Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Oh, boy, I've been waiting a long time to write this review. You see, a few months ago, on our way in to see Paul, we were stopped by a magical man who offered us passes to see a mystery movie the next Saturday afternoon. He was not allowed to tell us what movie it was, just that it was a major release for this summer.

We spent the next week speculating on what movie we would be seeing. Super 8? Not bloody likely. Thor? Coming out too soon. Smurfs? With our luck, probably. Finally Saturday came along. We went into a packed theater, the whole audience was whispering to each other. You could hear rumbles in the audience that it was going to be Harry Potter. Finally, a guy came in with a microphone and confirmed that rumor. The audience erupted into applause.

The test screening went great. The audience went crazy for the movie, despite the incomplete effects, editing, and score. I personally dug the heck out of it. You could tell they were going into this screening with a pretty confident, nearly complete cut of the movie, and they just wanted our opinions for minor tweaks and clarifications.

After the movie was over, we were given survey cards to fill out to rate aspects of the movie and write in comments of what we thought were the strengths and weaknesses. My wife and I were brought to the front row to be part of the focus group to elaborate on their questions. After listening to the group, we wondered which parts of what we said were going to be taken to heart by David Yates and the rest of the filmmakers.

Which brings us to tonight. I held back writing my review for HP7II until I saw the completed version. It seemed unfair to talk about a work in progress, even if I did really like it. Plus, I thought it would make a really fun review if I were able to talk about the ways the movie changed, based on our own response to it.

So, let's get started. The movie was much the movie we saw a few months ago, with completed special effects and a full score instead of temporary music taken from the other films in the series. It was tighter and more focused, and as a result, more enjoyable than the first time. The audience reacted enthusiastically to the completed work, but not as enthusiastically as we did when we found out we were going to be the first audience ever to see it (brag brag brag).

Did the movie change? It did, but not a whole lot. Most of the changes were very minor. All of the ones we noticed reflected issues the audience brought up in the focus group and we had put on our surveys. Spoilers come up ahead. You've been warned.

There were several lines added in ADR while the characters backs were turned that clarified things for the audience. People were confused on what the nature of the Resurrection Stone was, and it was made a bit clearer. There was a montage sequence in Harry's head at the beginning with Voldemort that was also made clearer. I believe the shot of the dark wizard raising his want to Fred or George Weasley (presumably whichever one of them died) was inserted. Lots of little things like that. It was pretty impressively done.

There were four things done that were bigger and more noticeable to me than the rest, all toward the end of the movie, and they are as follows:

1: The scene where Harry looks into the pensieve to see Snape's backstory was changed pretty drastically. Everybody in the focus group wanted more of it, plus there were some clarification issues. Some people thought it was implying that Harry was actually Snape's son. The whole thing was made much clearer, longer and more linear. Snape really deserved this moment after 8 movies, and they took measures to give it to him. Good work, guys!

2: This was my favorite change. They really beefed up the part of my favorite character, Neville Longbottom. He proved to be really popular with the audience in this movie. They didn't add a lot, but he definitely had more screentime, and the scenes he was already there for felt bigger and more significant. They added a line for him about Luna Lovegood that was pretty satisfying. Evidently, he tested so well, that they gave him his own character poster! (See above)

3: When Harry is killed by Voldemort, but comes back, Draco Malfoy's mother checks to see if he's really dead. In the test screening, she wordlessly checks, and then when Voldemort asks, she lies and says he's dead. The audience, myself included, was a little confused by this. Did she think he was dead, or was she lying for no reason? This was clarified in the final cut, with her simply whispering to Harry, "is Draco still alive?" and Harry nodding. They clearly already had the scene shot, and I'm glad they inserted it back in, because it was pretty important.

3: And lastly, the epilogue sequence. Now, personally, I wasn't a fan of the epilogue in the book. Still don't think it was necessary for the movie. I think the way it flat out tells the readers that Harry Potter and friends lived a quiet peaceful life and never went on any more adventures does a disservice to the readers' imaginations. My opinion aside, I knew a lot of people would want to see the epilogue.

The audience laughed at the sight of the Potter kids, 19 years later with no kind of aging done on them, dressed normally. It seemed pretty ridiculous that these kids were supposed to be 37, even though they carried it reasonably well in their mannerisms. Well, I was happy to see that they did some subtle digital aging on everybody, simply adding a couple of those smile wrinkles under their cheeks and maybe a bit on the eyes. They did a pretty good job, considering the disaster it could have been. The audience still chuckled, but it wasn't the same kind of chuckle, a little more with the movie than at it. They also added a shot of an aged-up Draco Malfoy dropping his kids off at the station, which I thought was a nice addition.

So, that's what I noticed. It's been a few months, so there were certainly some things that I missed. Overall, I thought this was an enlightening experience, and a good deal of fun getting a peek at the creative process that goes into making such a major motion picture. I loved the fact that I got to see that our input and opinions really did make an impact on the outcome of the movie, and that it ultimately made it a better viewing experience for everyone.

I would also like to say how much fun it has been watching all these characters grow up over the last decade. It was pretty emotional at times watching everyone wrap up their stories after 8 movies. I don't believe such a complete journey has ever been accomplished in film (mostly) in real time, with the cast (mostly) intact. Let me finish this little review with a fun little fact, demonstrating some of the importance these movies had on my life: I told my girlfriend that I loved her for the first time on the day Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban came out. Since then, we've moved in together, relocated to Chicago, and got married. I've grown up watching these movies as much as those kids did.

Good night, everybody!