![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aunt_zelda I know, I'm a terrible person for not seeing it before now. I can't believe it's been more than a month. Honestly, I was working and going to rehearsals and cleaning my room and sleeping and trying to figure out when and where and how to get my mother's schedule and mine to line up so we could see it together ... and then all of the sudden it's halfway through August and my boyfriend and I are in the theater holding hands and watching the previews.
(Btw, the next Sherlock Holmes movie? Ohfuckyes. It's got everything you could want in a movie: explosions, steampunk, and crossdressing!
My boyfriend is insisting that Immortals will be the comedy of the year. As we were both laughing in exasperation and sadness at the trailer, I'm inclined to agree. I was about to get angry about them using Theseus like that, but then I realized that it's going to be too stupid/cheesy to get angry about and I should just enjoy the lolz that'll come from it.)
So I started crying right at the get-go. Just a little, but there were tears as we zoomed in through the big metal WB in the sky. The last movie. The last movie of the last book in the biggest series of my childhood. Seeing as I turn eighteen on Thursday, this movie might as well have been the end of my childhood. That ... hurts.
I liked the way that the movie began, calm and slow in that beautiful house by the sea. But the story kept right on going, exposition and deals and epic bank heisting and such. The movie was really well paced and put together, it got a lot done without feeling like it was cramming things in, and it didn't feel long at all.
I cried so much during this movie. At one point I cried so hard my body was shaking with the sobs. That was what happened when they cut to that shot of Remus and Tonks dead on the floor. It was worse than when I read it in the book. It was all so much worse, knowing who was going to die and how and then seeing it happen on the big screen and clinging to my boyfriend and sobbing and trying not to sob so loud because there were other people in the theater.
(Not-so-fun-fact: when I read HP7 the first time I read the sentence to mean that Remus and Tonks were ALIVE and next to the Weasleys in the Great Hall, not that they were DEAD. Then I turned the page back, read it, cried, and started cursing J.K. Rowling for killing off two of my most favorite characters in such an offhand way, with a mere sentence, so brief that I mistook it for something else entirely.)
There were a lot of funny moments in this movie, surprisingly. Like, lots of moments where the audience laughed, and were meant to laugh, and it wasn't the desperate laugh of people who've been crying so much that they need something to laugh, no, it was genuine "hey, that was funny" laughter. (Filth sweeping up the rubble was a mixture of 'ha ha funny' laughter and 'oh god my soul hurts, I need to laugh at SOMETHING ... oh hey, Filch!' laughter.) They nicely contrasted the epic, horrible, tragic, perfect scenes of battle.
Why didn't they evacuate the younger students? It's bad enough that there were so many children, kids we've seen grow up, fighting to the death against big bad opponents, but hordes of screaming little kids running around? That made it so much more painful. Maybe that was the point. I don't know.
The whole of Slytherin House getting literally thrown in the dungeons bothers me. I didn't have space in my brain when reading and re-reading the book, to be bothered, but in the movie I was very bothered. Just because you felt independent and ambitious and a bit snobby when you were eleven that means you must be EVULZ and can't be trusted?
The effects in the battle scenes were great. Nothing extreme, but great. Consistent and inventive and nice to look at and perfect.
I hissed a lot of obscenities during this movie. Mostly at Voldemort. I flipped him off a couple times, too.
I think the first time I swore during the movie was when I saw the Quidditch Pitch on fire. FUCK NO! FUCK YOU DEATH EATERS! I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT BASEBALL BUT DON'T YOU FUCKING TAKE AWAY OUR QUIDDITCH!!!
I even whispered "you bastard!" at Dumbledore, after he told the emotionally distraught Severus Snape that Harry has Lily's eyes. Yes, I know why he did it, yes it worked, yes it was for the greater good, but it was still a dick move on his part and I call it like I see it.
I punched the air a couple of times. Mostly whenever Neville did something. Also when Molly fucking mopped the floor with Bellatrix. FUCK. YEAH! And when Narcissa pretended that Harry was dead. Oh Narcissa, you unsung heroine, you. I have such a soft spot for that little family unit, as horrible as they were, I think they paid for their sins.
