Since the second half of DEATHLY HALLOWS comes out this week, and since it gives Snape his big scenes I want to see this film.  So, I figured I better catch up and watch the first half.  I picked up the disc at Hastings rather than wait on Netflix, and settled down after I got home last night.

I had been over at Ian’s watching the TORCHWOOD pilot on Starz.  More on that in a different post.  Anyway, I was home by 9:30, not really tired and wanted to watch the Harry Potter movie.

A few initial thoughts.  The kids have really grown into these roles and they turned in terrific and quite subtle performances.  I can’t help but love the world as envisioned.  They have really brought that universe to life.  I like the music.  I like the characters.  In short, I like Harry Potter.  The camping wasn’t quite as tedious as it was in the book, but I did fast forward through a part of it.  And thank god they finally explained to me what the hell the Deathly Hallows actually were.  Pictures can be very helpful.  🙂  Anyway, overall, I basically liked the film.  It was more ambitious and more successful than Thor or Green Lantern.  But —

I have a feeling if you haven’t read the books this film would be inexplicable.  All this talk about wands, and people grabbing each other’s wands, and these flashes of Harry’s visions of Voldemort and what he’s up to.  And the final scene where Voldemort is grave robbing and they don’t show you the face of the corpse he’s robbing until after he’s taken the wand, etc., etc., just felt confusing if you hadn’t read the books.

I still don’t understand why they went to Harry’s birthplace.  It didn’t make a lot of sense to me in the book either.  It was a nice and emotional and atmospheric scene, but I don’t know what it did to further the plot.  And in the film how they all decided to go see Lovejoy didn’t track for me.  I guess it was the symbol, but it seemed to come out of nowhere.

I’d be curious to hear from somebody who hasn’t read the books, but saw this movie.  Could you follow it all?