad that they couldn't put it in.
- The painting on Luna's ceiling! That bit made me tear up when I read it, and it made me love Luna so much, I'm sad that the non-book-reading audience was deprived of it.
- When I read the Bellatrix Torture Sequence, one of my first thoughts was "omg, I'm going to get to see Rupert yell HERMIONE!!!!! like he was the one being cursed omg I can't wait". lol @ you, past!Lara. :P Ron was all twitchy and concerned and I absolutely loved that, but I wanted to hear him yell, dammit.
But whatever, that's all just icing. I don't even like icing very much.
I JUST REALLY LOVED THIS MOVIE, OKAY. COME FLAIL WITH ME.
IT WAS AMAZING AND ALL I WANTED TO DO AFTER I FINISHED IT WAS TO JUST STAY IN MY SEAT AND SHAKE AND CRY AND WAIT FOR THE REEL TO START PLAYING OVER AGAIN
Gah. Okay, so obviously I was never going to be able to be objective about this. 1) IT'S HARRY POTTER, 2) I have literally never been more excited for a movie in my entire life, 3) From the moment the first trailer came out, I have spent months on end living and dying by the wonderful DH graphics that pop up on my Tumblr dashboard every single day. Never before have I been more spoiled for a Harry Potter movie. And most important of all: as a fan of the source material, I live and breathe by the canon that I remember.
With all of that in mind... damn. Damn, damn, damn. Deathly Hallows Part 1 was fucking amazeballs.
1. RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY, LIGHT OF MY LIFE. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 He has always been my favorite, the one I have loved best since I was twelve, my very first literary boyfriend. I'm fully aware of Steve Kloves's history, and after the shafting Ron got at the end of Half-Blood Prince (...and in pretty much every movie before this, tbh), I had incredibly low expectations for him on this one. I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE HAPPY TO BE WRONG. Oh, my heart, my heart, my hearttttttt. He was still used as comic relief, but not once did he look stupid doing it. And even if he did, the rest of his treatment totally made up for it.
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The way he talked Harry down when he tried to leave? That was absolutely pitch-perfect, and I'm all verklempt that they gave that speech to Ron. He was definitely the one Harry needed for that wake-up call, the one who's not afraid to give it to Harry straight, no bullshit. I thought they were going to botch the buildup of his leaving and make him look like a tool, but they didn't. The Harry/Ron fight KILLED MY SOUL, Dan and Rupert were so so good, argh. Then Ron came back, destroyed the Horcrux, told his Deluminator story, and he was just amaaaaazing all the way to the end. Oh Ron, it's about time they finally treated you right.
2. The movie did my favorite character justice, and surprise, surprise - they got my OTP so very right, too. I AM DEAD OF SHOCK, LET ME TELL YOU. Like with Ron, I had really low expectations when it came to how Ron/Hermione was going to be handled - again, Kloves's track record; and although Emma Watson may be the biggest R/Hr shipper alive, in the last ten years' worth of movies, it never seemed like anyone else in the creative team had much respect for the 'ship. Then again, JKR was much, much more obvious about their relationship in DH, so I guess they had to write it out, but still. IT WAS MAGNIFICENT, ALL OF IT.
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Stolen looks! Blatant staring! "Always the tone of surprise" (my absolute faaaaaave)! Hand-holding while asleep! Piano scene! Unnecessary contact! She took off his glasses! When Ron touched Hermione's chin in the diner, I just about melted in my seat. And their reunion OMG SHE THREW LEAVES AT HIM. AMAZING. I can't wait until part 2 where all they do is run around holding hands and fall into each other's arms. :3 lol I guess this stuff really shouldn't matter because hey, I know they got their happy ending, but I've been aching to see this stuff in the movies for fucking ever, and suddenly here they are. HEARTS.
