SPOILERS etc. etc...





Yes, they changed Look at me. And I agree with you, Gimli, that Snape's last words had a double meaning. However, I think it was done alright in the movie. It never got awkward or pathetic, I found the scene tragically beautiful. They managed to strike the balance between book-lovers and an ignorant movie-audience and the lines go like this: "Look at me... You have your mother's eyes." To movie-people it's all about Snape's love for Lily while book-people still get the double meaning of Look at me.. I guess.


What do you guys think about the Battle of Hogwarts?
I can't decide whether I missed that we followed more characters' into battle, like the book does, or whether it would be too heavy and boring.


What scenes gave you goose bumps?
For me it was when MacGonagal duelled Snape, my two favorite characters - it was epic!!
Also, when MacGonagal made the stone warriors come alive and when the Order created the protection around Hogwarts.

What scenes made your cheer?
I was never a couple shipper of any kind so the kisses were just awkward for me.. and I was happy they were over so quickly.
But I cheered when Neville killed Nagini - OMG, how could you not!

When did you cry the most?
I liked how they did the scene where Harry 'meets' his family and friends who died for him (although it was just so very strange that Tonks wasn't there when Remus was and they talked about their baby)

What did you like the least?
I missed more screentime for the characters who weren't Harry and Voldemort..

Etc. etc.. I might continue later.

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Right I just got back from watching it so SPOILERS! Anyway it doesn't matter. I've put a spell on these following words that gouge your eyes out if you haven't seen the movie yet.

I thought it was a good adaptation and a good movie on its own. It did a great job weaving everything together and tying up the loose ends as best as it could. Obviously there were some things that could have been done better and I'll get to that later. But dramatic moments were dramatic (at least most of them), the comic moments were somewhat comedic, and the tragic moments were oh so so so SO tragic.

Okay to what everyone's talking about. Alan Rickman. I thought he did the best job in acting personally. The beginning scene where he sees how much Hogwarts has changed, you see this sliver of sadness in him. And then when he's addressing the students, you see him struggling to get the words through. And once more, his death. Just how calm he was as he was bleeding to death really struck me and while it didn't get me to cry, I was starting to quiver a little bit there. Bu then came his memories. Just when he was holding Lily's body in his arms and wailing, I started to cry. Okay, I started crying when I saw Fred's body but that didn't help. Excellent job overall. Sadly, I doubt he'll be considered by the Academy since they're worse snobs than me but hopefully in one of those slightly minor awards, he will get some recognition.

The beginning Gringotts scene was rather well done. I love how they made the effort to keep Hermonine's character from the book by having her say "That's barbaric" in regards to the Clangers. I noticed that they left out the burning bit of the curse but I'm sure being buried under hot gold and not dying or being severely burned may have been why they left it out. In any case I thought it was for the better. I think this scene was a little more comedic than serious, especially with the incredibly stoned Goblin under Imperio and the calm interior of the bank before the dragon bursts in. Oh and Emma Watson in that cleavage showing outfit. Yeah, that was really distracting. But I'm not complaining

Okay now the battle scenes. Once again Alan Rickman. Just an awesome job. My only wish is that the duel between him and McGonagall go a little longer...That would have made for some awesome special effects. Speaking of her, watching Dame Maggie Smith squee like a little fangirl was hilarious in a really good way. Like many here, I wish we got to see some of the individual battles but above all, I wanted to see McGonagall Transfigure a couple of Death Eaters into mice or birds. Wouldn't that be...awesome? Also...why was Molly Weasley in charge of raising the barrier? For a minute, I thought that Professor Sprout but it wasn't so...why was she involved at all? That kinda bothered me.

As for the battles, like I said before, more individual battles would have been nice. Btw, Larael, if you want gore and blood, read "Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness". You only get Mel Gibson level of gratuitous violence for the price of complete and utter character derailment and blatant jingoism and misogyny. The duel between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix was really brief. A little too brief for my taste. The final duel between Voldemort and Harry was all right. I love how Voldemort slapped him around for a minute. That was such an un-Voldemort moment. I was hoping a duel like the one between Voldemort and Dumbledore at least, since firing sparks at each other probably doesn't get exciting.

