Episode fifty-five. Join hosts Trevor and Jason as they discuss the past weekend at the box office, Nov 11-13, 2011. Immortals, Jack and Jill, J Edgar. We also discuss Brad Pitt retiring from acting, Roland Emmerich’s Singularity being put on hold, the last Harry Potter movie, and lots of other random movie news.
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Excellent analysis by Trevor about the last Harry Potter film. I was disappointed by Part II myself. I thought that there were too many simple solutions to complicated problems. The film failed to emotionally invest the audience into the events and characters. Furthermore, the film had to narrate (through flashbacks or other cinematic devices) what was going on in the film to wrap up the story. This deprived the audience of, perhaps, more dramatic moments that the movie lacked.
I also found the parade of minor characters who performed cameos for the sake of stirring nostalgia for the previous films to be irritating at best. Many of these characters had nothing to do or say. In fact, we see some characters before a great battle and then we see them dead after the battle. What a lost opportunity to create tension and tug at the heartstrings by seeing beloved characters going down during a momentous fight. Instead we are left wondering if maybe these characters weren’t that important after all.
The film also had many inconsistent moments. At one point, Harry Potter hated Professor Snape and the next Potter felt sorry for Snape (I don’t wish to spoil the scenes for those who don’t know what happens) with no justification or explanation of the change of heart. Then there are speeches at dramatic moments that fall short of inspiring and border on irritating and cliched.
I think this film missed many opportunities for greatness. The screen writer/director failed to create the drama, tension, and excitement this film should have had. A pity one of the great movie series ended with a whimper rather than a roar. I wish Warner Bros. would go back, re-film certain parts, re-edit scenes, and make this a great film instead of what it is–mediocre.
Mike, I hated what they did to Snape in this. To be fair on Yates I haven’t read this book so I don’t know how off the beaten path they went, but this movie is the last half of a second act and mostly a third. Which makes sense as this is Part 2, but breaking that story into two parts has created a second movie that is too drawn out.
I completely agree with the complaint about the minor characters, and I’ll add to that. I feel like Neville Longbottom was robbed. In the movies they make a big deal about him and Beatrix Lestrange, such that she was the leader of the group that tortured his parents. I remember the movies stressing this point, that he wanted revenge on her, and [SPOILER] in the end she goes down in a weak fight against Molly Weasly, Ron’s mom. [END SPOILER] Yes as far as I understand it’s in the book, but it would have been more powerful had he gotten her than to simply defy Voldemort and [SPOILER] kill the snake, which if you didn’t see that coming you weren’t paying attention at all. [END SPOILER] And yes I know about the prophecy crap saying he would do that, but why couldn’t he have done both. Personally I think things need to be changed for film sometimes, rather than sticking so closely to the source material. No matter how hard it pains people, the film audience is different than the book audience, and their expectations are based on the movies, not on the books. When and what to change is the hard part.
To be fair I think we were all robbed by this movie. What could have been a powerful ending to a wonderful story was a flat uninspired mess that left me feeling nothing more than contempt for the storytellers that would weave such an intricate world only to tear it down in a meaningless manner.
Well put. I agree with your assessment about the differences between books and films. They are two different mediums. For a book to make the bestseller list, it only has to sell a couple thousand copies (so I have been told). If people only bought a couple thousand tickets to a film it would be a flop.
Furthermore, a book has the luxury of time to explain and detail a scene. A film must move faster and excessive details tend to bore an audience rather than enhance the experience. Yes, this last Potter film was a disappointment.
Excellent analysis by Trevor about the last Harry Potter film. I was disappointed by Part II myself. I thought that there were too many simple solutions to complicated problems. The film failed to emotionally invest the audience into the events and characters. Furthermore, the film had to narrate (through flashbacks or other cinematic devices) what was going on in the film to wrap up the story. This deprived the audience of, perhaps, more dramatic moments that the movie lacked.
I also found the parade of minor characters who performed cameos for the sake of stirring nostalgia for the previous films to be irritating at best. Many of these characters had nothing to do or say. In fact, we see some characters before a great battle and then we see them dead after the battle. What a lost opportunity to create tension and tug at the heartstrings by seeing beloved characters going down during a momentous fight. Instead we are left wondering if maybe these characters weren’t that important after all.
The film also had many inconsistent moments. At one point, Harry Potter hated Professor Snape and the next Potter felt sorry for Snape (I don’t wish to spoil the scenes for those who don’t know what happens) with no justification or explanation of the change of heart. Then there are speeches at dramatic moments that fall short of inspiring and border on irritating and cliched.
I think this film missed many opportunities for greatness. The screen writer/director failed to create the drama, tension, and excitement this film should have had. A pity one of the great movie series ended with a whimper rather than a roar. I wish Warner Bros. would go back, re-film certain parts, re-edit scenes, and make this a great film instead of what it is–mediocre.
Mike, I hated what they did to Snape in this. To be fair on Yates I haven’t read this book so I don’t know how off the beaten path they went, but this movie is the last half of a second act and mostly a third. Which makes sense as this is Part 2, but breaking that story into two parts has created a second movie that is too drawn out.
I completely agree with the complaint about the minor characters, and I’ll add to that. I feel like Neville Longbottom was robbed. In the movies they make a big deal about him and Beatrix Lestrange, such that she was the leader of the group that tortured his parents. I remember the movies stressing this point, that he wanted revenge on her, and [SPOILER] in the end she goes down in a weak fight against Molly Weasly, Ron’s mom. [END SPOILER] Yes as far as I understand it’s in the book, but it would have been more powerful had he gotten her than to simply defy Voldemort and [SPOILER] kill the snake, which if you didn’t see that coming you weren’t paying attention at all. [END SPOILER] And yes I know about the prophecy crap saying he would do that, but why couldn’t he have done both. Personally I think things need to be changed for film sometimes, rather than sticking so closely to the source material. No matter how hard it pains people, the film audience is different than the book audience, and their expectations are based on the movies, not on the books. When and what to change is the hard part.
To be fair I think we were all robbed by this movie. What could have been a powerful ending to a wonderful story was a flat uninspired mess that left me feeling nothing more than contempt for the storytellers that would weave such an intricate world only to tear it down in a meaningless manner.
Well put. I agree with your assessment about the differences between books and films. They are two different mediums. For a book to make the bestseller list, it only has to sell a couple thousand copies (so I have been told). If people only bought a couple thousand tickets to a film it would be a flop.
Furthermore, a book has the luxury of time to explain and detail a scene. A film must move faster and excessive details tend to bore an audience rather than enhance the experience. Yes, this last Potter film was a disappointment.