Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One

“They are coming”

 

I‘ll start this by saying that I love the Harry Potter books.  Really love them.  Queued up at midnight for book 7 love them.  So I am always aware that the films are not quite going to live up to the novels and try to judge them accordingly.

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, or Harry Potter and The Darkest Film Until Part Two Comes Out, does pretty well at transferring the action from page to screen.  However, it does not quite succeed in carrying the emotional content over with it.

The book drips with a slow build of tension.  The first part of the book (away from Hogwarts) takes so long that you, along with the characters, almost forget what the point of it all is.  As tends to be the case, the film makes this episode look like it passes in about three weeks.  This in turn makes each turn of events seem much easier to come by and loses the sense of urgency that creeps in when something big happens.  It is funny that one of my friends said that the film dragged a lot and yet I felt that it needed to drag more in order to really achieved the slowly wilting optimism that JK so wonderfully conveys in the novel.

This sense of urgency is vital to the drive the emotional journey of the characters.  The moment in the book when the Death Eaters attack the wedding is a truly spine-chilling moment exactly because you have seen all of the build up to the day and really settled into life with the Weasleys and this opportunity for a happy event despite the terror encroaching further upon them with every moment that passes.  In the film there is barely any time to see the wedding before it is being ripped apart.  Also missing is the sense that Dumbledore is no longer a trustworthy source of information for Harry.  He spends much of the book severely doubting his beloved mentor and this is never even mentioned in the film.  And then there is the moment when Ron disapperates from the camp in the forest (the most horrifying part of the book - but that's probably just me...).  This means that he can never come back once Harry and Hermione m ove on as the collection of spells that they cast to avoid detection will also create a barrier that will keep Ron at bay, but there is no real feeling that this is the case in the film.  Ok, so Hermione is clearly upset that he has gone, but there is no real indication that this is potentially the end of his part in the journey.  I know that most people who watch the films will have read the books and know the outcome of this situation but they could have tried a bit harder at conveying the finality of Ron’s decision.  Even on my second reading of the novel my heart sunk at the moment he went so I think they should have been able to make more of this in the film.

 

Criticisms aside I think that the film does do its best with the source material.  The action scenes are creative and blisteringly edited and the animation used for the story of the Deathly Hallows is absolutely beautiful.  The trip into the Ministry of Magic is particularly well handled with a terrific performance from Peter Mullan and good comic moments mixed with emotional scenes and high tempo action.  The cinematography and production design are gorgeous in the portrayal of the two different magical worlds – Malfoy Manor is wonderfully bleak and darkly gothic and the various places that Harry, Ron and Hermione set up camp are at once vast and claustrophobic.

 

Emma Watson is much improved as Hermione.  Her tendency to over-emote has been (somewhat) reduced and she delivers a touching performance.  The addition of the scene in which she erases her parents’ memories lends real weight to her repetition of the spell in the café in central London.  (That being said, she is still a rubbish shouter).  Dan Radcliffe is as solid as ever but Rupert Grint, as is usually the case, comes out on top once again in this film.  He has always been the strongest of the main three youngsters and is certainly the most capable when it comes to emotional range (and having a good old shouting match).

 

My final remark has to be on something I am finding truly difficult to justify: the addition of that awkwardly odd dance routine.  I can see what they were trying to achieve - a lightening of the tension and an opportunity to see the real bond between Harry and Hermione - but, to be horribly honest, it’s not like they’d really succeeded in building a huge amount of tension in the first place and I couldn’t help feeling that, after deciding to split the film in two so as not to lose any major plot elements, this was an entirely unnecessary use of time when they had dropped other, more frightening/interesting, key moments from the book.

 

All in all a pretty good addition to the filmic world of HP and a fun watch but lacking in urgency – 7/10