Tonight at
midnight, nearly a decade after Daniel Radcliffe’s tiny
little smudge of a self popped his bespectacled face on to
the silver screen, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
Pt. 2 will play out on the big screen effectively
drawing the curtain on the multi-billion dollar franchise.
In preparation for my review of the film, I thought I’d go
back and take a stab at the seven films proceeding this
weekend’s grand finale to see just how my obsession has
progressed over the last ten years.
Harry Potter Recap
Harry Potter and
The Philosophers Stone/Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets
d. Chris Columbus
If Christopher Columbus had continued making the Harry
Potter films, I never would’ve developed even a minute
of obsession with them. I lump the two first films together,
because both are such ponderous globs of child film, I could
only stand to look back at one. I was 19 when the first film
exploded in to cinemas and much too busy drinking keg beer
and pining after Irene Wood to care about the exploits of a
dopey child wizard and his tiny friends. I’d always been a
latent fantasy nerd though and when I was reintroduced the
pleasures of pot and nerdery, the Potter books, and thus the
films seemed suddenly more appealing. Even with cannabis
flowing through my blood though, neither of these films (or
books) did anything for me. It’s the books fault really, J.K.
Rowling started her writing career with the abilities of a
nine year old and the book reads like a choose your own
adventure story with only one track. Every line begins with
"Harry did" or "Harry said" and after 400 pages I was ready
to never glance at another Potter-themed adventure ever
again. The films follow suit. The children are, well,
stilted children actors and Christopher Columbus hadn’t made
a good film since Mrs. Doubtfire, thus the adventures
of the three youthful wizards-in-training never rose above
trite children’s fare. Another huge issue? No Voldemort.
Ralph Fiennes deliciously evil portrayal becomes such a
juicy aspect of the books, and all of his minions leading up
to his arrival barely hold the place as villains. Sure sure,
all the kids look the parts and they do the child-acting
thing with suitable cuteness, but after both of these films
(and to be honest, I never even read the second book, I
picked it up when I was stoned read half of it and realized
that I was reading the 3rd book instead and never looked
back) I thought for sure that this was going to be the
longest, blandest massive blockbuster series ever put to
screen. I will say this, and this is cribbed entirely from
Devin Faraci, looking back, Columbus had the hardest job,
his films couldn’t be interesting takes on the original
material or character pieces, because he was composing the
original material. Christopher Columbus, though he fails in
nearly every other department, built the world the rest of
these beloved Harry Potter films live in. He cast the
important figures, he designed the looks and the effects and
set the boat to sail, and without him nothing could’ve
followed.
Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban
d. Alfonso Cuaron
I am still to this day stupefied that the producers of the
Harry Potter series had the wherewithal to move from
the clumsy world building of Christopher Columbus, to the
artful madness of Alfonso Cuaron. It was a bold step and one
that paid off in spades. If the first two films were made
for the fantastically minded child set, the third film is
their adult nightmares. Cuaron bathes his world in darkness
and interjects the film with the absurdity and oddity you’d
expect from a world populated by wizards. The trio at the
center of the film is starting to grow up a little, and
Cuaron is actually able to wring out performances that don’t
pulse with toothy, gee-whiz attitudes. Cuaron’s world is
rife with dangers and those dangers are met with the
introduction of were-wolf professor Remus Lupin (David
Thewlis). The whole introduction of Azkaban and Sirius Black
(Gary Oldman) is so well put together, and though the film
stretches a little thin in length (as they all do), Cuaron’s
able to wrangle the more sentimental aspects with the
fantastical and hot dang if the film doesn’t just zing.
Great casting, great acting, and the whole world gets bumped
a little in to the bizarre. If anyone ever debates who the
most important of the Potter directors might be, I’ll always
say Cuaron, because without his graceful touch the films
were headed towards a leaden spot at the bottom of Kiddie
Movie Ocean. Not a pretty place.
Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire
d. Mike Newell
Goblet of Fire has always been my favorite of the
books. I love a good tournament, and Rowling (or her ghost
writers if the rumors are true) stepped her game up, welding
on new chunks to her fascinating little world while spinning
out the legend of Harry Potter in a fantastic way. Though I,
and every other red-blooded film lover, hoped that Cuaron
would be the torchbearer for the rest of the series, it was
never to be. Instead Mike Newell, the Brit behind Four
Weddings and Funeral was shoved in to the director’s
chair and our collective stomachs plummeted to the ground.
Somehow though, Newell pulls off the film with bravado.
Goblet of Fire is a beast of a book to adapt. There’s so
many set pieces and characters and wildly expensive special
effects, but Newell managed to shave and slice and cut the
book in to a manageable monster that, in my opinion, stands
as the best all-out adaptation in the series. What really
makes Goblet of Fire fly though is the introduction
of the Death Eaters, the sort of Klu Klux Klan of the
wizarding world. They’re introduction at the Quidditch Cup
(itself an awesome expansion of the visual world of Harry
Potter) is dark and depressing and exactly the direction
these books needed to head. Newell does a fine job of
balancing the more dreadful aspects of the book with the
magic of the Tri-Wizard tournament (a highlight off the
entire series both in book and film). Goblet of Fire
needs to be dark, but it isn’t Half-Blood Prince,
Harry still loves school and Dumbledore is still a faultless
protector and there’s still that magical glow of everything
just maybe being okay. It ends though with Voldemort
returning, Cedric Diggory dying, and Dumbledore giving a St.
