Ryan McNeil
I find myself in a quandary. I have seen hundreds of movies over the years, and never felt the way I feel now that I’ve seen this latest Harry Potter film. I feel dissatisfied…I feel like what I’ve just watched can’t be fully evaluated.
I feel, specifically, like I’ve just been told half a story.
“These are dark times” as we’re told off the top of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. Heroes are falling, villains are rising, and death seems to be everywhere you look. All signs point to an inevitable showdown between Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes) and Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe)…fulfilling a prophecy that we learned about two films ago: Neither can live while the other survives. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
The first order of business is to get Harry safe, and this in itself is no easy feat since with every passing day, more and more protective obstacles set out by his loved ones seems to be falling. He finally flees to the home of The Weasleys, where hopefully he can soak up some last drops of protection. While he hides out, he hatches a plan with Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) to take down Voldermort once and for all.
This plan was briefly explained to Harry by Dumbledore in the previous film. Unfortunately, the plan was only vaguely explained to Harry in the previous film…and as such, when our hero and his friends take to the road in hopes to put this plan in motion, they do so with a massive amount of uncertainty.
This film is very well acted, shot, edited, and scored. It has a moment or two that rubbed me the wrong way, but they’re not important in the long run. My problem with this film, and what makes it “unrateable” is its construction. This instalment of Harry Potter’s adventures is half a book, and unfortunately for the filmmakers, that book was not written in an act one/act two manner. Thus, when the decision came down to split this instalment into two films, the tricky bit would be where to split a story that doesn’t have a natural break.
By breaking off this story where they have, the filmmakers leave audiences off balance. There isn’t much of a beginning, and there is no real ending. What we go through is an awful lot of middle, which at this late stage does nothing to serve the overall story. What’s worse, is the fact that the “middle” we endure is meandering, introspective, and unsure. I have nothing against long contemplative moments spent with Harry, Ron, and Hermione…but not with this little time left on the clock.
If there’s a flaw in the Harry Potter films, it’s that the filmmakers have always been so in love with the world their stories are set in, that it distracts them from actually telling their stories. Instead we spend moment after moment sweeping over hillsides, castle corridors, and meditating on detail after detail. It’s all very lovely, but believe me gang – it adds up. In this film, that tendency to look to the horizon while our characters sort things out runs amok…which is not a good thing for a film that is already breaking the rules of structure.
So is this movie bad? No. But all by itself, is this movie good? Again, no. The book Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is intricate. Rowling dropped a lot of bread crumbs in those first six novels, and this was finally the moment to follow the trail. The problem is, there is no way to pick up all those crumbs in 2.5 hours.
So how to handle it? Two movies? Maybe…maybe not. I’d offer that in lieu of sacrificing an instalment, that filmmakers might have been better off going all David Lean, and creating one long epic film. As it stands I don’t think this film works without its sequel anyway, and its audience is an absolute quantity at this point. So now would have been the time to be daring – to drop a 3+ hour tome on audiences and tell the story the way it was written.
Instead what we’re given lacks any urgency. It plays less to the bravery of these three friends, and more to their insecurities. Harry Potter is sometimes accused of getting where he is by luck and circumstance, sadly this film doesn’t do much to dispel that myth. This film contains a daring mission to The Ministry of Magic, and a dangerous jailbreak from the heart of enemy territory. Unfortunately, the film feels compelled to dedicate just as much time to Harry getting a haircut…or slowdancing with Hermione…or lots and lots of staring out to the horizon.
Perhaps not rating the film is a cop-out. If that’s the case then I would have to give this film no more than two stars. I cannot foresee myself watching this film without immediately moving on to its sequel, and if the film’s construction does not allow it to stand alone as its own story…then perhaps splitting this tale in two, was likewise a cop-out.