This, the seventh and penultimate film in the Harry Potter franchise, is dark, chilling and action-packed, which makes ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1’ dissimilar to the boundaries of Hogwarts the audience is used to.
Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) power is mounting as he gains control over the Ministry of Magic as well as Hogwarts, making muggles and wizards alike, live in terror. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) work in partnership to complete the noble work of Dumbledore by searching for parts of Voldemort’s soul hidden inside horcruxes, to eventually defeat the dark Lord, and of course, save the world, as always.
This film does not follow the same structure found in the previous productions; exaggerated danger, a climaxing battle and a happy ending. Instead, there is potential peril lurking round every corner, fast-paced editing, a gripping cliff-hanger (and least for those who have not read the book) and a deeply pale colour pallet constructed by cinematographer, Eduardo Serra. All this sets the stage for the three stars to give their best performances to date, and certainly director David Yates’ best work in terms of overall production and presentation.
The film opens with an unflattering shot Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister of Magic, played by Bill Nighy, basically giving away the tone of the film to come, ‘These are dark times’. Harry's journey to the Weasleys’ to avoid the bad guys involves the death of Harry’s beloved owl Hedwig and seven of the good guys morphing into Harry for his protection, which, let’s face it, is a sight no one is all too pleased to see. Scrimgeour later presents the gruesome threesome with Dumbledore’s mysterious possessions he left for them in his will, after he fell to his death, with a little assistance from Snape. Gifts in hand, and after an epic disruption of Ron’s older brother Bill’s wedding, Harry, Hermione and Ron head into London to escape the Death Eaters.
The heroic trio spend the remainder of the film in the wilderness running from the Dark Lord and his followers and bickering with one another, clearly to represent adolescent interplay in some way. Mid way through, Ron loses his rag, leaving the other two alone to cheer one another up by dancing the most awkward dance ever seen on screen. With this, and the absence of the vibrant optimism of Hogwarts, the film is bleak in terms of tone and overall impression.
Even with the special effects being state-of-the-art, their credibility is somewhat wasted on a slow-moving and effectively children’s movie. This is enhanced by the breathtaking animated sequence, describing the ‘Tale of the Three Brother’s’ through Xenophilius Lovegood’s (Rhys Ifans), who is Luna Lovegood’s father. The animation essentially provides the three heroes with all they need to finally destroy the bad guy.
Compared to the previous sixth films, 'Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1', is strung-along somewhat, no doubt to satisfy Warner Bros’ hefty wallets more than Potter fans. Despite the fact that most of the world is familiar with both the books and films, this latest instalment requires hordes of Potter knowledge to even comprehend following. But it is, without doubt the most frightening of the lot, with some moments that could even make fully grown adults squeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment