To celebrate the release of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II on DVD and Blu-Ray, we conclude this epic retrospective with a look at that very film. The excitement, the tears, the (occasionally unintentional) laughs, HPatDHp2 is the finale we hoped it would be. Join me, won’t you, as we conclude our Harry Potter retrospective.
Also, Daniel Radcliffe gets his top off. Splendid.
We start with a recap of the dying moments of part 1, as Voldemort robs Dumbledore’s grave and claims the Elder Wand, then shoots his silvery load into the sky. And that’s all you get by way of a recap. Haven’t seen the previous films? You may, MAY, not understand all that occurs. But you will get to see Emma Watson in a corset. So, y’know, swings and roundabouts.
Events pick up right where we left them, with Harry burying Dobby and leaving the epitaph ‘HERE LIES DOBBY, A FREE ELF.’ He then talks to the recovering Olivander and discovers that, through a convoluted set of circumstances, Voldemort wants to claim the Elder Wand which is destined to kill him.
Up next, in what is fast resembling a Harry Potter chat show, is Griphook, played by everyone’s favourite dwarf, Warwick Davis. Like Olivander, Griphook hasn’t appeared since the first movie, and was then played by fellow famous little man, Verne Troyer, though Davis provided the voice. This time, he assumes the physical role, while also playing Professor Flitwick, at least we assume it’s Flitwick. In the first film, he sported a large white beard, where as now he has slicked back hair and a wee moustache. So, either Flitwick had a massive/mini make-over OR Davis is actually playing three parts. Either way, fair play to him.
So, Griphook agrees to help them break into Gringotts (the wizarding equivalent of HSBC) and it’s a corker of a heist sequence. The tension builds up and up for fear they may get discovered and when they grab the Horcrux/McGuffin, they escape on the back of a dragon.
Also, it features Hermione disguised as Bellatrix, so Bonham-Carter playing Hermione playing Bellatrix is a great comedy vehicle. And, embodying Ms. Granger’s awkwardness in heels, hair, make-up and outfit, stumbles around looking EXACTLY like Amy Winehouse. That’s not a distasteful jibe, go watch the scene now and see for yourself.
I’ll wait.
See? Uncanny! I kept expecting her to say Ascendio, Blaaaaaake!
One of the things I love about the Potter series, both the books and films, is how they relate back to plot points from previous stories that were either so small we didn’t think they mattered or that were seemingly resolved. In this case, Harry’s occasional insights into Voldemort’s mind, which were all the rage in ORDER OF THE PHOENIX and the GOBLET OF FIRE (or as Dumbledore would put it, DE GOBLET O’FOIRE! Ye feckin eejit! …because he sounds a bit Irish sometimes). But now, these visions have returned, and give Harry a clue as to where to go next, Hogwarts. I missed Hogwarts in the last film. Not only because Hermione really should be in school uniform (she really should) but all the characters there are so loveable. McGonagall, Neville, Hagrid etc. It simply feels like home, and now we’re going back, for the most anticipated showdown since Luke Skywalker developed daddy issues.
When Neville appeared to sneak them back into the school, a small cheer arose in the cinema. A cheer! In the cinema! How rare is that! And young Mr. Longbottom, played in every movie by the utterly lovely Matthew Lewis, sure has come a long way. Gone are the days of the cherubic, perennial victim. He is now one handsome, sword swinging, giant snake slaying, badass cardigan wearing motherfunker. And a cinema audience cheered his arrival. Genuinely heart warming.
After his arrival and reunion with his dearly missed chums, Potter prepares to confront Snape, The Half Blood Prince of Pauses, whose been running the school with an iron fist (covered in mascara). This is the first time we’ve seen Snape in quite a while and man oh MAN, does Rickman go to town.
Now, here is a man who is famous for his pauses. Be they as the Sheriff of Nottingham, the great Hans Gruber, or our own Severus Snape. When he turns it on, Rickman’s pauses would cause Christopher Walken to balk (en). And when Snape addresses the assembled students to find out whether they are protecting Potter, he reaches the prime, apex epitome of the Pinter pregnant pause. POW!
“If anyone here has any knowledge of Mr. Potter’s movements this evening, I invite them to step forward……………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………….. now.”