2a. Harry's bemusement at his best friends' shenanigans was adorable, too. "Just keep talking about that ball of light that touched your heart and you'll be all right" LOLOLOLOLOLOL I love their friendship so much, I do, I dooooooooo. TRIO4EVA
2b. I had been dreading the H/Hr scenes that were added to the script, and now I don't even remember why I was worried at all. The dance scene was all about their dorkiness and Harry trying (in vain) to make Hermione feel better after Ron left. The locket sequence was terrible, lol I thought they were going to make it ~hotter~ than it had any right to be, but for all of DanRad's platonic chemistry with Emma, their naked kissing... not so much. I just. I have been so used to H/Hr being horned into the movies - usually at Ron's expense - and THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN! NOT EVEN ONCE! Have I mentioned how awesome DH was? Because it really, truly is.
2c. I'm just going to leave this here. stormiesthaze got it so right:
I just don’t understand why so many people had such a problem with the Harry/Hermione dance. They are two best friends who are literally alone in the wilderness with a daunting quest to complete and no help beyond what they can give each other. It wasn’t as if the dance marked joyous embracing of their *~aloneness~*/of no longer being romantically encumbered by other parties but was rather a momentary escapist acknowledgement that at least they have one another. Not to mention the fact that they are teenagers living with each other 24/7, to suggest that the potential for there to be something more never existed seems horrendously naive. For whatever reasons (Ron&Ginny, sheer practicality) they choose not to act on that instinct but all the potential is there just reinforcing one of the whole morals of the whole HP tale, that our choices define us far more than destiny/fate ever could.
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3. ILU GOLDEN TRIO. They carried the movie wonderfully, oh my goodness. They were all so so so good.
3a. Dan had the most material to work with, obviously, but he was still so good with things that I don't think were ever written outright. He's had anguished!Harry down pat for years and years now, but he did it even better in DH, somehow. And the best part of it was, so much of his humor showed up in his performance - the hilarious/awkward beginning of his dance with Hermione, how he talked to Hermione when she figured out the thing about the basilisk and Godric's sword, his fistpump of celebration when Hermione agreed to go to Godric's Hollow - I think I might be able to catch more when I see it again, but DanRad is just aces, he really is.
3b. I've never really been impressed by Emma, but she was so great in this one, too. She still had her moments of Eyebrow Acting, but I dunno, I'm more willing to forgive her for that this time around, I guess. Being around the two boys definitely elevates her performance, and with so much of the script character-centric - just revolving on the three of them and what they're trying to do, no frills - she's obviously much more comfortable with that. She nailed the entire Bellatrix Torture Sequence so hard, omg I was shaking in my seat right along with her.
3c. RUPERT ALEXANDER LLOYD GRINT, THE OTHER LIGHT OF MY LIFE. ASLDKJFA;LSDKJFA;LSKJFAS;L <3________<3 He was absolutely fantastic, and he was far and away my favorite thing about the movie. He's the biggest reason why I think so highly of this movie, actually. He's proven to be really good at comic relief, but he handled Ron's ~*dramz*~ SO FUCKING WELL. There's this darkness he'd started to carry around, and a new ruthlessness to him since the war started that's only ever really softened when he's with Harry and Hermione. THEY FINALLY LET RON SHOW HIS LAYERS OMGYAY. Emma has talked up his performance in the scene where Ron comes back, and even if I had really high expectations, he still totally blew me away. I wanted to yell RUPERT, YOUR FAAAAAACE all through his Deluminator speech, and I just. It was absolutely pitch perfect, it really was. Everything he did was perfect, honestly.
4. Can we talk about that awesome Tale Of The Three Brothers sequence? Because damn. I never really put much thought to how they were going to do it, but the HP movies have a history of clumsy exposition, so I thought, eh, they'll manage somehow. Oh, man. That whole thing was fantastic. Severely out-of-place in a live action movie, yes, but it so effectively mixed the innate eeriness of the fable and the fairy-tale quality to it. Kudos to whoever was in charge of animating, it was a feast for my eyes.
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5. I am not ashamed to admit that I cried, like, barely a minute into the movie. idek, I think most of it had to do with the anticipation, with my week-long high/excitement, I just had a lot of feelings, okay. I started crying when Hermione put that spell on her parents and when they showed that shot of Aunt Petunia sitting in the car. SHIT JUST GOT REAL, Y'ALL. It hurt so much to see the trio saying goodbye to everything they knew. I also cried when Hedwig fell out of the sky. :( I cried when Ron left. :( :( :( I cried when Dobby died in Harry's arms. :( :( :( :( :( So basically I cried at all the parts I cried at when I read the book, lulz. So much of it was painful, seriously, none of this is kid stuff anymore.
