The oppressive tone is also a result in the change of location and narrative thrust. It’s brooding and the mood of the film is not suitable for very young kids. Ron is so suspicious that in an apparition he sees a near naked Harry and Hermione in a very erotic embrace. As Ron gets closer to Hermione he becomes suspicious of Harry, a result of the Horcrux (which has a One Ring effect) he is wearing round his neck. There is also quite a lot of sexual, as opposed to romantic, tension between the lead characters particularly in regards to Ron and Hermione. And the opening meeting between Voldemort and his minions which sees a body limp and hanging over the long table eerily recalls The Exorcist. Yates is allowed to go where he wants with it, even allowing him to refer to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil in a Ministry of Magic chase set piece.
The horror will terrify most young kids and I like that, it holds no prisoners. The film is also more scary and intense than before. There are also a select group of Voldemort’s Death Eaters hunting for stray underage wizards, in an effort to find Harry. There is plenty of moody, expressionist lighting and between scenes we hear over a magical radio that wizards and Hogwarts pupils are being found dead. The sense of impending doom and tragedy is very well established, you can feel the desparation oozing from both the performances and the atmosphere established by Yates. It is a very interesting change in tone for the Potter films, they have finally managed to make the whole world very threatening. Meanwhile Voldemort himself is on a mission, which Harry is trying to uncover through his psychic connection to the Dark Lord, which somehow links in with an old wizarding folk tale about the Deathly Hallows. Our heroes Harry, Ron and Hermione now have to continue the task left for them by Dumbledore to destory the remaining Horcruxes and defeat the Dark Lord. Whether they like it or not Voldemort is now the true head of the magic world. Dumbledore has died, Voldemort’s power is rising and the wizard world is going through serious oppression and suspicion as the dark forces routinely check up on magicians blood status. The film opens with the face of Bill Nighy as the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour telling us that “these are dark times there is no denying” and he is right. This first part of the epic finale has been getting very mixed critical reactions so far, and I don’t understand why as this is far and away the best film of the franchise, and easily one of the year’s finest blockbusters.
I had very high expectations of this film, due to the last film: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which I thought was the best so far. The films I think do short change the majority of the books, I can’t stand the Chris Columbus movies and the Mike Newell film was too ornately composed and didn’t capture the true spirit of the book.Īlfonso Cuaron and David Yates were good things to happen to the franchise, they took the films into a more visually interesting territory and they got significantly better performances out of the younger actors than the other two directors. They are fantastic works of family fiction which significantly mature with each instalment matching the maturity of their first audience, which is my generation. My relationship with the Harry Potter franchise is very mixed. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been split into an epic two parter, the first of which is now on release with the concluding chapter ready for July next year. Now after 13 years of Harry Potter being the crux of pop culture, we are finally going to see it come to an end. Starting life way back in 1997 when Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published, for the world’s most famous boy wizard it has been a long ride from page to screen.
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