Updated on July 22nd, 2011, after I saw the movie a second time, which I felt the need to do, because I missed so much the first time. A few points about the music were added, plus more about Dumbledore’s “turning a line” in King’s Cross Station, as well as a paragraph (the second) about how allegorically awesome this film truly is.

Because I attended LeakyCon 2011, I was able to see Deathly Hallows, Part 2, a good six hours before midnight. It was an awesome experience, seeing the film with die-hard fans, followed by many great opportunities to discuss the movie with those fans afterwards. But, after heading others thoughts on the movie, what did I think about it? Continue reading, and I will give you my opinions on this final Harry Potter film adaptation.

The movie picks up right away from where the previous movie left off. We see the last scene again from Part 1, the one when Voldemort steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore’s grave. After that scene, we see Snape overlooking Hogwarts, where students are being forced to march into the school in groups, as though they’re in some concentration camp. It is so eerie, and yet, so perfect. Snape isn’t Hitler, and yet, he is doing Hitler’s/Voldemort’s bidding (until his true self is revealed after his death). The whole story, both movie and novel, but the movie does such a great job at portraying it, is an incredible allegory for WWII. Ugh. I love the symbolism so much.

From there, we return to Shell Cottage, where a one Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) has the first line in the movie. Harry talks to Ollivander and Griphook and begins to formulate his plans to break into Gringott’s bank. These few opening scenes move very quickly, which means we come to the final battle fairly quickly, which leaves more time for intense action and drama.

Bellatrix acting like Hermione is absolutely priceless, but the “rainbow dust” effect when Harry casts the Imperius curse on the goblin is absolutely not priceless. Granted, I didn’t like the “milky eye” effect on Viktor Krum in Goblet of Fire, but I thought even that was better than this. I understand that when making a movie, there is no narrator to explain that a character has been Imperiused, and what happens to a character when that curse is cast; therefore, movie makers have to come up with some effect that conveys this to the audience. Neither one works for me.

Once Harry and the others arrive at Hogwarts for the battle, this is where the movie gets really intense and dramatic. Almost as soon as they arrive there and the action begins, there was continuous sobbing from the audience until the end of the movie, and for good reason. There are some very poignant scenes and incredible performances by the actors in this film, especially in the last, most dramatic, half of the movie:

McGonagall, when she casts the spell to make the Hogwarts statues come alive and “protect the boundaries”, says afterwards, “I’ve always wanted to use that spell!” Some may not like that line. I mean, Minerva is a very stoic person, but I don’t think that means she doesn’t have feelings or desires. I think it’s a very human line with a very human emotions behind it and not uncharacteristic of her to say. In the end, from a movie-maker’s perspective, it makes for good comic relief from the intense battle that is currently raging. Actually, Professor McGonagall’s line is balanced by Molly Weasley’s now-common look of despair while standing next to her. We saw it in Half-Blood Prince while her house was on fire, again in Deathly Hallows, Part 1, when Kingsley’s Patronus says, “They are coming”, and now we see it once again. I won’t say that it’s overkill. Actually, her hopeless expression in each of these movies pulls at my heart strings every time. I would also like to point out that the theme, “Statues”, from the soundtrack is my absolute favorite from this film. Actually, the same theme is also in “Courtyard Apocalypse”, making it another track I love. I also love “Lily’s Theme”/”Snape’s Demise”.

It’s been said by some that Alan Rickman deserves an Oscar for his role in this film. Perhaps a nomination, but depending on the other nominees, probably not an Oscar. The Harry Potter film series is a great series, but I don’t think it can compare to Lord of the Rings in terms of “sweeping the Oscars”, as it did, winning 13 Oscars back in 2003 for the final film in the series “Return of the King”. Alan’s performance, however, was indeed unlike anything we’ve seen from him as Snape so far. Once again, heart wrenching would describe the scenes from “The Prince’s Tale” chapter. Snape, so in love with Lily, holding her body after her death, weeping uncontrollably… that’s just not something you normally see from Snape. Some might think it isn’t fitting with the book, since the house should have been destroyed when Voldemort’s curse rebounded, but it certainly pulls at the heart strings to have Snape return there afterwards to find her. I personally don’t think I stopped sobbing after Snape told Harry, while dying, that he had his mother’s eyes, and I like that he released his memories through a single tear.

After Harry saw the memories, after he realized that he must die, another incredible scene follows—Harry, rather than going off on his own, in his bravery, not wanting to bother anyone with this new ill news, instead, he finds and tells Ron and Hermione. Hermione’s reaction to this news is also tear-jerking. I realize it’s not canon, but I do prefer this scene to Harry’s blind bravery in the book. “I open at the close” is one of my favorite scenes from the book, and it was well done in the film too. Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius came back, and when Harry asks his mom, Lily, whether they will stay with him until the end, when he dies, she reflects Snape’s line to Dumbledore when he shows him his new Patronus, the doe, which he changed to honor Lily, and Dumbledore asks him about his love for Lily: always. It is a great line, when you disregard the Walmart connotation.

