Not a Harry Potter Review

Films are an interesting thing when compared to generations. Hit all the right notes and they become a cultural zeitgeist. The original Star Wars is the most obvious of examples. So what do the rest of the millennials and I have? I think you could make a solid case for several series including The Dark Knight trilogy, or the superhero genre as a whole, but every time I think of this my train of thought always comes to a screeching halt at Harry Potter. There’s no getting around it. For better or worse, Harry Potter is my generation’s Star Wars.

Confession time. Prior to about, oh a week ago, I had not seen any of the films beyond Chamber of Secrets. Not out of lack of interest, I simply fell behind the hype-train and never got back on. However, upon concluding Deathly Hallows Part 2 a few days ago, I have come to this conclusion. While mildly flawed, I am perfectly okay with Harry Potter being the flagship franchise it is.

Beginning with the first two films, Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, both gave off the same feeling: fun but lacking substance. They do a tremendous job of setting up and building the world, but beyond that they fall a bit flat. Most of the characters, especially the core three, are caricatures at best. There’s Harry, the not so typical hero. Ron, the protagonist’s dopey best friend. And Hermonie, the know-it-all girl who keeps the boys in line. Dumbledore? Gandalf. Malfoy? Any bully ever in the history of mankind. See my point?

Moving on to the positives however- as I said- the setting is truly remarkable. Yes, wizards and witches have been done to death but placing them within the confines of modern day society feels rather fresh. Add all the more minute details such as Quidditch or the fact of how Hogwarts castle is more of a living being than a stationary structure, and you a rather memorable universe.

Now here’s where the series really took off for me. For those who are unfamiliar, Harry Potter went through four directors in all, and by the third film the first change of management took place. Alfonso Cuaron, known for Children of Men and Gravity, came in for Chris Columbus and rectified all the reservations I had. I was no longer only watching for the uniqueness of the setting. The characters had finally become, well... characters. As Harry learns of Sirius Black the innocent child begins to fade away in favor of a vengeful teen. Best of all is the time travel scene in the latter moments. Repeating the same events of the previous 30 minutes could have been disastrous. The clever changes in the plot however, work towards making the viewer feel smart in one “aha moment” after another, culminating in the first big twist of the series.

At this point I was hooked. Harry Potter was the near-perfect mixture of fun and intelligently intriguing. Then what good graces were imparted by Prisoner of Azkaban were dashed against the rocks thanks to Goblet of Fire. My biggest gripe with GoF has to be the jarring effects of the Triwizard Tournament. Throughout the entirety of the series we are made to believe the wizarding world, while it dabbles in some dangerous dealings, is by no means barbaric. So why do these seemingly modern and civilized people get their kicks by watching friends and students face life or death trials? There is zero rhyme or reason to such nonsense. It’s just as out of place as the Roman Coliseum would be in New York City. But let’s not forget the hilariously stereotypical guest schools which also participate in the tourney. Let’s see, vaguely Russian people doused with far too much machismo? Check. Dainty French girls? Check. Me nearly falling asleep? Check. The only reason GoF isn’t a complete waste of time is entirely due to the final 20 minutes. The graveyard scene where we finally set eyes on Voldemort was brilliantly tense. Paired with Harry’s return to Hogwarts and the terror that strikes everyone when he screams out “He’s back!” It’s arguably the best scene in the entire series and was so well done it saved GoF from being a complete wash.

Continuing along to Order of the Phoenix now, this is where I began to seriously doubt the quality. After GoF being a near disaster, OotP poured salt in the wounds. It is the only film in all eight that I feel is genuinely bad.  Every single one prior, no matter the tone or the direction, always had the unique feel intrinsic to Harry Potter. OotP did not. The majority of the locals and characters were -or felt like- a rehash. Worse yet, after the terrific ending of GoF which so brilliantly set up Voldemort's return, what do we get? He’s imprisons a few people. Fights Dumbledore, but that ends in draw. Hell, he isn’t even responsible for Sirius' death. In an attempt to make the conflict more grandiose and widely encompassing, they strayed too far from what made the other films work. Caring for the humdrum good vs. evil plot was next to impossible and my hope for the remaining movies was nearly drained. That is until Half-Blood Prince went and decided to be all sorts of awesome.