Okay, I mentioned crying so yeah. I started to quiver and sniffle a bit when Snape died. Then came Fred's death. And I was really really really hoping they didn't keep that because it wasn't like they were going for a completely faithful adaptation so...why?! Snape's memories kept me crying all throughout and then when Harry got the Resurrection Stone, yeah. I think I was the manly kind of crying. Just stoic and letting the tears fall.

Some of the not-so-great moments...First of all, whose bright idea was to have Voldemort try to hug Draco? You could tell Ralph Fiennes clearly didn't think it was a good idea either. The theatre laughed at that part. Also, why did Harry mention Remus' and Tonks' son? I know that's in the book, but you have no mention of him throughout the film so why mention him? You could have had Harry say "You were just married!" and that would have worked just as well.

Btw, I'm sorry but this movie's enjoyment was slightly elevated due to many potential Harrison Ford moments and quips I had. Firstly when Harry find Helga's goblet, I thought "That's the cup of a carpenter." And then when Ron runs after Malfoy, I wanted him to chase them and then get confronted with the fire and have an awesome "Oh, CRAP!" face like in Star Wars.

What may have made this darker was the addition of Grindlewald to Dumbledore's backstory. That would have been nice.

Final thoughts? I sure hope I look that good 19 years later. Actually, to me, personally this felt like a two hour climax.

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I was cured all right.

GAH. I am dying to reply to all of you, but I must get some sleep. You will hear much from me tomorrow I hope.

I loved it, it's so amazing. It may just be the best of all. I went to a Harry Potter marathon, which lasted 27 hours. It was pretty epic, but fortunately I was completely awake during the last movie. I cried half of the movie though, especially when Snape died... After that, I couldn't stop crying, but that may be due to the fact that I was so tired
Anyway, they stayed pretty close to the book. The Kings Cross part was perfect. The epilogue was a bit hilarious, they looked so strange The thing I didn't like was the part where Harry and Voldemort jumped of that towerthing, that was awkward.
And it was great that they kept the 'Not my daughter, you *beep*!' line in If they hadn't, I would've jumped up and shouted it myself (A)

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@ Eä: I'm sorry I didn't respond to your official review, dear! I'm glad you enjoyed mine, and now I shall attempt to address some of the questions you asked.

SPOILERS AHEAD! YE HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I personally thought the battle was perfect. Some parts were a bit confusing [i.e. Did they ever actually show Fred's death?], but otherwise I think it would have been even more confusing and time consuming to follow individual characters into battle. Everyone got their own moment, and it would have become redundant. Besides, the film makers decided they were going to follow Harry's story alone several films ago. Btw, Frostie, Mel Gibson-esque violence is exactly what I was looking for! I can't believe I forgot about The Patriot! I also agree with you about the physical fight between Voldy and Harry the shortness of the Molly vs Bellatrix fight. And yes, yes, yes! It would have been SO awesome to see some really sophisticated magic going on from some of the "more experienced" characters - I think the coolest bit was where Kingsley "froze" one of the DEs, except it was more than just petrificus totalus.

I completely agree with you Eä about those two moments as being some of the most exciting! Although I was getting gooseflesh through most of the film as it was. Umm, let's see . . . Snape's death, Voldy in Gringotts, Voldy and the DEs on the cliff, the beginning of King's Cross, and the ending scene before the epilogue. Yes, those were all especially good. [I must see this film again soon as my mind's going a bit fuzzy . . .] As for cheering moments, well any time McGonagall or Neville were badasses, when Ron and Hermione kiss . . . that's all I can remember for now. There were so many more moments where everyone was "awwing" or sniffling. And of course I was blubbering away using up the one box of Kleenex I'd brought with me. I teared up in the first 2 minutes, but calmed down for most of the beginning, and then proceeded to cry from the moment Snape died till basically the end of King's Cross. Then I was so bloody excited for the ending that I couldn't cry anymore.