God, I love that man.
It’s then Potter presents himself, stepping out to an awed collection of gasps, and Snape looks like he’s seen a specky, awkwardly handsome ghost. He prepares to duel, but Harry is defended by McGonagall who proves, once and for all, that she is badassssssss. She lays the smackdown on Snape and he flees, to the cheers of the children surrounding them. During a walk and talk, she discusses ways of protecting the castle with her students, and they provide some of my favourite dialogue in the entire series:
NEVILLE: [discussing a battle strategy] Are you really giving us permission to do this?
MCGONAGALL: Yes, Longbottom.
NEVILLE: Blow it up? Boom?
MCGONAGALL: BOOM!
NEVILLE: But how on Earth do we do it?
MCGONAGALL: Why don’t you confer with Mr. Finnigan? As I recall, he has a particular proclivity for pyrotechnics.
SEAMUS: I can bring it down!
MCGONAGALL: That’s the spirit!
Of course it is somewhat troubling that since the very first film, the only Irish student is the only one who seems to blow things up. But we should leave that be I think. Very soon after that, it’s what we’ve been waiting for, the Battle of Hogwarts. And what a battle.
SPOILER ALERT!!
I probably shoulda put that at the beginning, but, y’know. Whatevs.
It says a lot about this film that the staggeringly large scale blockbuster finale is primarily character and plot driven. It’s not just an excuse for the explosions and CG self love that Michael Bay has infected multiplexes with. We’ve watched these characters for ten years, we care about them. So every fight, every near miss and every death have far more emotional impact than these scenes would in most other action films.
When we see the last shot of Tonks and Lupin reaching for each other’s hands before they perish, it breaks our hearts. When we see Fred and George share one last joke before Fred is killed, it’s literally mortifying. We see the bodies of Lavender Brown and one of the Patil twins. Grim, but compelling. The standout sequence of the battle is when our heroes speed across the apocalyptic landscape that their school courtyard has become, evading giants and huge spiders. Alexandre Desplat’s beautiful string arrangements help underlay the emotional impact while heightening the tension. Essentially, action cinema doesn’t get any better than the Battle of Hogwarts. It’s practically perfect.
And it is during this raging battle that, in order to destroy one of the Horcruxes, Hermione and Ron find their way back into the Chamber of Secrets, unseen since the second movie, and using the same set design which creates a great sense of continuity. Herein they find a Basilisk (the big ass snake killed by Harry) fang, which they use to kill this part of Voldemort’s soul. When they do, the impact is so powerful that a tsunami of water erupts over them and… they kiss. Finally they kiss. Let’s use a little Freudian analysis here:
The Horcrux in this instance is a cup. Helga Hufflepuff’s cup. It is destroyed only by a large fang, rather phallic in shape and proportions. So when this phallic object penetrates the ‘cup,’ a rush of fluid occurs, and they are both very wet.
Come on, man! How could they NOT kiss after that?? In actuality, this kiss has been so long awaited and greatly anticipated, and it’s a wonderful moment for the characters and fans alike. It is, frankly, encouraging to see the sidekick get the girl for once, instead of the hero. And the girl here is not a prize to be won, but a strong minded woman who finally gets the person she loves. Hermione is not a princess or a prize, but a person, and one of the better female parts in recent Hollywood memory. All power to Rowling and Watson for giving young girls a great role model.
Less likely to arouse the audience is the scene in which He Who Must Not Be Named confronts his favourite acolyte, Snape. Voldy is under the impression that in order for the Elder Wand to work most effectively, the previous owner must die, and as Snape killed Dumbledore, that makes it Snape (as Batman said to Rachel Dawes,stay with me… RACHEL!!!). So, as Potter and pals watch on, Voldemort orders Nagini to bite poor Severus to death. As they go to help, they find him mortally wounded, but there is just enough time for him to cry a single tear, and tell Harry that he has his mother’s eyes. Then the most popular character in the series dies. But that’s no regular tear, that’s a collection of memories in tear form (hey, we’ve all done it) which Harry collects and, during a brief cease fire, takes to Dumbledore’s office where he can view them in the Pensieve (basically a VHS player for memories. Exactly like that in fact).