As far as I’m concerned HBP is the quintessential Harry Potter experience. Not only does Harry return to form as a complex character, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy, and Snape are all vastly improved. They each have their fair share of troubles, some more worrying than others, but most important of all, they’re human. Not every action they take is entirely good or bad. There are layers to every decision which made no choice easy. HBP is also the first movie where Harry and friends suffer utter defeat. Snape and Malfoy betray Hogwarts which results in Dumbledore’s death, and as a kicker, the Horcrux Dumbledore died to obtain was a fake. Nearly everything that could potentially go wrong, went wrong and it was interesting to see how the trio handled their first significant defeat. While HBP was great, no movie is perfect. Maybe it’s just me, but I often find many writers fail to properly employ foreshadowing and end up revealing too much, too early. This is exactly the feeling I got when the details of how Voldemort was able to split his soul and create the Horcruxes was revealed. I instantly knew there was more to Harry’s lightning-bolt shaped scar and that at some point, he would have to die. Thankfully the all-around excellence of the rest of the film outweighs this single negative aspect.

And here we are at long last. The conclusion of Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows...err Part 1? Well, I suppose we aren’t done yet.

The running theme of DHP1 -and by far its greatest is strength- is that characters are far more interesting when faced with adversity. After the disaster that were the events of HBP, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are forced out of their element. Being on the run and having no one to turn too causes the group to have their first real fracturing. As things progress the situation only gets more dire and the trio more desperate. While there are a few pacing troubles mid-film, Ron’s departure was fairly awkward,I found it difficult to find any significant flaws. Well other than Dobby’s death. After not seeing hide nor hair of the Harry Potter franchise's Jar Jar Binks for four movies. I was quite frankly glad to see him go. Maybe I’m a heartless bastard, but his reintroduction into the series seemed forced. I assume he played a bigger role in the books and maybe it didn’t feel right not to included him, but ending on a insignificant character’s death after the finale of HBP was a bit of a letdown. Though a mishandled ending  is certainly not enough to ruin the entire experience, DHP1 ranks among PoA and HBP as the best in the series.

Here we are at long last, Deathly Hallows Part 2. I’m going to cut right to the chase. The ending is a complete mess which works to unravel everything done right thus far. Firstly, the loophole of Harry being able to cheat death by use of the Resurrection Stone was bullshit. Not that I was rooting for him to die and Voldemort to bring about his awful reign, but it was incredibly anticlimactic. The majority of the series had done a terrific job of bestowing a sense of taking the good with the bad. Balancing your failures with success. Of course, this was when Voldemort made a difference by manipulating people and staying relatively far away from the heat of things. Then when we finally get to see the villain whose power had been hyped up over the course of seven movies, what happens? He’s a cream-puff. He avoids the brunt of the fight and only manages to kill one person, Snape, his apparent ally. It’s not even that Harry or any of the core trio had to die, though it would have made for a far more impactful finish. In fact, I can think of one simple way in which the ending could have been nearly the same but the tension wouldn’t have died so early. If the the order in which the final two Horcruxes were destroyed was flipped, this whole mess could have been avoided. The moment Harry came back from death with roughly 30 minutes left, the tension was demolished. However, if Harry had been the final Horcrux and died in battle to Voldemort only to be brought back to life by the Resurrection Stone when all hope seemed lost. Well, that would have been a proper ending. Cheesy, but undoubtedly better than what we ended up with. Instead I sat there knowing exactly what was going to happen. Oh, and as if they hadn’t screwed things up enough already, seeing Neville Longbottom deal the final blow was adding insult to injury. Simply stated: the DHP2 nearly makes me never want to go back to the world of Harry Potter.

Moaning and groaning about how horrible the ending was aside, I was ultimately happy with the experience I received. Though I may have burnt through the eight films in a little over a week, I came to deeply care for the characters and their world. I often get sentimental about the fiction I absorb, especially when it focuses on younger protagonists. No, not in some creepy fashion. It’s just that seeing characters develop over the course of their young adult lives makes me reflect upon my own teenage years, and Harry Potter did exactly that. I deeply loved the notion of living in the world and being that fourth member of the gang, which the films so superbly conveyed. And if a piece of fiction can create such childish desires, then job well done.