I think I disliked most of the same things that you, Eä and Frostie, did. The failed Teddy Lupin subplot, Harry throwing away the Elder Wand, the lack of exposition/speaking during the final battle between Harry and Voldy, the Draco/Voldy hug [although it was quite humorous; in some odd way I think it was supposed to be], the missing "And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?" scene from the Prince's Tale [minor quip there], and VOLDY AND HARRY FALLING OFF THE CLIFF AND MORPHING INTO ONE PERSON! WTH!? [Also, did anyone else notice that young Lily Evans had brown eyes?! What an awful bit of failed continuity!]

So, my friend and I are having a bit of a row over the Lily's-dead-hug-cry that Snape does in the Prince's Tale montage. We both agree AR's performance during the enter film is greatness itself, but we cannot seem to agree that his performance in this particular bit of the film is good by itself. She says AR isn't even crying [i.e. there are no visible tears], and that he's trying so hard to be emotional that it comes across as uncomfortable and odd. I, on the other hand, say that Snape doesn't have to shed tears to come across as emotional, and that the only reason she felt uncomfortable with his facial expressions was because we've never seen his character be that quite emotional well, ever. She says that I'm not remembering the scene correctly though since I was crying and obviously couldn't see the screen well enough through my tears. Thoughts?

Well I'm trying some sleeping pills and I think they're taking effect but I'll try to answer your question as best as I can.

With me, I thought Alan Rickman was going for a more shocked emotion. In Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Alan Rickman plays the extremely concerned father whose daughter is targeted by the titled murderer. Not to spoil anything but...she dies. And when Alan Rickman sees her dead body, he made almost the exact same face. So with him and Lily, he was somewhat reassured that she would be safe and now he just saw her dead and it's hitting him in the chest. That's my two cents on that.

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I was cured all right.

Snape's part really touched my heart It's so sad... andd... I've never seen Alan Rickman cried in HP series so yeah. It's really emotional for me

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I couldn't agree more with Caunion's review.. it seems like most of us got many of the same things out of the movie.
The things I had a problem with in the movie, were the things I didn't like in the books as well. Like for instance it always bugged me that Voldemort didn't check whether Harry was actually dead. I mean.. seriously.. The Boy Who Lived, whom he has tried to kill through an entire book series? Come on now.. I mean he might as well have checked and then whacked Harry over the head with a branch now that Avada Kedavra didn't work.

Anyway, in the movie it bothered me that when Harry walks into the Great Hall people are just there tending to their dead and wounded and having mindless chitchat. 1) Because hey, Harry just killed You-Know-Who most spectactularly. Wouldn't you expect people to cheer just a tad more? 2) Alright, so people are tending to people but why on earth did they have... umm.. that dude who used to disguise himself as an armchair in HBP, (sorry, name slipped) to tell anecdotes on how he thought he had replaced his wand when it actually was in his pocketsss. Seriously, how inappropriate is that when people are lying dead around you? Which leads to 3) It was an odd anti-climatic scene that was clearly meant to tell the message of "..and then everything returned to normal".. But seriously, couldn't they have waited just a day or two to return to normal? Show a little respect here!



I agree with you that Snape doesn't need to shed tears in order to show emotions. But going along that theory then it was very out of character for him to shed a tear when he died. It was beautifully done in the movie (and it seemed natural) but having him cry visible tears there and not when Lily, the love of his life died, that seems so odd. He was younger back then and might not have been so trained in showing no emotions, a skill which he undoubtedly has practised after having lived so many years with his secret grief. And another thing. I'm perfectly sure that Alan Rickman is fully capable of showing tears if it was required of him but obviously, he wasn't instructed to.

Also, I love your friend's argument that you were too emotional to remember, way to pwn you in any discussion! "Sorry, but you were crying, so I clearly have the better judgement!" :

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One thing that really annoyed me was the end credits. I believe I say for most of us when I say I was expecting a little more than white letters on a black background. Now maybe they had something different past the producers but wouldn't it be nice to see the conceptual art as credits? What I really wanted were the Lord of the Rings esque sketches of all the main characters with the actor playing them juxtaposed to them. Okay granted, that would have been copying Lord of the Rings a little bit. But with characters like Harry, Ron, and Hermonine, wouldn't it have been neat to see them as first years and all the way to seventh years?

