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Sooooo,

What did you guys think of it?

Personally, at the moment I have no complaints. Many times during the movie I was blown away actually. Granted this is the first time I've seen it and I tend to need to get over the awe before really taking it in. But, I've obsessively read DH over and over again... and I really didn't pick up on anything to prudent to be missing.

Only thing what so ever I can think of is... what about the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black?

Truly epic.

Other thoughts?

Going to see it tomorrow so I will let you know my reviews when I see it!I can't wait!

I liked it. Far better than expected. And the story about the three brother was amazingly well done.

I thought it was pretty good, definitely in the better half of the series, but not as strong as the sixth. David Yates definitely has a great visual sense, and the filmmaking is often very strong, but in a lot of ways this film is kind of a disaster.
The biggest problem is that it is of course only one half of the whole so you know from the outset that their isn't going to be any resolution or satisfying ending and that robs the film of any sense of purpose.
It's awkwardly paced: it is breathless and ponderous in equal measure. It both feels like its in a hurry but doesn't go anywhere. Its very episodic and scenes seem to just happen rather than follow in a logical, continuous narrative. As with most of the films, it lacks the texture of the books, but can't make up for it with visceral thrills.

That said, there are plenty of moments to like in this movie. It is in many ways the most daringly artistic, and the freest of any of films. The one plus side of having two parts for the last book is that more can be included in the film and they can give the elements of the book the appropriate amount of attention that they deserve. There are a couple great action set pieces, in particularly the snake attack. Writer Steve Kloves who I normally don't like gives us probably his most sophisticated screenplay. This is a film adaptation that offers a genuine interpretation of a source material that is true to the book while at the same time clearly original. Much of what he adds that wasn't in the book is consistent with the sensibilities of the book. ONe character's death scene is particularly poignant, which i was not expecting, and tonally, the film is more compelling and confident that the earliest entries.

To sum up...

The Good

meeting hermione's parents
The "rape" scene (did not expect the film-makers to pick this up from the book)
The snake attack
Foot chase from Snatchers (a la paul greengrass)
Alan Rickman's performance (for the whole 2 minutes he's on screen)
Dobby's Death scene
Ralph Fiennes's performance
Characterization of Bellatrix
Scenes at Malfoy Manor that open and close the film

The Bad

It's split in two parts when it's not supposed to be.
Ginny's "zip me up"
Daniel Radcliff doesn't have enough to do
Awkward pacing
New cinematographer and composer can't equal the work done by their predecessors (6th film)
Opening chase with the 7 Harry's
Hedwig's death (here she is and there she goes)
Opening chase


The Ugly
Harry and Hermione naked
Harry and Hermione dancing
The shadow puppet sequence (i'm glad it was in there though)
Most of the scenes in the tent. (Not bad, but reeaally ugly, like twilight ugly)

overall, i'd say it was about a 6/10. An example of good film-making, but not a good film. Again, the biggest problem is that it's going nowhere and it takes forever to get there (2 1/2 hours? Really??)

Originally posted by Rapscallion
I thought it was pretty good, definitely in the better half of the series, but not as strong as the sixth.
You lost me there. The sixth was hands down the worst of the series. Yates focused way to much on the teenage angst and not nearly enough on the actual story.

I'm not much for technical pros/cons in movies. I just know I got chills watching the entire 7 Potters part.

Most of it was awesome. Almost nothing to complain about, which is weird to say about a Potter film.

Dispite what it skiped out and I did not like Dobby in this one I thought it was the best Harry Potter movie out of the others!
Also what rape scene?

I loved Dobby in it. He seemed much more like the book then his past appearances on screen.

Yes... what rape scene? I'm utter lost on that one...

This film is perfection.

Although minus points a bit for the let's make a point that the locket is Ron's deepest fear.

Because really? Did they need to be so obviously naked? And the minute of full on snoggation. And extremely awkward few moments with the "Zip me up?" Thank God there was George there, with sticking out of his ex-ear.

Is she means the part with Lestrange and Hermonie I want to say that she was not being raped but just getting mudblood bunt on her arms.

The rape scene was never shown, in book or film. In fact, it's just guesswork and intuition, so that may not be what happened after all.

It has to do with Ariana, who is Albus and Aberforth's younger sister, the youngest of the Dumbledore family. Her magic is not fully explained, it's just said that, as all wizards do, young wizards go through a period in which they gain their magic, and because it's tied with emotion and skill, it can be really, really unpredictable. Ariana turned out to be really powerful, but didn't have the will to control it, so she was kept back from school and forced to live at home with her mother. So she gets more and more frustrated, and her magic keeps going haywire, and one day she makes a rare visit outside - and does magic. This happens when she's... like.. eight? And two Muggle preteen boys are walking by and see the magic and are like... WHOA COOL!! but freaked out at the same time. So they "do something" to her, something which is so horrible, and inhumane that Dumbledore's father kills the two boys. So a lot of people said that it must have been that the boys raped Ariana.

Which is not necessarily what happened, it's just what most fans leapt to.

Just sounded like Rapscallion was talking about something else that made it into the movie.

I've seen it a few more times now. Still hardly a thing to complain about.

Yea I thought that she was talkilng about something else as well.Anyway they never did that part in t he movie about his sister so it does not matter.And also there was no rape scene at all.

Saw it friday night with my brother and cousin. It was awesome. It stayed so true to the book. Loved the CGI its the best yet

I have to add that I did too!

Part One was definitely a pretty good film. Fiennes has finally mastered his character; Voldemort is terrifying here. The atmosphere evoked helped communicate the story superbly; I honestly felt as though Harry, Hermione, and Ron were outclassed and fighting the odds in a very realistic war (magic aside) in which they could, at any point, lose. The writers managed to incorporate the wide spectrum of emotion that you would expect from such a scenario.

Can't wait for the second one.

For me it was mostly like a love story. The first part is the appetite and now I am eagerly waiting for the next part to come out in 2011. The movie has followed the events in the book to core and even when smaller changes were made. A perfect ending with huge expectations of better things to come in the final installment.

I watched it last night on my laptop (yeah yeah, shouldn't download, blah blah) alone in my front room and I literally shivered through most of it. Ralph Fiennes is superb as Voldemort and the scene with Bathilda Bagshot/Nagini had me lifting my feet off the ground in case the snake appeared beneath my couch. I couldn't take my eyes off it from beginning to end. Cannot wait for the second installment.

loved the movie, cant wait for part dos~

hated 2 scenes though

1. the dancing scene (soo awkward)
2. when harry and ron fight (its not intense at all, they fought like school girls, c'mon now)

Saw it for the second time last night, and it was even better. It wasn't long at all during the camping, because I knew what happened at each "stop," and once they Apparated to "that one wood" they'd be moving on. And such. The dancing wasn't as awkward, but that was probably because I knew they weren't going to kiss. The efirst time through, I was all : they could kiss now and it would flow with the movie.

But They Didn't.

Anyway. Even better second time around.

Originally posted by Rapscallion
The biggest problem is that it is of course only one half of the whole so you know from the outset that their isn't going to be any resolution or satisfying ending and that robs the film of any sense of purpose.
I didn't think that robbed the film the purpose. I was actually really pleased with the thought that they finally took their time for such a complex book loaded with details.


And that, I feel, was a much more distinct feature of the OotP and HBP films. Of course it's a little episodic, and I can't imagine telling the story differently with only 240 minutes of time. And that's the point: Imagine they had had only 120. Come on, OotP was horrible because it just rushed from one episode to another.


I must say I think it's one of the best they made so far. I can't wait for the second part (waiting is horrible there), but I'm pleased with the outcome of the first half of the two-parter.