This was yet another brilliant Harry Potter page to screen adaptation creating the tension, fear and angst seemingly effortlessly. The movement of the film was slow, like that of the book, but never dragged as lovely scenic shots of the changing seasons kept the pace. The scriptwriter did a wonderful job of trying to juggle the many plot and sub-plot developments at the foreground of the narrative but due to the condensed style of the film some scenes of dialogue seemed forced and randomnly squashed together.
The motif of the radio overvoiced, as the trio travel, listing the names of those missing or dead really drives home how important these last missions are and that now it is the wizarding community who are under seige not just Harry himself. However, the grand scale created through sweeping pans of isolated countryside, similar in style to that of the Lord of the Rings epics, doesn't quite create a grand feel for the finale. There was a lack of climax because this film is only representative of half of a book and thereby disrupted the regular law of narrative: Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and then New Equilibrium.
The graphic art for the Tale of Three Brothers was gorgeous, as were the seemless transitions back into the film and the camera angles during the chase in the woods were incredible and really simulated the pace and drama of that moment.
Disappointingly the two deaths that made me cry in the books didn't have the time to have the same impact in the films. **SPOILERS** Hedwig's death was very sudden and rushed amongst all the commotion for any sadness to be played out and Dobby's death although touching seemed a bit too wordy. The loss of these too characters are pivotal in terms of Harry's character, they are symbolic of his true loss of childhood, but I suppose in the time frame they were given these moments are gems of raw emotion and supported by acting talent. The acting of the three main leads, who had never before had to carry the narrative of a Harry Potter film alone, rose to the challenge and delivered brilliantly. One should only look at the argument scene in the tent between Ron (Rupert Grint) and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), and the despair and isolation epitamised in Hermione's (Emma Watson's) scenes to see how much they have matured.
The motif of the radio overvoiced, as the trio travel, listing the names of those missing or dead really drives home how important these last missions are and that now it is the wizarding community who are under seige not just Harry himself. However, the grand scale created through sweeping pans of isolated countryside, similar in style to that of the Lord of the Rings epics, doesn't quite create a grand feel for the finale. There was a lack of climax because this film is only representative of half of a book and thereby disrupted the regular law of narrative: Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and then New Equilibrium. This film is probably one in which audiences who have read the book will have the greatest advantage of understanding and in order to retain the right ambience throughout this film the director has definately had to make the assumption that the audience will already have an understanding of the plot. However the heightened emotion and narrative of this film centers entirely on the trios friendship which comes across brilliantly, particularly through the dialogue free scenes. The love between these characters, both platonic and romantic, comes to the fore of the story and is stretched to extremes yet remains totally beliveable.
Despite this I felt that the complex narrative was managed beautifully making this an enjoyable and exciting film. The film plays with your emotions spinning on a dime from a jokers line to a devasting piece of news, we are kept on edge by the ever prevalent sense of danger. This adds to the anticipation of 'Part 2' and as a massive fan of the books and films I would have been perfectly happy with a short interval and then return to watch the second half, but now we must wait on the edges of our seats for another 6 months!
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