Let it never be inferred that I am not an equal opportunist.
Seems as though my beloved ferociously disagrees with my take on the most recent Harry Potter film, and wanted an opportunity to decry my idiocy from the rooftops. How could I deny her the chance?
So please take a look at Lindsay’s reasoning as to why I am wrong…and feel free to take a side. We’re good like that.
My husband and I have very different taste in films. I should stress this: very different taste. I love light-hearted, joyful, magical films. He loves films that are so depressing they make you want to kill yourself. However, we usually agree and what is good and what is bad, even if it’s not our kind of movie.
This weekend though, we disagreed… and he’s wrong.
It’s no secret that I have an affinity for bad movies. A quick glance at my DVD collection will reveal some truly horrendous titles. However, I’m fully able to recognize and admit if a film I love is crap. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS is NOT one of those films. I love this movie because it is good. Period. It’s not a guilty pleasure; just a good movie.
I saw this film twice within the first 24-hours of it’s release, and it only got better on the second viewing. I was utterly shocked when Hatter started picking it apart as soon at the bar afterward. And after writing his evil review, he’s lucky he wasn’t banished to the couch.
My blood really boiled when he said: “if they shaved ten seconds off every long establishing shot, they could have made the movie shorter or incorporated more storylines.” Now at this, the editor in me really wanted to slug him.
For those of you who don’t know, Ryan is a great lover of music. One of his favourite songs is “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones: Now, wouldn’t that song be so much better if they lowered the volume on the instruments so we could hear the lyrics better? What if they cut out all the guitars solos so there’d be more time for another verse?
In my opinion, film is visual music, with different pacing and movements forming the tone of the story. THE DEATHLY HALLOWS was beautiful music, and the best film in the Harry Potter series (so far).
I don’t want to go into too much detail about what I loved about the movie, as I fear many of the readers here have not yet seen the it based on Hatters misguided review. Yes, there are a couple moments that I could have lived without (silver body-paint), but overall this is a very good representation of the book.
As for Ryan’s complaint that the film doesn’t stand alone… I don’t think anyone went into this film expecting it to end with some sort of conclusion. This is not a full installment of the series: it’s only part one (it’s right there in the title).
Yes, you’ve been told half a story…get over it.
It’s just the first half of a story – and a very good first half at that.