Lastnight I was lucky enough to be sat in one of the eighteen cinemas across the UK screening Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2. The screening began with live-feed from the Royal Premiere down in Trafalgar Square as the cast and celebs arrived. What looked to be the biggest UK Premier in history thousands gathered for fleeting glimpses of their favourite characters.
After a build-up the film began, actually about 30 minutes before the actual London premiere!
Ok, first I gotta tell you the negatives about this film, which there really aren’t many if I’m honest.
I was not a fan of Part 1, I thought at over 2 hours the majority of it was pointless long panning shots of the English countryside, which while being very nice, is more at home in shows like Songs of Praise and seemed to me to only act as padding to make the film last over 2 hours. Part 2 is just under two hours long, and my personal feeling is if they’d edited Part 1 and 2 without the “Travel Guide” scenes they could have made a combined film over 3 hours, which I’m sure all the fans would have been more than happy with!
Well, that’s my only criticism of this film. From the first opening montage in stunning 3D I was hooked, this film is dark and has no problem showing it. Most people already know whats gonna happen, but in short there are a handful of Horcruxes left, and Harry, Ron and Hermione set out to destroy them and defeat Voldemort. My favourite parts of the film were the stunning ride to the vault in Gringotts and the Death Eater assault on Hogwarts which was both visually stunning and emotionally moving.
I’ve not read the books, but have seen all the movies and found this to be the best by a long way. The acting is superb, story dark and addictive, and the visuals coupled with the 3D made it hard to take your eyes off the screen! See it in 3D, it may cost a little more, but this is probably one of the best 3D movies I’ve seen.
I must admit, I’m still a little shocked by my own love for this film but I’d say its the best film I’ve seen this year. I feel there won’t be a fantasy/myth film to even compare to it until 14th December 2012, with the long awaiting The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is in cinemas from 15th July 2011, in both 2D and 3D