When Harry arrives at the white King’s Cross, he sees the fetus-Voldemort first, which is truly disgusting, but afterwards, he speaks with Dumbledore. Some fans might disagree with me on this, but I actually thought Dumbledore’s speech here was a nice change. Some fans didn’t like it, but changing “ask for it” to “deserve it”, ties into the upcoming scene where Neville pulls the Gryffindor sword from the hat, which only comes to those who are “deserving” Gryffindors. So that makes sense, and it answers Harry’s question about what to do after he leaves King’s Cross. Dumbledore says all of this immediately after Harry tells him that there is one more Horcrux left–Nagini–but they have nothing to kill it with, because, at that point, they no longer had the sword. The Sorting Hat presents the sword of Gryffindor to Neville, because he is worthy of it. Because of this scene’s context among the surrounding scenes, I truly think Dumbledore’s words make perfect sense.

I didn’t like that there was so little Trelawney… I wanted to see her fight with her crystal balls. Or Sprout. Or Slughorn. Maybe those scenes were cut? As far as the other adults: Lupin and Tonks were in the film very briefly, but you do see their bodies on the Great Hall floor, which is, in itself, a very heart wrenching moment. Kingsley’s Star-Wars-force-like repelling spell against a Death Eater, who freezes for a moment in space and then flies backwards out of Hogwarts is intensely incredible. Molly Weasley was also magnificent. Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) has said during an interview (PotterCast, 7/15/11) that the movie-makers had considered cutting her big line, “NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!”, but in the end, this movie was truly made for the fans, as Evanna emphasized, and there would have been hell to pay from the fans if that very, very popular line was not in the movie. I know I for one cheered immensely when I read the line in the book.

I didn’t like the deaths of two adults, though: Voldemort did not die with a very mundane finality. However, neither did Bellatrix die “normally”. They both, essentially exploded, Voldemort’s remains falling in 3D on the screen like confetti at a parade. Leading up to Voldemort’s death, Harry falling with Voldemort from a tower only to end up in a courtyard with him for the final duel was NOT a nice change, to me. The black smoke, combining heads effect maybe was a nice effect from a movie standpoint, but it’s not canon and it just doesn’t make sense. Yes, they can touch one another now, but we already learned that in the fourth movie.

Another non-canon event was Harry’s dueling with Voldemort on the stairs before the final duel with him… I didn’t like that either, but I suppose it set up for a non-book audience that Harry is a actually powerful wizard (at 17), and a worthy adversary for this great sorcerer. What I didn’t like most about Harry’s final battle with Voldemort was that there was no one there to see it. I desperately wanted to see the cheers that Jo describes in the novel. Normally I am not such a die-hard book purist. Movies are a separate medium, which I enjoy very much on a separate level. But my absolute favorite passage from ALL of the books are the two paragraphs following Voldemort’s death, following Voldemort’s body falling to the ground with a mundane finality, as Tom Riddle is completely human once more.

One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him, and the first to reach him were Ron and Hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him. Then Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there, and then all the Weasleys and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, and Harry could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, nor tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last – The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts, and the Great Hall blazed with life and light. Harry was an indispensable part of the mingled outpourings of jubilation and mourning, of grief and celebration.

I wanted that scene to be more like the way it was portrayed in the book, but I was utterly disappointed by this.

Harry deciding to break the Elder Wand in half rather than reburying it with Dumbledore after fixing his wand, I actually thought was a NICE change. Yes, Harry should not have been able to split such a powerful wand in half, but maybe as the proper owner, he could do that. He didn’t repair his Phoenix wand first, but he does have Draco’s wand, plus if he wanted, he could go to Ollivander’s to buy a new one, to let a new wand choose the NEW wizard, which he truly is. I do like that Harry once owned a wand with one of two feathers from Fawkes as its core, but I didn’t like that the other feather resided inside Voldemort’s wand. However, it made sense, because Harry shared this connection with Voldemort. But, after Voldemort’s death, the connection is finally and irrevocably broken. What does this mean? I think it would be in Harry’s best interest and definitely within Harry’s desires to be a “normal wizard”, as he always seemed to want throughout his years at Hogwarts, and put his fame behind him, to have a new wand. Harry is, after all, a new wizard, so I do think he should have a new wand. I do like this end.

King’s Cross again: I so wish we had seen more of Teddy Lupin. I wish something could have been said about him so we can know that he’s okay. However, I thought they did a great job of aging the characters that we did see. Harry has golden circle-rimmed glasses now rather than black, and Ginny looks incredible. His words to Albus Severus Potter were priceless. The last glimpse of all the movies, of the four characters, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny, after ten years in the making, really hit me hard, and for a time, sent me into a post-Potter depression. Thankfully, the day after seeing the early screening of the movie, I was able to get an inside peek in to Pottermore, which renewed my excitement for the future of Potter.