Review to first part here![This has been so long overdue.]
HP7.2 continues where the first one left off, in the aftermath of Dobby's death, and our kids continuing along their way in finding and destroying all the Horcruxes. The movie comes to a head at Hogwarts, where Voldemort brings his followers to launch a massive climactic on the school, with a final fight between Harry and Voldemort. Bets off on who won :)
After the pretty good first installment (again, I begrudgingly admit that one movie wouldn't have been enough), what I'd really wanted to see was the second half of the movie, which is where all the good (CG) stuff happens. I was actually afraid that they would leave out the spiders and giants, but thank goodness they didn't. The final fight between Harry and Voldy was slightly meh (the 'struggling and flying in mid-air for a while' wasn't too bad, though) since they only pointed their wands at each other. There was no "Expelliarmus" exclamation from Harry when Voldy went, "Avada Kedavra", like in the book. I mean, that's the whole point of the entire story, Harry defeating Voldy by only using a Disarming charm, instead of more potent curses. Quite disappointing.
But what I'm most looking forward to is The Prince's Tale.
For non-Potterphiles, The Prince's Tale is a Book 7 chapter that reveals all of Severus Snape's intentions, motivations, etc. throughout the entire series, and it happens upon his death. Snape has been the most enigmatic of the bunch, being a Death Eater-turned-turncoat currently double-agenting in Camp Voldy, sparking a "is he, isn't he?" debate among the books' characters.
[The debate even spills over to real life, I believe, in Potter site forums around the world.]
This chapter finally confirms his true loyalties. And this entire sequence could not have been made or filmed better, nor could it have been any more effective. My heart broke watching it. Beautifully done. If I did not already love Alan Rickman, this will certainly do.
Apart from the above, Neville-Luna pairing? Egad, sounds like a fanfic! I didn't even realise that from the books; neither did a friend of mine evidently, she told me she was shocked beyond belief. I always thought at most, Neville and Luna are just friends as they barely have any dialogue with each other in the books, which brings me to the need that Hollywood has in pairing people up at conclusions. Also, it was unfortunate that the movie left out the part in the end where Harry repairs his old wand using the Elder Wand before he relinquishes the physical Elder wand. It could've taken all of five seconds, and they didn't even bother including that scene in. What the eff.
As a close, watching the final scene where grown-up Harry and his friends send off their children for Hogwarts is, well, bittersweet. It's sad, but yet it's a happy ending, and it feels like things have come full circle, back to the first movie where Harry first gets on the Hogwarts express.
8/10. "It all ends", true, but it's great close to an era, and it feels like a new beginning.
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