The fact that Hogwarts got so destroyed really hurt, almost as much as character deaths, but stretched out over time it didn't quite hit me like, say, seeing Remus and Tonks dead on the floor (*sniffles*) It was like my childhood was symbolically being destroyed, brick by brick. (Ok, that's a bit harsh, but still, it really HURT to see all the iconic sets smashed up so bad.)
I LOVED the Helena Ravenclaw scene. The effects on her were fantastic and the actress was wonderful. I couldn't remember who she was during the movie, only that I'd seen her in something before. Yes, I had! In Finding Neverland, Nanny McFee, and The Girl in the Cafe!
Why didn't Neville lose his eye? I wanted to see him working a badass eyepatch! Did I mention that Neville is awesome? Because he is. Speech, sword, snake ... Neville, you've come a long way from the little boy who fell off his broom and lost his Remembrall. And you are fucking awesome. *salutes*
Was it just me, or did the movie seem to be teasing Neville/Luna there for a couple seconds?
The whole fire scene was scary and great, building up from a flicker in the corner to a room ablaze and the kids crawling up piles of stuff. When Goyle (I had to check the wiki, I knew it was Crabbe who set the fire in the books, but the actor wasn't in the movie because of a drug thing, so it was Goyle in the movie) fell and died it was horrifying to me, because this is a kid who just DIED, and his friend (Draco) just watched him die. There really aren't words for how awful that whole deal is. Children shouldn't be in war.
Voldemort getting handsy with Harry was such a guilty pleasure for me. Like, I've never shipped them (though I can see the potential for some great FoeYay fic there and might seek some out later) but come on, enemies flinging each other around is always grounds for me to get excited. Especially when one grabs the other by the throat (yum.) Oh, and that bit where he wrapped/strangled Harry in lengths of cloth? Um ... yeah, I'll be in my bunk.
Snake. Oh gods, SNAKE. I screamed once onto my boyfriend's shoulder during the movie, and I'm pretty sure it was because of the damn SNAKE. Also there were giant spiders for some reason, which was also very phobia-arousing for me.
I felt really bad for the werewolves, or whatever that horde of raggedy guys were supposed to be. In fact I felt bad for the giants too. They're oppressed minorities who were promised more rights and a chance to get revenge on the assholes who've been oppressing them for centuries, and they died like canon fodder instead.
Though the bridge exploding was EPIC.
I really liked the King's Cross bit (though I'll be having nightmares about the bit of Voldemort's soul. EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww!!!) and how it looked and everything.
My favorite part, though, would probably have to be the Snape flashbacks. Especially the ones of him and little Lily. Did you squee? I squeed. I squeed a lot. Am I the only one who thought that they looked kinda like kid versions of Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue, as seen in their video for Where the Wild Roses Grow? Even if I'm not, I'm probably the only one who went "awwwww, lookit! Baby Nick Cave!" I'm so glad we got to see as much as we did from them. I wanted more Snape flashbacks. I hope more got filmed, and they're on the deleted scenes of the DVD or something.
Things I didn't like:
How Ron was underused, especially in his relationship to Harry, and how Hermione's relationship to Harry was overplayed. I thought they made it perfectly clear in the last movie that Harry and Hermione are non-romantic-friends, but this movie seems to have forgotten that and pushed Ron into the background and dragged Hermione forward every so often to glomp Harry. It didn't bother me a LOT, but I did notice.
Snape not only arriving at the murder scene at Godric's Hollow, but also cradling Lily's dead body in his arms. That ... that was too much. I know why they did it, I know that they had to condense a lot of backstory into a couple of images, but that was too far. They should have used that time on clips of their falling-out and teenage Snape's Regretful Face, not an implausible scene that could easily become Narmy.
How Voldemort was really hammy and campy at times. For example: hugging Draco, WTF? I hissed "Bad touch! Bad touch!" to my boyfriend at that point. Ick.
The taunting-the-horde-on-the-bridge bit. It was out of place and kinda stupid for the movie to pull a move like that.
