When I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, I screamed at the very end when Captain Barbosa walked onto the screen. Although I knew the plot, I was expecting a similar sort of cliff-hanger at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1. When the movie finally ended, I was left thinking “that was it?”
Deathly Hollows has already grossed $609.6 million worldwide, but after seeing the movie the Monday after opening weekend, I am glad that I chose not to stay up and watch the midnight showing Nov. 19.
The plot was fast-paced, but similar to the last two Harry Potter movies, it leaves out many aspects of the book it represents. Because this is only the first half of the book and still runs for over two hours by itself, the producers could not logistically have kept much more of the plot.
I read Deathly Hollows in eight hours the night it was released in stores. Yet, I had to pay close attention to the movie to keep from getting lost or confused; the movie seemed to jump from one fight scene to the next without much commentary or explanation in between. I have no idea how people who have not read the books could ever follow the storyline.
Other annoying aspects of the movie are the long fade-into-black scene endings. They distracted me from the movie and the action taking place.
With that said, the special effects were excellent. I remember one vivid scene in Godric’s Hollow when Nagini (the snake) appears out of nowhere. Everyone in the theater jumped and half of the people screamed.
The ending is miserable. There are not many happy places to divide Deathly Hallows into two movies but watching a funeral cannot be considered even remotely positive. Rather than encouraging me to see the second half, the ending makes me want to avoid the deaths to come.
In an interview, Daniel Radcliffe stated that Part 1 is “so sedate compared to what the next one is going to be like. The next film, because you’ve had all the plot set up already, you can just kind of enjoy the insanity of all the action.”
Part 1 seemed like an action-packed road trip in which the characters had no idea where they were going or what they were doing until someone threw them a bone. If the next movie is any more action-packed, I am afraid that there will be very little plot and only a tremendous amount of special effects.
Overall, the movie is good, but I do not believe it deserves the hype it has received. I recommend seeing it eventually, but do not spend $10 to go see it in theaters. Unless you are a die-hard fan (in which case you have probably already seen it), just wait until it comes out on DVD.
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