Felt Like I'd Been Hit With a Cruciatus Curse

Rating: 6/10 (21 July 2011)

I was a late-comer to the Harry Potter series. I saw the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time right before the Half Blood Prince came out. Within a month of that first experience with the wizarding world, I saw all the films and read all the books thrice. I was hooked.
The books are excellent in that they capture the innocence of youth and the pain of reality in a beautiful dichotomy that both kids and adults can relate with and enjoy. They are engaging, flow extremely well, and keep you on your toes the whole way through. They're as much mystery as fantasy, making the reader a part of the discovery process, and are a delight to read.
The films, up to this point, portrayed those concepts brilliantly. The first two were bright, fun, and drew you in to a fascinating, surprising world. The middle three began to slowly grow darker, pulling you deeper into the emotions, fears, and relationships of the characters. The sixth and first half of the seventh saw the characters you had grown to love being forced to grow up quickly, confront their fears, and fight for their lives. It was with great excitement that I went into this final film...knowing that it was to house both the climax of the action and the final resolution.
Following the movie, I walked out of the theater unsatisfied and annoyed. I'm not going to go on a tirade about what was left out that was in the books. That has been done exhaustively already. Instead, I will simply say that this movie "missed it."
It missed the pain of the story. The physical pain of hot treasure in the vault was omitted. The emotional pain of Fred, Lupin, and Tonks' deaths seemed an afterthought, being given about 20 seconds. Where was the pain of Hagrid thinking Harry dead? Where was the pain of Helena Ravenclaw and her tragedy with the Bloody Baron? Where was Draco's pain, having lost two of his closest "friends?" The answer, there wasn't any. No pain at all.
It missed the drama and emotion of the story. Aberforth had no emotion at all in his 10 second tirade on his brother (before Harry dismissed the conversation). The pensieve scenes were short, awkward, and didn't explain much of anything. Alan Rickman's tears while holding Lily were the only believable emotion in the entire film. And then there was Harry going to his death. Instead of him leaving the headmaster's office alone and walking straight to the forest, it saw him awkwardly informing Hermione of his plan, receiving an even more awkward hug, and then having an even more awkward talk with his parents, Serius, and Lupin (you'd think having only been able to talk to his parents for about 20 seconds during the priori incantatum in the graveyard in his life, that he'd at least look at his father more than once). Snape died in a boathouse instead of the symbolic shrieking shack where so many historical events had occurred. Neville's speech was embarrassing, and Voldemort's mannerisms after he thought Harry dead were laughable. The acting just seemed forced the entire way through. Emma and Rupert had no chemistry...seeming uncomfortable around each other. Overall, I wasn't drawn in, I was just watching things happen on a screen.
It missed the action of the story. Yes, that's right. I don't care how many statues, giants, or dragon you have. I wanted to see Voldemort dueling three people at once. I wanted to see Kingsley Shacklebolt tearing into someone. I wanted to see Molly fight for more than 8 seconds with Bellatrix (and a little more passion in her cussing the woman who had just almost killed her daughter would have been nice). I wanted to see house elves stabbing people in the ankles with knives and centaur arrow wounds. Instead, I got a lot of giants with big sticks, a bridge exploding, and 3 minutes of chasing a snake around. The battles in the books were so good because real people whom you knew and really wanted to win fought them. This just looked like the fight scene at the end of Russell Crowe's Robin Hood with wands.
Finally, it missed the closure of the story. Voldemort was not killed in a single, decisive moment. Instead, it consisted of 10 minutes of rolling, flying, physical punching (by the most powerful wizard in the world), and eventually a standoff where no words were spoken and Voldemort died by breaking into pieces and floating away. That might work in Transformers, but not the Potterverse. The bridge scene at the end with the disposal of the Elder Wand looked like they threw it in because they forgot to film anything else, and the epilogue was painfully awkward.
While the movie had good special effects, it sadly played out more like a smash-fest Transformers than an emotionally charged Gladiator or Braveheart. It had some humor, but that was the closest thing to real emotion or drama you could find. Here's to Snape...the single redeeming factor in the entire film. I'm sorry to see the franchise go out this way. Maybe they'll release an extended edition that will redeem it somewhat. Here's to hoping.