Waste of film, waste of money, waste of time

Rating: 2/10 (27 November 2010)

I have a hard time believing that Yates and the producers/screenwriter behind this will be able to salvage HP 7.2 after what I just saw in HP 7.1, basically too much muggle, too little magical, too much profit motive (cutting actors, cutting scenes, cutting transitions), too little attention to details and the story plot upfront during production (probably to keep costs down).
Furthermore, too many of Rowling's somewhat intricate, yet highly logical story threads have to merge in HP 7.2 for the ending to make any sense, unless plans are to change the ending itself, which will make a mockery of Rowling's masterpiece. (I doubt if she's had any "creative control" over HP since she signed over the film rights. It shows. But does she care?).
Spoiler alert: Harry's unique invisibility cloak "vanishes" again (like at the end of HP 6), which if carried over to HP 7.2 will entail a major rewrite of events. I didn't know that Death Eaters and Voldemort could fly without brooms, unless the brooms are hidden behind the black smoke FX. Dementors cut. Petronuses shakily rendered or cut entirely. Krum cut.
And once again, everything murky, with a washed-out dull look, as if shot through a dirty, grime-covered lens, as if the director/cinematographer had one of Voldemort's horcruxes dangling around his/their neck, affecting their minds, with darkness being projected, almost no light or vibrant colors as contrast, to highlight the innocence (light, love, non-murderous, merciful) versus evil (darkness, hate, murder, mercilessness) theme of the HP books.
It will take a miracle (or some powerful magic) to save HP 7.2 from being a disjointed repeat of HP 7.1. Only the heavy use of flashbacks will help the audience understand Rowling's grand finale, connecting the dots, as it were, because of all the cuts already made, for brevity and to increase profits. How will Yates and company wrap it all up? Will they continue to turn the magical into the mundane of their muggle way of thinking, turning HP into just another "campy" soap opera? I'm curious. I will be seeing HP 7.2 next year, therefore, just to see how Yates and company tie together all the loose ends (or not). Otherwise, I'm sticking with the vivid images invoked by Rowling's excellent story, with her entirely-logical sequence of events based on her consistent magical world rules, with lightness offsetting darkness and darkness offsetting lightness, but with lightness, and love, and innocence, and kindness, and friendship winning in the end.