Monday, December 06, 2010

Takes

A short review (or is it?) of a movie after a long lapse. Was sitting in my Drafts folder for close to two weeks and any later posting of it may not make any sense. :-D

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part I

Image courtesy: Wikipedia
First time in my life, I have gone to a movie on the second day of its release. :-D This is strictly a movie for the fans, and not for the generalist who doesn't have an intro into Harry Potter (HP). Still if you insist on going, it is like seeing a portion of a narration, which seems out of context and with no clue of what is happening or what happened or why and the plethora of characters that come and go and the gobbledegook that permeates it.

There is always a 'coolness' about waving wands for tricks and special effects which radiate light from the wands as they are used and charms/spells that spell doom or otherwise, being uttered with all fury on the opponent. I love the HP movies for some of their special effects, wit and charm of the leads and most of the time for having you lose yourself in their world. My reading of the books stopped after book 2, but Señora has run through all of them at least twice.

Voldemort is stronger than ever and with more screen presence this time, takes over Hogwarts and installs his cronies, and in the meanwhile continuing his quest to finish off Harry Potter. This is a dark movie, with no smiles from any of the lead faces except for maybe a short 2 minute duration in a 2.5 hour movie. There is humour in a few scenes, few in-between, some subtle and the rest are all simmering with ominous dread. There is no familiar environment of Hogwarts and the story takes place fully outside its precincts. Harry, Hermione and Ron, pull the movie forward with sufficient chemistry between them. Reminds to an extent of the Eclipse movie saga. Some of the scenery where the characters apparate to, is mindblowingly gorgeous (England/Scotland?) and seems like a painting right out of a Wordsworth poem.

One more horcrux of Voldemort is destroyed and Voldemort vandalizes the tomb of Dumbledore to steal his wand which is one of the three deathly hallows (the meaning and story of which is flashed back as puppet type imagery), and the movie ends for its sequel, I couldn't help wondering, how much knots still need to be uncovered, how many wands would clash, how the revenges would be taken in the good vs. evil fight and how many deaths including the most awaited one of Voldemort, can be crammed into 2.5 to 3 hours when the final movie races out in July next year. Till that time, I need to read the books again.

If you are a Harry Potter fan, this one leaves you somewhat unsatiated and looking forward for the finale as sufficient tension has been built up and it is freeze-frame for another 8 months. If you are not, nothing to miss, I mean, you miss nothing.

7 comments:

Swaram said...

Nothing to miss for me :P
Somehw, ws never able to make myself a fan of HP :P

RS said...

Very sorrry Rammmm. Somehow, Harry potter and Dan brown don't impress me at all :D :D :D. Call it the fear of hype or whatever :D

Appu said...

Hmm good you watched it so early. Surprising to know it was Señora who has read through twice! I saw a person who was reading the book after watching the movie to get a clarity. There was another hard core HP fan who said, this is the best HP movie. Though i haven't read the books and having watched all the previous versions in the recent past cant wait to watch this!

Ramesh said...

Completely uninterested in the views of Senor.

Can El Nino and La Nina write this post please :):):):)

RamNarayanS said...

@Swaram-:-D Good. 7 less books to read for you. :-D

@RS-Harry Potter, maybe okay. :-| You could have considered it juvenile. ;-) How many did you manage to complete? BTW, have you read Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)? I am surprised with your comment on Dan Brown :-D. Digital Fortress was all baloney. I liked Angels and Demons far better than Da Vinci Code. I have not read his other two. :) Anyway, it is all fiction. :-D

@zeno-Got the tickets without much huff-and-puff. Hence the viewing. Oh! Don't see this movie without its predecessors or the books. Would be horribly boring. தலை எது கால் எதுன்னு தெரியாது :-)

@Ramesh-:-( Hmm... La Niña and El Niño, both liked the movie. Umpteen queries during the movie for Señora to answer. I 'kind of' deciphered the goings-on aided by Señora's comments on one end and that of another girl on the other explaining key scenes and characters to her mom. Not to mention that I had seen the earlier movies as well. :-)

chennaigirl said...

Sorry out of syllabus. No idea.

RamNarayanS said...

neenga padikkum pohdhu eppadeenga samaalichcheenga? unga subjectla (CA) nerayya 'out of syllabus' ellaam irukkumae? :-)