In all seriousness, this is probably the best sequence in the entire franchise. We see edited highlights off Snape’s memories from his childhood to his death. We witness the moment he first met and, indeed, fell in love with Lily, Harry’s mother. And in an exquisitely edited montage, we come to understand how Snape grew into the man we know and love to hate. Not only that, but we hear dialogue and see clips from previous films as well as moments intentionally hidden from the viewer, slowly unraveling the enigma of this character. It all ties together beautifully and we realise that not only was Snape a good man, he was in fact a hero. He killed Dumbledore on his orders to spare Draco, as Dumbledore was already dying. We learn that he helped Harry find the Sword of Gryffindor in the previous film, and more over, we learn that Snape never stopped loving Lily, beautifully demonstrated by a flashback of him finding her body. As he cradles her, weeping uncontrollably, we see a side of him we’ve never seen before, a side we never knew existed. Far from being cold and cruel, Snape was an exceptionally good man who sacrificed himself to help the son of the woman he loved. But this was never to be revealed, as he tells Dumbledore, “No-one can know.” To which the great wizard replies, “I will not reveal the best of you, Severus.” And when asked whether he still loves Lily after all this time, he says, stoically, “Always.” Judging from the sniffs around the cinema, Snape was not the only one to shed a tear.
Another revelation in this montage was that Harry has a part of Voldemort attached to his soul and, to kill Voldemort, Harry must die. He accepts this, as both his parents and Snape sacrificed themselves for him, and he will do the same for his loved ones. So he walks past the walking wounded and the grieving friends and family of the fallen towards his fate in the Forbidden Forest. Voldemort greets him with the breathy and insidious comment that captivated us in all the trailers.
“Harry Potter. The boy who lived… Come to die. AVARDA KEDAVRA!” and Harry dies. Sort of. He finds himself in a Heaven-like realm with Dumbledore and sees that Voldemort has killed the part of his soul that was attached to Harry’s. Or something. It’s very convoluted by this point to be honest, I thought we might still be in the middle of an Alan Rickman pause and he would pop up to finish a sentence he started two hours ago. Basically, Harry comes back to life and begins the final battle with Lord Voldemort.
But before he does, he pretends to be dead and is carried by a weeping Hagrid back to the castle courtyard, led by The Dark Lord and his followers. As they are met by Harry’s friends, all of whom are horrified to see the apparently dead boy, Voldemort comes into his own. Laughing, rallying his troops, generally being a chronic douche. He then invites anyone from the (seemingly) losing side to join him. And here we get on the most memorable moments of the film, possibly of the series, POSSIBLY IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA.
Voldemort hugs Draco Malfoy.
It. Is. Hilarious.
It’s the most awkward moment I recall ever seeing in a film, and I’m sure it’s intentionally so. Ralph Feinnes and Tom Felton play it brilliantly. Draco has, more or less, sided with the good guys by now, and only joins Voldy out of fear and a desire to rejoin his parents. Also, Voldy has clearly never hugged anyone in his life and doesn’t know how to do it. So the embrace is this ice cold, mechanical, strange incident which, on repeated viewing, makes sense. But when you first see it, and don’t know it’s coming, it’s SO funny. It’s so, SO, very funny, which does detract from the drama and tension somewhat, but then Neville rocks up, taking a stand for his beliefs and fallen leader. Once again, this got a cheer in the cinema. I expect sales of cardigans will increase this Christmas thanks to one Neville Longbottom. And with that, and to the amazement of all, Harry springs back to life. Voldy can’t believe it, and neither can most of his cronies who, seeing that Potter is practically immortal, make like a Whomping Willow and leave. The Dark Lord is practically deserted, but chases Potter around the grounds, knowing he is safe as long as his remaining Horcrux, Nagini, is still alive. So it should have slithered away somewhere to hide but, being equally douchey as its Master, goes after Ron and Hermione.