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I was cured all right.

ZOMG!! I watched it last weekend with my friend Chrisie and I bawled when Fred, Lupin and Tonks died and when Harry used the Resurrection Stone and saw his parents, Sirius and lupin again. I loved Snape's memories. I laughed so hard when McGonagell said "I always wanted to use that spell" and when Neville was going "YOU AND WHOS ARMY" to the Snatchers! HAHAHAHA!! AWKWARD VOLDEMORT HUG!!! My absolute favourite character is Draco.

BYE!!!!

I watched 'Perfume', Frostie, and I completely agree with you. That's just how AR prefers to portray being distraught, upset, overwhelmed with emotion, etc. I thought it was perfectly fine, but my friend is still insistent. There's no way I'm going to convince her. Anyway . . .

I understand exactly what you mean about the ending, Eä! In some way I was extremely excited and satisfied by the ending, but in another way it did feel anti-climactic. The epilogue was supposed to serve as the "all is well/back to normal" scene, and the fact that they incorporated that feeling into the end of the battle made the emotional impact of the story feel a little stunted and rushed.

@ Frostie: Although I wasn't really expecting anything like that, now that you mention it, I think it would have been a nice touch.

So I watched it a couple of weeks ago (I think? I forget. I watched it.) and I wasn't entirely happy. But I'm watching it again on Sunday, and since I've now read through three pages of your thoughts and I can't even remember exactly when I watched it myself, I think I'll wait until after I see it again to give my notes

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by Lembas

Oh, please do! I just saw it again for a second time about three days ago and was blown away by how much I missed the first time [I blame my emotional state of mind!]. More on that soon enough.

Let me join in the 'I'm seeing it a second time' club. I'm gonna see it again tomorrow and I'm so excited.. another kind of excitement this time because I'm looking so much forward to seeing the film as a whole.. seeing it as a film in its own right.

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I SAW IT AGAIN AND I STILL LOVE IT!!!!

The first time I couldn't concentrete fully on the movie because I was so excited and hyped up and comparing it to the book and my own expectations. This time I was able to enjoy the movie and see it as a movie - not the book.
And I've gotta say I still really, really like it. Perhaps even more now.

Umm well.. a few random thoughts and comments in no particular order.

I did mention before how the battle faded into the background and how I would have loved to see more of the individual fighting but this didn't bother me so much this time.. probably because I knew what it was gonna be like. But one thing that I noticed was how many of the actors handed a wand like they weren't used to it. Like they were pointing it like it was a gun, and then all of a sudden it would fire a spell.. like if it was a gun. You demand examples? Well.. Mrs. Weasly's duel with Bellatrix.. Mrs. Weasly is merely pointing her wand and she looks almost surprised when she casts spells, and she's hardly moving her hand. I know that they probably tried to make it look like she was not used to fighting and using magic to harm other people.. but still to me it looked like it was the first time she was handling a wand!

Also, this time I got a lot more emotional at the scene where Harry talks to his parents, Sirius and Remus (but seriously, where was Tonks.. she ought to have been there too!!). "We never left" and Sirius pointing to Harry's heart: "We're here, you see" and then Lily: "Always"... beautiful because she tied it to Snape.. the undying love that is the main power and theme of the books.

And Snape just facing Voldemort calmly knowing he would kill him. I mean.. surely, he couldn't have won a duel because Voldemort had the Elder Wand but it's not like Voldemort had been the best employer.. I figured Snape might have wanted to fight back.. even if it was in vain. But perhaps he was ready to go.. after all, he didn't have anything to live for.

I really didn't like the Harry/Voldemort moment where they fly off the walls and Voldemort clawing at Harry's face and suddenly it's his own face.. Umm.. really odd moment.

