First of all let me make it clear that i am a huge Harry Potter fan. I have read all the 7 books at least twice. I remember plots of each novel as if i have to recite them in front of an examiner. All the character details i remember as if they are somebody who are very close to me. So my interest in Harry Potter movies is obvious. I am not one of those fans who wants the book to be made into movies exactly as it is, a director cannot fit a 500 page book into 2 hour movie, to do that he has to remove some things which are not that relevant in the broader scheme of things, but if a director removes relevant and the best part of the book then i think the "creative liberty" concept is being exploited. This movie is a classic case of exploiting the creative liberty given to the director.This remains one of the best books in the Harry Potter series primarily because it delves into Dark Lord Voldemort's past. It gives us a rare insight into the character Voldemort which was not explored till the 6th book. But in the movie the focus has shifted from Voldemort to love stories of teenagers. The best parts of the book like past memories of Voldemort are skipped to give other plot points screen time. I never understood what the director David Yates was thinking here. If they are in a constraint from the studio to make a movie within 2-2.5 hours then the director should prioritize which things to show and which not to. Basically the most essential points should be shown and irrelevant plot lines should be skipped. Here, the director did exactly the opposite, only 2 memories of Lord Voldemort are shown, one when Dumbledore goes to the orphanage and the second one is in which Voldemort and Horace Slughorn have a discussion regarding Horcruxes. Other memories were shockingly left out. Other memories constituted around 1/2 of the book so you can be rest assured that the director has taken extreme creative liberties, unfortunately in the wrong direction.
Few examples of the creative insertions done by the director: I didn't understood the logic of the scene in which "The Burrow" burns down. Burrow plays an integral part in the next book and it would be interesting to see how they fit this into the next part. No explanation is given of the love between Remus Lupin and Tonks. The focus is more on Lavender Brown, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger love triangle. Harry's love life is also one of the focus area. The worst part was the ending in which Harry is looking from the floor below as Dumbledore is being killed. Harry Potter would be expected to fight till his last breath for his loved ones and Albus Dumbledore was one of them. But in the movie he just watches as a spectator to his death. They could have used the Petrificus Totalus charm to justify that, as was done in the book, but they didn't did that. The fight in the climax which was another highlight of the book, is not shown, the conversation in the end between Snape and Harry is trimmed. The use of cupboard is not explained that well, only people who have read the book would be able to understand what exactly was the use of the cupboard. There was no discussion about the possible Horcruxes which would help Harry in finding them in case if Dumbledore is not there. I could go on and on about the bad points of this movie, it is nonsensical and on entirely different lines as compared to the book. Creative liberties if taken by director is fine if it enhances the overall impact of the movie, but in this case all the good points are left out and he has stuffed this movie with irrelevant things.
This one is the biggest disappointment in the series so far. I have heard that Warner Bros. have contracted David Yates to direct the 7th part also. Lets hope he does justice to the book in that.
There would be people who haven't read the book and would love this movie, for them "Ignorance is Bliss" applies. If there is some one who liked this movie, give the novels a try, you will surely fall in love with the books, all 7 of them, they are simply amazing.
Posts
What a waste of a great story.... All thanx to the director..it takes a lot of brains to kill such a story and the director David Yates proved that he had all the brains to do that. There were many instances in the book which were too big to be missed but Mr Yates somehow managed to overlook them.... The book gives u very close look into the life of Dark Lord Voldemort and there is not even a proper glimpse of his life in the movie....All it shows is the love story of the teenagers....The main crux of the story was lost in the masala part....God knows when did masala concept hit the hollywood..
ReplyDeletecoming to the movie, there was no description why voldemort was so powerful or who exactly he was and his family background... Neither the special dinner parties of slughorne with voldemort were shown which were much too important which one can easily understand if one has ever read the book..how did the death eaters manage their way to break into hogwarts or why did the burrow burns down(which actually did not happen)is all left unexplained...and there are many more instances which if i discuss here,i will fall short of space.
All i can say is that the the story was wasted miserably and the movie could have been much much more interesting if some parts would have been taken care of....
i think the masala syndrome has hit the hollywood really badly......as was proved by the sweeping commercial and critical success of Slumdog Millionaire (which was a pure masala story). The last thing i wanted to see was to see this syndrome hit the Harry Potter franchisee. I just hope that in the last part they feature more of action and Voldermort or we are sure to witness Harry and Ginny's love story as the main plot of the seventh movie.
ReplyDeleteReally man...this bollywood has truly influenced the hollywood platform.....and it would be real fun to see harry and ginny running around trees and singing love duets if this trend continues... god...spare me the horror.... i would rather have a nice nap than watching the movie if this is gonna happen.. hope the director does justice to the next part.
ReplyDeleteHarry and Ginny running around trees is something i am expecting from David Yates as they go into the woods in the next part.....the real fun would be when Bellatrix Lestrange confesses that she loves Lord Voldemort, and even Voldemort confesses that he feels the same and then both starts singing and dancing (other death eaters would be extra dancers) and in the end Voldemort realizes the importance of love. Voldemort and Bellatrix in the end would get married in which Harry, Ginny etc. all would be invited. The climax would feature a tearful Voldemort giving a speech regarding how bad hatred is and how powerful and good love is....:)
ReplyDeleteThis all sounds a nightmare to me.... i don't understand how J.K Rowling is taking all this... is she not bothered about how her books are miserably ruined in the movie...well all we can do is hope that this all doesn't happen in the movie...
ReplyDelete