6. Other random notes:
- A+++ Hair Continuity, Emma Watson!
- Clemence Poesy is so lovely.
- Evanna Lynch is perfect in every way.
- "How you feeling, Georgie?" JESUS CHRIST, MY HEART. I am never going to be able to handle anything twin-related ever again. :((((((((
- "These jeans? Not my favorite." Ron. <3<3<3
- NEVILLE ADLKJFA;SDLKJFA;DLSKFJAS;LJ Ugh I adore him; that little glimpse of the Hogwarts Express just about killed me - seeing these kids that I loved (lulz Cormac McLaggen) about to head into a truly horrible school year, my hearttttt.
- The entire Polyjuice At The Ministry sequence was freaking hilarious. A+++, seriously, to the guys who played Albert and Reg. They absolutely nailed the physicality of the two boys.
- Grindelwald is a hotass. Are we getting the Dumbledore/Grindelwald story in part 2? I never bothered to find out if they were ever going to show that stuff, but I really want them to.
- You guys, Harry/Draco at the Malfoy mansion. HARRY/DRACO, WHAT. I never really saw why people shipped them, but the undertones Tom and Dan managed to pour into that small moment, wow. That was some serious ~wand tugging~.
I just finished rereading the first half of the book - the first time I've opened my copy of DH in a year and a half, maybe more - and I gotta say, the screenplay did a very good job with adapting and streamlining the story. I really hope part 2 continues in the same fashion, with one caveat: DUMBLEDORE. My least favorite thing about part 1 was that they barely touched at his story. Also, not enough Snape.
What's always been a concern for me, though, is if the non-book-reading audience ever understood the HP movies. So many important details in DH were mentioned in such offhand ways and it took so much away from the story. Then again, in the 10 years that they've been doing this, the movies - aside from maybe PoA, but Cuarón cut out so much too - have never really been able to pin down everything that was fantastic about the books. JKR made it difficult, I think, and so much has been lost in the translation.
I have some more stuff that I didn't like, but most of that is just my nitpicky, canon-thumping brain feeling cheated that some of my favorite stuff was cut out:
- Dudley and Harry! "I don't think you're a waste of space." That was one of the last things we would ever hear from him! I won't ever change the opening sequence (TRIOOOOO) for the world, and I know that the Dursleys have never really been a huge part of the movies, but I wanted to hear Dudley say it.
- Ron and Hermione dancing at the wedding! The entire wedding sequence was way too short, actually - it was the book's last moments of real ~joy~ before everything got Really Real, and dressing everyone up for not even a minute of footage felt wrong.
- "She's like my sister" and "He must've known you'd always want to come back" -- the Silver Doe sequence was so much better than I expected it to be, and I'm so glad about that. BUT. That's probably my second all-time favorite chapter in all the HP books, so I knew very well how much had been cut. I don't really like that so much of Harry's part of it was removed - because really, Ron's coming back wasn't just about Ron/Hermione, it was about Harry and Ron's friendship, too - but blahblahblah canon cakes, I still love everything movie!chapter chose to be. :3
- "Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Good night." We got a taste of The State Of The Wizarding World in little throwaway snippets, but it didn't feel like enough. Potterwatch was one of the most important parts, something that bolstered Harry in his whole ordeal, and it's sad that they couldn't put it in.
- The painting on Luna's ceiling! That bit made me tear up when I read it, and it made me love Luna so much, I'm sad that the non-book-reading audience was deprived of it.
- When I read the Bellatrix Torture Sequence, one of my first thoughts was "omg, I'm going to get to see Rupert yell HERMIONE!!!!! like he was the one being cursed omg I can't wait". lol @ you, past!Lara. :P Ron was all twitchy and concerned and I absolutely loved that, but I wanted to hear him yell, dammit.
But whatever, that's all just icing. I don't even like icing very much.
I JUST REALLY LOVED THIS MOVIE, OKAY. COME FLAIL WITH ME.