I don't know what to think of this trend among heroes that they must destroy the ultimate weapons of power. Like when Harry pulls a Frodo and breaks the Elder Wand... (except Frodo struggled with it in the end, as Caunion pointed out to me). I mean this is not even like he's got the One Ring that is made for evil. If he turned around he would see a castle in ruins, a lot of his friends severely wounded and quite a lot of damage done in general.. and he didn't even once think about using the Elder Wand to rebuilt and clean up a bit? (Just look at poor Filch.. he was already trying to sweep up only minutes after the battle ended - precious moment!! ) Oh no, he had to be all saintly and throw it away.. Probably so he or anyone else would never be tempted to use it to gain power like Voldemort blah, blah.. But still... it seems such a waste!

Epilogue: Didn't like it in the book.. didn't like it in the movie: It's cheesy and Disney for one.. but I don't think they looked like what... 46? It's just.. a bit odd.

Neville, however, did.. I mean he has grown up so much since the last movie.. when did that happen??? It's almost scary!

Aww, Harry and Luna.. they really had their moments.. I loved how it was done and I might have been opposed to Harry/Ginny in the book but in the movies I didn't believe in them at all.. it just didn't seem natural for either of them.


And the last comment: My favorite scene of the movie really gotta be from where Harry steps forward to face Snape and McGonagall duels Snape - WIN! And when she makes the stone warriors come alive in this hour of need to protect Hogwarts ("I've always wanted to use that spell" ), and the staff and the Order create the protecting shield around the castle.. shivers down my spine!!

Ana, I know you mentioned how they didn't play the Harry Potter theme at the intro. This time I paid attention to it and I still find it natural. First of all because this is part 2.. it's like there has only been an intermission (well for a year, I know!) and then we're back on, like there isn't any ceremonious summary or alternative intro suggesting that this is a seperate movie. 'This is part 2 and if you didn't see part 1, then tough luck because we're not gonna spell it out for you...', or that's how I imagine the director and producers saw it. Secondly, I think this theme set the scene and the tone of the movie quite well. With the black outline of Snape watching the students marching in and all (although, the Nazi-references were a little cheap in my opinion, it seems that whenever you want to show true evil in totalitarian systems or just evil.. then you show people marching in ranks! )

Alright, one last thing... the lovely MoBo sent me this and it had me laughing so hard.. actually, after reading it and seeing Voldemort hugging Malfoy it was difficult not to giggle loudly because Voldemort gives hugs "like he's never given one before and is trying to imitate how people do it." I thought that was hilarious - and a very accurate description!
Read the full re-cap here.. just be warned that it's supposed to be humourous.. and opinionated so if you're a hardcore fan or purist, you might not like it. Luckily, I am not so I laughed my way through the article!

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Eä, it's interesting that you should bring up Mrs. Weasley - the second time around I thought her performance was good, but overall not what I was expecting. Her infamous "all caps" line from the book didn't come across with the same ferocity that I felt from her while reading, and it was wholly unclear what sort of spells she and Bellatrix were throwing at each other. The scene was messy, and in retrospect, slightly disappointing.

I generally agree with you about Snape, Voldy/Harry flying around Hogwarts, the Elder Wand, Neville, and Harry and Luna. You made some spot on comments in those respects, especially about the Nazi-era references. I think the average film goer isn't going to mind them, but considering Warner Bros. is going to champion this film for some Oscars I think it does cheapen the originality of the story somewhat from an art standpoint. [Although I guess a film doesn't have to be artsy to win an Oscar. ]

The second time around I think there was really only one thing that didn't sit right with me. I had missed it the first time as I wasn't feeling well and went to the loo. It's the bit after Snape escapes after dueling McGonagall and Voldy makes his announcement to the castle. I didn't really understand what was happening as there were kids screaming, and everyone had their hands over their ears. Was it supposed to be like Voldy was in their heads talking to them? It seemed odd and sort of out of place. I think they could have portrayed that differently.

Also, I really enjoyed that article, Eä! Thanks for sharing it! It was witty, but also made some really good points, especially about Harry and Ginny. I seriously do believe that Harry married the wrong girl in the movies, and I don't think it's because Bonnie Wright and Dan Radcliffe don't have chemistry. I'm more keen to blame the director for not pointing out that they should perhaps show some chemistry.