Crispin’s Day speech to a hall of terrified students. The
films, like the books, weren’t just one off kids stories
anymore, oh no, things started coming together in Goblet
of Fire and the rest of the films really get their
momentum from Newell’s surprisingly excellent direction.
Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix
d. David Yates
Order of the Phoenix is the film and the book I
remember the very least about. I know Harry stumbles around
the wizarding world being an angsty little piss-off for
almost the entire running time of both, but aside from that
only a few things pop in to my mind. There’s a great scene
with the night bus, a big to-do at the end in the Department
of Wizardy, my man Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) bites the
bullet, and Dumbledore finally gets to show off his skills
against The Dark Lord himself. Also Imelda Staunton’s
Dolores Umbridge is a noxious little bit of cute and I was
actually sad to see her carried off by centaurs. Though she
clearly deserved it. When people look back at the Harry
Potter films the name most associated (and rightly so)
with them will be the relatively unknown David Yates. His
control over the flow of the last three films is downright
surgical and all of them thrive because of it. It’s sad
because I don’t remember this film all that well (please
point fingers and call me a bad critic at this time) but I
do recall seeing the film repeated times, once or twice with
my girlfriend. It’s just the middle child of the film
series, an important film, one that showcases Voldemort's
power and really, really gets the gears in motion for the
rest of the series, but for whatever reason, my mind can’t
recall most of the film. Regardless, David Yates is a real
talent, and this film starts to show that.
Harry Potter and
the Half Blood Prince
d. David Yates
David Yates really steps up for Half-Blood Prince.
The book, the sixth, is the beginning of the end for happy
times for the Harry Potter Club and David Yates has no
problem turning up the darkness exponentially. Voldemort is
back, everyone knows it, and he’s starting to gather his
forces. Muggles are being killed (hell the film starts with
the Death Eaters destroying the Millennium Bridge) and big
things need to happen or the world as the wizards know it is
going to be destroyed. A lot has to happen in this book -
horcruxes, the history of Tom Riddle, the seduction of
Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent in stellar form) -
and Yates to know what to slice and what to expand to make
it a really solid watch. I saw this one on airplane back
from New York and even though the screen was small and a
baby was wailing behind me, I was shocked (as I strangely
still am by these films) how much I enjoyed it. Yates has a
difficult task at hand, he has to bring Harry to the edge of
adulthood but still showcase him as a scared little boy, and
he manages (or Daniel Radcliffe manages) to do just that.
The result is a film that plays scary and wacky and funny
but never feels toneless.
Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1
d. David Yates
So, here we are. One film away from the end of one of the
great children’s franchises of all time. This is the
Empire Strikes Back of the Harry Potter films.
The film were everything goes to shit, everything falls
apart, and poor Harry Potter is left to pick up the pieces.
Voldemort is now very much back (it feels like so often in
these films that Voldemort is just almost back, or he’s back
but in hiding, or he’s back and everyone knows but he’s
gathering his forces) and he’s not hiding from anyone. He’s
out to gather the Deathly Hallows and Harry is in a sort of
sluggish race against time to destroy the Horcruxes (the
soul of Voldemort contained within enchanted items) before
Voldemort can collect them all and become invincible. It’s a
sad bit of a story as Harry, Hermione and Ron are sort of
adrift in the British wilderness with no friends and plenty
of enemies. I love how Yates makes England, especially
wizarding England, suddenly feel like WWII England.
Revolutionaries crowd the radio frequencies, small bands of
anti-Voldemort supporters are gathering to figure out just
what to do, and in the middle of it all Harry Potter is
trying to survive long enough to off the Dark Lord himself.
It’s Rupert Grint, ole Ron Weasley’s, greatest film as an
actor. So much so that it feels a little bit like magic that
his slew of terrible performances suddenly swan dives in to
a really heartfelt bit of acting. This is a downer of a
film. There’s very little light or love in this movie, and
when they are they’re always fleeting. As the curtain rolls,
Yates has banged around our main characters, hell all the
characters we love, and none of them seem better for it.
It’s the swoon before the uprising, and it’s handled pretty
damn fantastically. Any Harry Potter film that starts
with six characters and a certain amazing bird being blasted
out of the sky, is one I highly recommend.
Final Thoughts:
I love this series. I never would of imagined ten years ago
that a shabbily written story about a kid wizard would
entrance me and leave me expectant of the next installment,
but Harry Potter somehow did. I saw the final film
this week with trepidation, not because I thought the final
moments would be handled badly, but because I knew that when
the curtains came down on Hogwarts it would be my last
chance to see ‘em on the sliver screen. If I was drinking a
beer I’d tip it upwards to Harry and Christopher and Alfonso
and Mike and David and say thanks for ten great fucking
years.
PS - I'll have a review of the last film up tonight!
- Noah Sanders
-
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