Last Saturday I ventured to see the latest instalment in the Harry Potter saga. Given that it is a hugely popular series, I was glad that I got to see it so quickly, before other peoples' opinions began to taint my view of it.
As a whole, I was pleasantly surprised. Over the years the constantly changing directors and styles have been a bit of a scattered bunch in terms of quality, but this time it really hit the mark. Obviously now that a lot of the 'child' actors in it have been in the film industry for a while, they are reaching a point where they are no longer cringeworthy to watch which made it much less of a task to view. In fact, much as I bare a grudge towards her, Emma Watson really shone in the role of Hermione; the section where she erases her parents was quite heartbreaking.
This was definitely the darkest film so far, I certainly wouldn't take any children I know to see it! Voldemort has always been frightening, but he was nothing compared to watching Bathilda Bagshot splitting in half to reveal a snake inside! To be fair, the books do get increasingly more dramatic and scary, so it is only fitting that the films do so as well, and it was done tastefully. The alternative aspect was continued through the use of an animé style cartoon to depict the story of 'The Three Brothers', which though very unexpected, was actually pretty effective at getting the information required out there in an entertaining way.
There were some bits that grated on me though. All of the slightly risqué scenes still came across as forced, in particular the one involving Harry and Hermione in a passionate clinch, which was overly computerised and awkward to watch. There was an unnecessary scene where Harry was shown in various stages of undress, which when he has quite a pale hairy body just made me feel grossed out!
Probably the main problem for me was the excessive padding out of the story. This was obviously done in order to create two feature length films, but I personally think one longer than average film of maybe three hours would have been much better (and not left the whole country in suspense for eight months!).
I would definitely recommend this, especially if you have seen any of the other films as it is one of the better in the bunch. The scenery is all beautiful as well, so even just for the pans of Scottish countryside, go see it!
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