~*~
Ultimately, I need to see this movie again, many, many times, to truly form my opinion. At the moment I feel like it was a very good job at the second half of the final book, I cried a lot as I expected, I got some pleasantly surprising laughs, and while I'm very sad that it's over it was a proper end.
(Btw, the next Sherlock Holmes movie? Ohfuckyes. It's got everything you could want in a movie: explosions, steampunk, and crossdressing!
My boyfriend is insisting that Immortals will be the comedy of the year. As we were both laughing in exasperation and sadness at the trailer, I'm inclined to agree. I was about to get angry about them using Theseus like that, but then I realized that it's going to be too stupid/cheesy to get angry about and I should just enjoy the lolz that'll come from it.)
So I started crying right at the get-go. Just a little, but there were tears as we zoomed in through the big metal WB in the sky. The last movie. The last movie of the last book in the biggest series of my childhood. Seeing as I turn eighteen on Thursday, this movie might as well have been the end of my childhood. That ... hurts.
I liked the way that the movie began, calm and slow in that beautiful house by the sea. But the story kept right on going, exposition and deals and epic bank heisting and such. The movie was really well paced and put together, it got a lot done without feeling like it was cramming things in, and it didn't feel long at all.
I cried so much during this movie. At one point I cried so hard my body was shaking with the sobs. That was what happened when they cut to that shot of Remus and Tonks dead on the floor. It was worse than when I read it in the book. It was all so much worse, knowing who was going to die and how and then seeing it happen on the big screen and clinging to my boyfriend and sobbing and trying not to sob so loud because there were other people in the theater.
(Not-so-fun-fact: when I read HP7 the first time I read the sentence to mean that Remus and Tonks were ALIVE and next to the Weasleys in the Great Hall, not that they were DEAD. Then I turned the page back, read it, cried, and started cursing J.K. Rowling for killing off two of my most favorite characters in such an offhand way, with a mere sentence, so brief that I mistook it for something else entirely.)
There were a lot of funny moments in this movie, surprisingly. Like, lots of moments where the audience laughed, and were meant to laugh, and it wasn't the desperate laugh of people who've been crying so much that they need something to laugh, no, it was genuine "hey, that was funny" laughter. (Filth sweeping up the rubble was a mixture of 'ha ha funny' laughter and 'oh god my soul hurts, I need to laugh at SOMETHING ... oh hey, Filch!' laughter.) They nicely contrasted the epic, horrible, tragic, perfect scenes of battle.
Why didn't they evacuate the younger students? It's bad enough that there were so many children, kids we've seen grow up, fighting to the death against big bad opponents, but hordes of screaming little kids running around? That made it so much more painful. Maybe that was the point. I don't know.
The whole of Slytherin House getting literally thrown in the dungeons bothers me. I didn't have space in my brain when reading and re-reading the book, to be bothered, but in the movie I was very bothered. Just because you felt independent and ambitious and a bit snobby when you were eleven that means you must be EVULZ and can't be trusted?
The effects in the battle scenes were great. Nothing extreme, but great. Consistent and inventive and nice to look at and perfect.
I hissed a lot of obscenities during this movie. Mostly at Voldemort. I flipped him off a couple times, too.
I think the first time I swore during the movie was when I saw the Quidditch Pitch on fire. FUCK NO! FUCK YOU DEATH EATERS! I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT BASEBALL BUT DON'T YOU FUCKING TAKE AWAY OUR QUIDDITCH!!!
I even whispered "you bastard!" at Dumbledore, after he told the emotionally distraught Severus Snape that Harry has Lily's eyes. Yes, I know why he did it, yes it worked, yes it was for the greater good, but it was still a dick move on his part and I call it like I see it.
I punched the air a couple of times. Mostly whenever Neville did something. Also when Molly fucking mopped the floor with Bellatrix. FUCK. YEAH! And when Narcissa pretended that Harry was dead. Oh Narcissa, you unsung heroine, you. I have such a soft spot for that little family unit, as horrible as they were, I think they paid for their sins.