And while Harry and Voldemort are fighting all over the castle, winding their way back to the courtyard, Nagini strikes. It lunges, fangs protruding, at the newly formed couple. Is this the end? Hell no, for the hero of the hour, Neville, leaps to their defense and with one precise swipe with the Sword of Gryffindor, slices the snake’s head clean off. It’s a terrific slow motion shot and cements Neville’s heroic status. Also, it makes for a great animated GIF. Both Harry and his nemesis see this (the beheading, not the GIF), they both realise The Dark Lord is now mortal, and in one final, epic confrontation, they duel, casting spells at each other one very last time. But Harry has fate, honour, bravery and strength on his side, Voldy has nothing, and his wand is sent spinning from his hand and in to that of the victorious Harry Potter. Having his killing curse deflect back upon him, Lord Voldemort dies an agonizing death, as he slowly disintegrates, and the day is won.
The movie seemingly ends with Harry walking among his fellow survivors, exchanging relieved smiles and embraces. Even if a viewer is unfamiliar with the films, this one sequence alone includes such illustrious actors as Emma Thompson, Miriam Margolyes, Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane and Maggie Smith among others, which is impressive in itself. The second great wizarding war is over and Voldemort is never to return.
As the three friends assess the devastation around them, Ron tells Harry that with the Elder Wand, he could be immortal. And with that, Harry snaps it and throws it off a bridge, declaring that nobody should have that much power. And as the sun rises, our three heroes look out together at a brighter future, and the greatest film franchise ever ends in beautiful fashion.
And that’s how I’d like to end this epic retrospective. Really, I would. But I can’t. Because then we have The Epilogue. Now, going into this film, we all knew that the book ended 19 years later, but would this make the film? Would it be necessary and if so, would it be any good? We got our answers. Yes, not really, and no.
After the fade to black, we get a title card saying 19 YEARS LATER, and a ripple of anticipation flowed through the cinema, as we were intrigued to see how they’d do it. It’s Kings Cross and, like the first film, we see young wizards with their pet owls, rolling up to Platform 9 and ¾. Then the camera pans up and we see…
Daniel Radcliffe sporting the least convincing age make up since my brother put talcum powder in his hair aged 6 and pretended to be our grand dad. It looks like the make up people hurriedly drew some wrinkles on his face with a mascara pen and powdered his hair. Sniggers filled the room and what was hopefully going to be an emotional farewell became a chortle riot. And they kept on coming. Seeing Hermione, Ron, Ginny and, best of all, Draco in their respective prosthetics and wigs kept had the audience doubled over with laughter. Which is a shame, really, because that’s not the way we wanted to end this decade long saga. But you know what? When we’d calmed down, the emotional impact did hit us. The sight of the now older trio waving their own wizarding kids off on the Hogwarts Express was very touching. The final shot is of our three heroes’ faces looking on as the train speeds away to their old school, and the original John Williams theme swells as the image fades to black, rounding off the series beautifully.
And there we have it. All good things must come to an end. And by Merlin’s beard! It was over TEN years ago when I worked in Cineworld Feltham, and heard about this new film coming out about a stoned philosopher, or something, which was going to be huge, apparently. Upon my first viewing, my mild skepticism turned to childlike wonder and I was hooked., along with millions of kids and grownups the world over. There will most likely never be anything quite like the HARRY POTTER films ever again, unless they reboot it in three years or so. But let’s hope not, eh? For these films really are a magical experience. Funny, touching, exciting, frightening, we’ve run the emotional gauntlet from PHILOSOPHER’S STONE to DEATHLY HALLOWS. We’ve seen some legendary thespians having a laugh, British TV comedy stalwarts in HUGE blockbuster action scenes, and we’ve watched children grow into stars as well as, more importantly, well rounded adults and lovely people. Watson, Grint and Radcliffe and now screen icons. Where will their careers lead? Well, they all have films in the pipeline. Watson is currently shooting THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, Radcliffe’s THE WOMAN IN BLACK is already in the can and, most excitingly, Grint has been cast as Eddie the Eagle. And by now it’s been said so often that it’s become a cliché, but it’s true.
Watching them grow up before our eyes is very poignant, not least because most of us know people who grew up with the films. Heck, there’s a good chance that you, dear reader, have had your teenage years run parallel with that of Hogwart’s finest. And, if you’re like me, you’ll have a special place in your heart for the HARRY POTTER films because they, perhaps more than any other movies, show us the magic of friendship, family, fun and will be revered by generations.
As Professor McGonagall once said, BOOM!
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II as well as the complete boxset of movies 1-8 are available now on BLU-RAY and DVD
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