Sunday, November 21, 2010

Harry Potter 7 Part 1. Emma Watson Has Grown Up Well

By Claudia Park '13

I arrived at the Hamilton AMC theater with a couple friends at 11:20 p.m. While impatiently waiting for midnight, we bummed around in the main lobby to admire the eclectic mélange of Harry Potter fans loitering around the room. Truly, the creativity die-hard HP fans employed for the making of their costumes was impressive (they certainly put my measly Gryffindor shirt to shame). We decided to bestow the award of best dressed to a group of high school students proudly lugging around their necks large intricately decorated cardboard boxes in the guise of a Floo Powder Network. Genius.Around 11:45 p.m., we made our way to our seats. Big mistake in waiting until then to stake our spots, as every single theater showing HP (at the very least 10) was packed. Disgruntled, we ended splitting up, but all was well since we were in the same theater, and most importantly, going to see the much, much anticipated HP7. Movie finally began, and the theater erupted into applause, screams, and “OH MY GOD!”

To be quite frank, and I do not know whether this is a result of my belief that the movies will never surpass the books, I wasn’t too swept away by the film. I found myself laughing at parts of the movie that I wasn’t sure were intended to be humorous – most ostensibly, the romantic development scenes. Was it me, or were the scenes with Harry and Ginny, and more conspicuously, with Ron and Hermione, forced and just awkward? Note: Ginny, the zipper trick was clever, and I will keep it in mind as future reference for pick-ups.

After the 2 hours and 30 minutes, I emerged from the theater confused and ambivalent about my feelings about the film. On the car-ride home at 3 in the morning, we held a very serious discussion on the merits of the film. I now present some conclusions:

-HP7 part 2 has much to live up to seeing that so much has yet to happen (I’m not even sure part 1 hit the halfway mark in the book).
-My belief that Rupert Grint was the best casted among the trio of Ron, Hermione, and Harry still holds.
-Dobby, as my friend put it, is a “boss.”
-Emma Watson has certainly grown up well, resulting in my sneaking suspicions that this film may oftentimes appeal more to the male audience.
-Certain moments of suspense in the film were well-filmed – I missed one part of the film as I had to cover my eyes.
-I am sad that Snape did not figure more prominently within this film and eagerly anticipate and expect his character development in part 2.
-Despite my lukewarm response to the film, I do not at all regret attending the HP7 midnight premiere, and plan to do so again for part 2 to be released July 15.


For my safety from possible devoted and exuberant HP7 fans on campus, I would like to say that I am not in any way adamantly forcing my opinions on anyone. I am open to hearing different opinions and look forward to heartfelt HP discussions (in the appropriate setting of Rocky/Mathey?).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was impressed with Steve Kloves (for once) for adding the scene in which Hermione erases her parents' memories. It added some depth to her character. (However, I feel it took away from Ron's character when they omitted the ghoul.)

The romantic scenes did look forced, and while disappointed, I can't say I'm surprised. All three of the main characters said how awkward it was and felt like "kissing a sibling". I wish they could have overcome that for the series, but otherwise not a bad movie. I hope the second part is as good as the first and they really show some of the more important scenes in lieu of the "flashier" scenes (i.e., I would like to see the relationship develop between Lily and Snape rather than watch the Dragon escape scene for an extended amount of time).

Anonymous said...

The movie actually went past the halfway mark in the book. Snape wasn't shown predominantly in this movie because he isn't shown predominantly in the first half of the book. Harry/Ginny definitely seems forced, the actors do not have good chemistry and that scene was only saved by the humor with the twin. But Ron/Hermione felt alright to me. I did notice how they put more hints of them liking each other than compared to other movies, but it is true that they become closer in the final book anyways.

@Anonymous above me, you say how you aren't surprised with the romance scenes being forced and how the trio said it was all awkward, so I'm assuming you mean the locket/horcrux scene? I don't really get how the romance was forced when it wasn't supposed to be romantic. It was just supposed to be 2 teens going at it because that would make Ron extremely jealous. To me it was a bit awkward because they were suddenly naked lol.

Anonymous said...

"casted" is not a word.

Anonymous said...

Radcliffe and Watson making out is the hottest thing EVER. Just saying.