The fact that Hogwarts got so destroyed really hurt, almost as much as character deaths, but stretched out over time it didn't quite hit me like, say, seeing Remus and Tonks dead on the floor (*sniffles*) It was like my childhood was symbolically being destroyed, brick by brick. (Ok, that's a bit harsh, but still, it really HURT to see all the iconic sets smashed up so bad.)
I LOVED the Helena Ravenclaw scene. The effects on her were fantastic and the actress was wonderful. I couldn't remember who she was during the movie, only that I'd seen her in something before. Yes, I had! In Finding Neverland, Nanny McFee, and The Girl in the Cafe!
Why didn't Neville lose his eye? I wanted to see him working a badass eyepatch! Did I mention that Neville is awesome? Because he is. Speech, sword, snake ... Neville, you've come a long way from the little boy who fell off his broom and lost his Remembrall. And you are fucking awesome. *salutes*
Was it just me, or did the movie seem to be teasing Neville/Luna there for a couple seconds?
The whole fire scene was scary and great, building up from a flicker in the corner to a room ablaze and the kids crawling up piles of stuff. When Goyle (I had to check the wiki, I knew it was Crabbe who set the fire in the books, but the actor wasn't in the movie because of a drug thing, so it was Goyle in the movie) fell and died it was horrifying to me, because this is a kid who just DIED, and his friend (Draco) just watched him die. There really aren't words for how awful that whole deal is. Children shouldn't be in war.
Voldemort getting handsy with Harry was such a guilty pleasure for me. Like, I've never shipped them (though I can see the potential for some great FoeYay fic there and might seek some out later) but come on, enemies flinging each other around is always grounds for me to get excited. Especially when one grabs the other by the throat (yum.) Oh, and that bit where he wrapped/strangled Harry in lengths of cloth? Um ... yeah, I'll be in my bunk.
Snake. Oh gods, SNAKE. I screamed once onto my boyfriend's shoulder during the movie, and I'm pretty sure it was because of the damn SNAKE. Also there were giant spiders for some reason, which was also very phobia-arousing for me.
I felt really bad for the werewolves, or whatever that horde of raggedy guys were supposed to be. In fact I felt bad for the giants too. They're oppressed minorities who were promised more rights and a chance to get revenge on the assholes who've been oppressing them for centuries, and they died like canon fodder instead.
Though the bridge exploding was EPIC.
I really liked the King's Cross bit (though I'll be having nightmares about the bit of Voldemort's soul. EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww!!!) and how it looked and everything.
My favorite part, though, would probably have to be the Snape flashbacks. Especially the ones of him and little Lily. Did you squee? I squeed. I squeed a lot. Am I the only one who thought that they looked kinda like kid versions of Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue, as seen in their video for Where the Wild Roses Grow? Even if I'm not, I'm probably the only one who went "awwwww, lookit! Baby Nick Cave!" I'm so glad we got to see as much as we did from them. I wanted more Snape flashbacks. I hope more got filmed, and they're on the deleted scenes of the DVD or something.
Things I didn't like:
How Ron was underused, especially in his relationship to Harry, and how Hermione's relationship to Harry was overplayed. I thought they made it perfectly clear in the last movie that Harry and Hermione are non-romantic-friends, but this movie seems to have forgotten that and pushed Ron into the background and dragged Hermione forward every so often to glomp Harry. It didn't bother me a LOT, but I did notice.
Snape not only arriving at the murder scene at Godric's Hollow, but also cradling Lily's dead body in his arms. That ... that was too much. I know why they did it, I know that they had to condense a lot of backstory into a couple of images, but that was too far. They should have used that time on clips of their falling-out and teenage Snape's Regretful Face, not an implausible scene that could easily become Narmy.
How Voldemort was really hammy and campy at times. For example: hugging Draco, WTF? I hissed "Bad touch! Bad touch!" to my boyfriend at that point. Ick.
The taunting-the-horde-on-the-bridge bit. It was out of place and kinda stupid for the movie to pull a move like that.
~*~
Ultimately, I need to see this movie again, many, many times, to truly form my opinion. At the moment I feel like it was a very good job at the second half of the final book, I cried a lot as I expected, I got some pleasantly surprising laughs, and while I'm very sad that it's over it was a proper end.
