Counter to all complaints, Deathly Hallows greatly benefits from its two part structure. Of course it's going to make a shit load more cash, but there's a reason why this is the best Potter film in the franchise. Unlike all previous titles where our trio must complete some uncompromising task in the final tiresome thirty minutes, Part One has a far more succinct, mature and timely pace.
Of course it's (still) too long but for the first time this doesn't feel like a paint-by-numbers effort from third time director David Yates. There are moments here that we simply haven't experienced before, breaks in the narrative that alleviate the monotony of Harry's quest.
The story of the three brothers for example, is told using three of four minutes of animation. This, for Philip French, invokes Indonesian shadow theatre, for me I simply couldn't stop thinking of Kung-Fu Panda (2008) meets Don Quixote's Gustave_Doré. Irregardless, it's a beautiful sequence worth the price of admission alone.
The other stand out moment includes the unlikely and somewhat out-of-place dance sequence between Harry and Hermione. In the packed screening last night initial guffaws were soon replaced by silence as Yates cranks up the diegetic music to reach a masterful outcome akin to Baillie Walsh's dance sequence in Flashbacks of a Fool (2008) featuring Roxy Music's "If there is Something".
I haven't read any of the books, I've hated every film. I realise I'm not the target audience. But I'm pleased to have persisted, there is still hope for the finale. See this if you can beat the human traffic at the box office, if not, stick Brazil (1985) and the LOTR (2001-2003) trilogy on, they're pretty much on screen throughout anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment