“Hey BS,” My good friend said to me over the phone, “You wanna go watch the new Harry Potter Movie at 3 AM?”
“Sure, what the hell, I have not been sleeping to well anyway.” I replied after weighing my options.
The 3AM show was in IMAX 3D and it was just too weird of an opportunity to pass up. Who goes to the movies at three in the morning? Only Vampires and hardcore Harry Potter fans not hardcore enough to wait in line overnight for the Midnight show that’s who. While part of me expected it to be packed with a slew of hyperactive young Potter fans, to my pleasant surprise there was a bit of elbow room and only a few people had brought along capes and round glasses. There were even fewer kids, but then again, a lot of Harry’s fans are now technically grown-ups.
Personally, I am not a hardcore Potter Head. Sure, I have managed to see all the movies and I have even paged through some of the books. I know enough about Potter’s World of Wizardry to follow along without getting overly lost. I know what a Muggle is for instance and who they are talking about when they refer to the “one who shall not be named”. I am also pretty sure who Harry’s friends are and who are his enemies. It helps that most of the bad guys dress in black and act overtly crazy or sinister. While I have not read any of the books, I take it for granted that they are more depth and detailed than the movies. Books always are. Perhaps someday I will read them. People keep saying that I should. I will probably not openly read them in public. A grown man that looks like me reading Harry Potter on a park bench spells out “stranger danger”. Still, perhaps I can buy them off Amazon and page through them for a summer, if only to get an idea on how to write a blockbuster set of books that will make me rich beyond my wildest dreams.
While I am not a huge fan, I must that I have grown somewhat attached to the series. While the franchise is nowhere as near and dear to me as LOTR (I have read those books several times) sitting through seven movies and watching those kids grow up on screen has made me somewhat sentimental. It seems like just yesterday little Harry, Ron and Hermione were first year students filled with wide eyed wonder as they roamed the halls of Hogwarts and got into trouble. Now, they are almost full blown adults ready to finally vanquish Voldemort and do their best to avoid typecasting as they move onto their adult acting careers.
Emma Watson probably has a fighting chance.
Okay, enough sentimental talk. So I got my 3D glasses and found my seat and got ready to be entertained by Harry Potter in IMAX 3D. To be honest, the 3D was overkill, unlike Transformers which had better 3D action than Avatar, Harry Potter only sported a few token scenes that made the glasses worth wearing. It seems like every movie that comes out in this Real D bullshit has to have a scene where small pieces of shit like ash or snow are floating around. Apparently, this is one of the few things that will actually jump out of the screen at you and in the Deathly Hallows 2 it was pretty much the only cool 3D shot throughout. So my suggestion is do not waste money on a 3D screening. However, given all the action, catching it on a big screen is a definite must.
The Second Finale of the Harry Potter Saga takes off were the First Finale ended. I was a bit lost at first, but then remembered that Dobby had died and was forced to hold back the tears. After a wild ride with the trio through some caverns to recover a relic, the action then swings back to Hogwarts where we finally run into to the rest of the faculty and friends that did not have much of a role in Part One. Here we get to watch Alan Rickman deliver his final performance as Professor Snape. Since Die Hard, Rickman has always been a favorite actor of mine and is great to watch him do great justice to the role he was practically born to do.
While most of the other students of Hogwarts are given just enough screen time to stare in awe Harry or to get heroically blown up by the Death Eaters, a few are allowed to stand out during the climactic battle scene. The kid who plays Neville Longbottom is especially fun to watch as he starts kicking ass and taking names.
While the ending of the Harry Potter Series left me with a few goose bumps, I was definitely not blubbering away like an aunt at a funeral like I had been during the final scenes of the Return of the King (I get misty eyed just thinking about it). However, it is still nice to see this series go off with such a nice bang. Harry Potter did a great job of encouraging a new generation of book readers and the movies helped open up that world and get even more people to crack a book. I like what Professor Dumbledore has to say about the power of words and their ability to create. Rowlings used words to create an entire world and thanks to the magic of film, even those of us who never read her books got to enjoy her wonderful act of creativity. Thank you Harry Potter for the hours of entertainment and three cheers for ending it with such a good bang.
