Blogtober Chapter 8: Let's Get Him Inside Before Someone Murders Him

If you've been reading my blog for more than three days, you're aware that I've loved Harry Potter for a long time.

I vividly remember when the final book, Deathly Hallows came out, in book form.  It's the first thing I can remember needing to actively avoid spoilers for, since I was determined not to know anything about it beforehand.  Everyday brought new fear that I'd read too much somewhere by accident and have the whole thing ruined, and this went on for months.

In recent years the fear I experienced then has only become more pronounced, since these days no one respects the idea of preserving a plot twist, or a cool moment, especially in movies.  I avoid trailers now, because the studios themselves seem to have no real investment in preserving any of the mystique.  But I digress.

I was lucky with Deathly Hallows, since I managed to dodge every bullet fired, so to speak.  The book came out on Saturday and, like every Saturday morning went to Wal-Mart for our grocery shopping.  The plan was to buy the book there that day, but I was terrified they would be sold out by the time I got there.  I had nothing to worry about;  there were actual shipping palettes stacked with copies of it, and one of those copies became mine.  Within 24 hours I had finished it.

That copy of the book is now packed away in my dad's apartment in Georgia, but one day it'll be here with me.

All this babble is here just to illustrate how important this book was to me.  Here was a story I had been following for years, from my childhood up through my late teens.  By the time this book came out, Harry and I were the same age, just like we were when I read the first book.  We had gone through this journey together, it was the seventh year for both of us, and all of it built up to this.

It did not disappoint.  It's not my favorite in the series, but it is quite near the top.  I don't know if any piece of media will ever be able to enthrall me for as long as this one did.

But for some weird reason, I never saw the two-part movie adapting the final book.

Let's fix that.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 (2010)

Blogtober Qualifications: Magic, dark lords, snakes, seven Daniel Radcliffes

*Spoiler warning for the entire Harry Potter series.  Goes without saying, really.*

The world is at war.  The Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his legions of Death Eaters no longer keep to even the slimmest veneer of secrecy.  They still manipulate and connive behind the scenes, but their return is no longer a secret.

Their goals are thus:

1. Rule the world
2. Oppress all muggle-kind, as well as anyone with muggle blood
3. Kill Harry Potter

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), as you might expect, has a problem with this.  He's also fed up with how many people have been hurt or killed trying to protect him.  So, with his best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), he sets out on a quest to destroy Voldemort's horcruxes and take down the Dark Lord once and for all.

So to begin with, I've only watched part 1 so far, and this review is based solely on my experience with it.  My review for Part 2 will be up tomorrow.

We'll start with the actors, specifically the three mains.  These actors are these characters.  The kids have grown up playing these characters, and by now it's like putting on a different pair of clothes.  Each of them gets a bit of time to shine, dramatically, and they all pull it off extremely well.  There's not much more to say, really.

Also, Emma Watson earns the distinction of being the first person to appear in Blogtober twice.  Pretty cool.

The other characters are, of course, played well, since nearly everyone is played by someone amazing.  It's a real who's who, but of course no one gets nearly as much focus as the main three.  For a drinking game, you could drink every time a new actor has appeared in Doctor Who or Game of Thrones (or Sweeney Todd, oddly enough).

Down your drink if both.

Most of the effects hold up better than I would have expected, although of course a lot of the CG is obvious now, particularly when it involves someone's face.  Nothing pulled me out of the story, though.

As for the story itself, well, it's the first half(ish) of the Deathly Hallows novel.  There are alterations here and there, both additions and subtractions, but most of them are minor.  I admit a couple of my favorite little character moments were excised, but I understand that other things take precedence.  Overall it seems pretty accurate, at least to my memory.

Like the novel, it's very dark, especially when you consider how it all started.  People die, permanently, others are maimed, there's distrust, mayhem, and destruction all over.  I know full well how everything turns out, and yet I still found myself getting tense during several scenes, more than I expected.  There's one scene in particular that would feel right at home in a straight-up horror movie, and it's done very well.

I understand that pacing is something that varies from person to person, and I'm honestly not sure how other people feel about this one.  For me, though, it was great.  The movie is two and a half hours long, but I never felt antsy or like I was ready for it to end.  Compare that to the ninety minute wonder from a couple days ago, which was an out-and-out slog to get through.  I can't say yet whether that excitement will hold up through part 2, but, as it is right now, I'm pretty excited to see more.

So, join me tomorrow, where we'll bring this two-parter (and the series) to a close.  It'll be interesting to see how it stacks up to how the last book made me feel, more than ten years ago.

Until next time!

Current interests:

Listening - Alice in Chains: Jar of Flies (1994)

Playing - Golf Story (2017)

Reading - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Return of the Master (2013)

Watching - Thunderbirds Are Go! (2015)