A few weeks back, I was able to catch an IMAX screening of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. "Warner Bros. put on marathon screenings of all eight films over the span of a week, and I made sure to catch one of my favorite films of all time. With just under a week to go until "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" hits theaters, I thought I'd take this opportunity to revisit our last foray into the wizarding world.
"Deathly Hallows" had very high expectations to live up to. Fans cheered when it was announced that WB made the bold decision to split the final chapter of Harry's adventure into two films, thus giving us the complete story we've been missing since the early installments. Though it wasn't perfect, and missed out on much of Dumbledore's backstory and some of the lore of the Deathly Hallows, it made for a satisfying ending.
"Part Two" sends you right into the action and doesn't stop until it's over. One thing that I've always preferred about the film adaptation over the book is it feels more organized. Once Harry arrives at Hogwarts, the events happen in a concise order that makes sense. He sneaks into formation with the other students, and then the panic begins as the hunt for the final horcruxes begins simultaneously with the battle. I remember the novel being more all over the place, as Harry's mind was racing from one event to the next.
It's not all perfect though, and one thing upsets me in this particular film more than the others. I feel the final battle, after it is revealed that Harry is still alive, was pretty botched. I'm okay with the battle being more "hollywoodized" with more visually going on than was depicted in the book. I just don't agree with the decision to remove almost all of the dialogue between Harry and Voldemort in the final moments. In the book, Harry takes on the Dumbledore role and lectures Tom Riddle as if he can find one last bit of humanity before his death. In the movie, Voldemort slaps Harry around for five minutes without much being said. And for some strange reason, the deaths of Bellatrix and Voldemort make little sense because their bodies essentially become confetti upon death. It's a strange and laughable choice in retrospect.
But it all comes together nicely in the end. Part Two remains one of my favorite movies to date for so many reasons. The visual effects are the series' best, and I'll never forget seeing the destruction of Hogwarts on the big screen for the first time. And we can't forget the Snape flashbacks in the pensieve. The late Alan Rickman gave the best performance of the whole series and redeemed his character once and for all. I've been waiting for five and a half years to go back to that world, and this week I'll finally get that chance.
