Quick, readers! Reach back into your collective knowledge for a moment: Can any of you recall a film series surviving with dignity past the third installment? Most burn out because they simply can't keep a momentum going, or ideas tend to arrive in short supply. Gimmicks start coming into the fold and differing visions will drag something into the ground. They all usually become ridiculous and sad.
Trilogies seem to work because the beginning, middle and end clause gets extrapolated over the allied number of films. They're not always perfect ("Jurassic Park," "Back to the Future," "The Matrix"), but we do have the likes of the original "Star Wars" and "The Lord of the Rings" off which to go.
All of this taken into account just makes the "Harry Potter" series that much more fascinating. Over 10 years and eight movies, there has been the gentle growth in maturity with the characters and the scope of the story that is just unheard of. Eight films with the same cast, the same creative driving force behind it, the same studio and the same multi-million dollar surplus reimbursement keep it going.
Now, I will start by saying I have not read all the books. All of the movies have passed over my eyes and through my ears with varying results of satisfaction, but I remember becoming completely uninterested and unwilling to continue halfway through No. 5.
This may be the point where some of you close the paper or flip to the next page. You may consider my admittance of aloofness in participating in the literary research that may, in fact, be dearly necessary for integrity. And in all likelihood, you're probably right. The experience is either more enriching or shallower because of how we come into it. And without prep, then something could definitely be amiss in the final verdict. To a certain extent, I apologize.
"The Deathly Hallows: Part 2" starts immediately with no intention of catching anyone up to speed. It's as if "Part 1" was shown just a few moments before and now everything can play out unbridled. Harry, Ron and Hermoine are still on the lam from the peering eye of Lord Voldemort (I still feel silly saying or typing that). They quickly jump from one location to another on a scavenger hunt of a distinguishing sort. Those in the know of their objective are less inclined to keep reading, so I won't bore you. Suffice to say, plans go awry as they always do for the trio and soon we're back at Hogwarts (still silly), ready for the final battle between good and evil. Which is perhaps why the journey doesn't feel entirely complete.
Director David Yates has taken the last four "Potter" movies into interesting new scenery. As the source material appeared to get thicker and more character driven, he delighted in taking on more of a tone-based narrative to explore the story. It didn't become wordy, and it didn't become bogged down with minutes upon agonizing minutes of exposition that would just lay flat on the screen. He's not afraid to let silence say everything.
Instead, he chose to animate insight for a deeper mood for the world these characters live in. Both "Deathly Hallows" films look and sound fantastic, but they can also be contextually confusing and a bit arid.
The atmosphere is that of impending doom, and for whatever reason, there is anti-climacticism burrowing through as well. The large fights happen in pretty big chunks and are really the highlight of the series. The biggest parts are wonderful from the look to the much-improved acting of the young main cast. Alan Rickman as Severus Snape shows a surprising amount of differentiation from his standard (but always cool) dead-pan delivery and slithering stride. Ralph Fiennes continues to be a menacing baddie, however weak his character may actually be in this installment.
What may be missing in the story could be what's over my head and lying in the text of the literature I didn't skim. It's probably an absence of thought, but it doesn't stop the nagging cloudiness of the big reveal or the rapid disposal/re-emergence of characters that have taken prominence in several of the films and don't receive much in return.
The film is essentially an addendum for what couldn't fit in the last one. It made perfect fiscal sense for Warner Bros. to split this up into two moneys … I mean movies. Excuse my Freudian slip. But with an extended curfew to work with, it still feels a bit rushed and unevenly stuffed with fanfare sycophancy.
A four-hour conclusion instead of two, two-hour confessionals would have been terrific. "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" was a tense, intriguing calm before the storm. "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" is the storm that can't quite muster up every bit of hype that's been expected of it, but is still a luminous cap to an abnormally good series. Whether we want to admit it, we grew up with Harry Potter and/or alongside it. It's part of our canon, and that's something to hold in VERY high regard.
spenseralbertsen@dailynebraskan.com
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!