Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Release Date: July 15, 2011

My Rating:       (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

 

            The tagline for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is “It all ends.”  That’s right, the ending has finally come to the movie series that started ten years ago, the movie adaptation of the classic Harry Potter book series.  Like Roger Ebert wrote in his review of this film, we have a big class reunion here, and a great, epic, dark, dramatic one, too.  I remember when I first saw the (comparatively) light and innocent Sorcerer’s Stone.  I was nine years old at the time.  Here I am, eighteen, and writing the review for the last film, which I saw on Wednesday.  I watched over the years as the movies got progressively deeper, more emotional, more mature, and darker, to the level of darkness at which this film is (tone-wise, and light-wise, in certain scenes).  The movie picks up where the last movie left off, and covers the last third of the seventh book.  This movie continues with the excellent balance of action, suspense, mystery, character and story development, tone, emotion, etc., and excellent special effects, only it has even more action.

            When we last left off, Harry had left the Malfoy Manor, and Dobby had been killed.  Now he continues his quest to hunt for the final horcruxes and kill Lord Voldemort once and for all.  His quest evetually takes him back to Hogwarts for some epic action and showdown.  The film, meanwhile, takes us on a roller coaster ride through thrills, excitements, excellent suspense, and dark magical fantasy, thoroughly entertaining throughout.  Althought the film is over two hours long, it doesn’t fee that long – it seems to zip by relatively quickly.  And the film ends well, not just for is film, but for the entire series as well.  It was a very well handled, well wrapped-up, strong, and emotional ending, almost as strong as it was in the book.

            An epic final installment to a series such as Harry Potter, which requires such a finale, is hard to achieve, and requires a lot of hard work, talent, writing, effort, and thinking.  David Yates handled it very well.  Granted, it’s not perfect and he could have done several things to make it even better, but he does very well nonetheless.  Some of the acting could’ve been better, too, but it was alright, especially since the main actors have gradually improved their performances as the series progressed.  I even enjoyed the musical score, composed by Alexandre Desplat, especially in the parts where he references back to the themes from John Williams’ old score for the first three films.  “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is one of the better installments in the Harry Potter franchise.  It all ends, and it ends well, very good ending to the series.  Harry Potter goes out at full speed and with all wands blazing.

Cast and Credits:

Harry Potter: Daniel Radcliffe

Ron Weasley: Rupert Grint

Hermione Granger: Emma Watson

Bellatrix Lestrange: Helena Bonham Carter

Lord Voldemort: Ralph Fiennes

Severus Snape: Alan Rickman

Minerva McGonagall: Maggie Smith

Albus Dumbledore: Michael Gambon

Sirius Black: Gary Oldman

Remus Lupin: David Thewlis

Hagid: Robbie Coltrane

Warner Brothers Pictures presents

A film directed by David Yates

Screenplay by Stevel Kloves

Based on the novel by J. K. Rowling’s

Running Time: 131 minutes

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images

Deep Impact (1998)

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Released: May 8, 1998

My Rating:      (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

An underrated, misunderstood gem.

             Deep Impact is an excellent title for this equally excellent movie, and it fits the movie both physically and emotionally.  This movie came out not long before Armageddon, but it seems like it was pretty much pounded and bypassed.  I think the summer movies that came out after it stole a lot of the thunder, which Deep Impact deserved.  The critics were also a bit harsh on it, and I don't think they should've been (but that's just my opinion).  The apocalyptic disaster concept is similar to that of Armaggedon, but instead of an asteroid in collision course with the earth, it’s a comet, and it’s a great movie.  Yes, it is.  I got it from the library on DVD and watched it, and I loved it.

            The story starts out as Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood) in Richmond, Virginia, discovers an uncharted object in the night sky and report it to an astronomer in Arizona, who determines that it’s a comet and it’s on a trajectory that will bring it into collision with the earth.  While driving to release this news, the astronomer is killed in a car accident.  A year later, in Washington D. C., MSNBC news reporter Jenny Lerner (Téa Leoni) is investigating the resignation of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alan Rittenhouse (James Cromwell), who says he's resigned because his wife is sick.  But Jenny, as she investigates further, comes to think he's been cheating on his wife with someone called Ele, and resigned because he was about to be found out.  Soon, however, at her computer at the news station, and then at a press conference at which the president (Morgan Freeman) makes an address, Jenny learns her error: it's not a mistress named Ele, it's E. L. E. (Extinction Level Event), specifically the comet we learned about at the beginning of the movie.  After this, the story really starts to develop, leading to a movie full of emotion, soul, great plot points, recurring themes, and much more.

            There have been many different types of apocalyptic disaster thrillers, with many different types of plot, tone, characters, and action.  Deep Impact takes an excellent approach at the story.  It allows one to feel the emotion of the movie, enjoy the special effects, and the action near the end, and at same time feel the emotion of the characters, and still feel the great effect on everybody worldwide.  It has an excellent tone and balance.  It has very dynamic and developed storylines, and great themes, including, especially in the second half of the movie, the value in life, in the world, in the environment (not mentioned in the film, but can be felt), etc.  It even gets a bit existential toward the end, which I like.  All of the storylines are fully appreciated, an none really outdoes the other.  They balanced them very well - the Jenny Lerner storyline, the Leo Biederman storyline, and all the others.  Also, the movie was well-cast, and I thought it was well-acted, and the characters were very well set up and developed.  Man, it’s really hard to put into words what I felt about the movie.

            My viewing experience of this film was great.  This film started out, and then gradually captured my interest and liking more and more, all the while developing it’s dynamic tone, characters, story, and emotion.  The actors, even the well known Morgan Freeman, really blended into their roles - I really saw them as their characters.  By the time the movie ended, I loved it.  It also has good special effects which I enjoyed, but the core of the film, what I really loved about it, was the story, the soul, and the emotion.  The movie certainly pries deep into emotions during it's nearly two hour running time.  It has everything a great movie really needs.  Even the action at the midpoint of the film and near the end was good, it has the strong emotional and soul-filled background and tone to back it up – it’s not just full-out summer action - and it actually matters what happens to the characters during these action scenes.  Deep Impact is an underrated, misunderstood gem. 

Cast and Credits:

Jenny Lerner: Téa Leoni

Leo Biederman: Elijah Wood

Spurgeon Tanner: Robert Duvall

President Beck: Morgan Freeman

Robin Lerner: Vanessa Redgrave

Jason Lerner: Maximilian Schnell

Alan Rittenhouse: James Cromwell

Sarah Hotchner: Leelee Sobieski

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks SKG present a Zanuck/Brown Production of a film directed by Mimi Leder

Written by Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkin

Running Time: 2 hours and 1 minute

Rated PG-13 for intense disaster related elements and brief language.

Unbreakable (2000)

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Released: November 22, 2000

My Rating:     (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

 

            A year after the hit success of The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan re-casts Bruce Willis and re-applies his unique film formula for Unbreakable.  He succeeds in providing a second demonstration of the very unique suspenseful and emotional dramatic mystery thrillers he had become known for.  He sets an excellent balance between supernaturality and the real world while also focusing heavily on character and family dynamics.  In several ways, besides the casting of Bruce Willis, the film is very similar to The Sixth Sense – for example, the plot follows a very similar formula with similar types of plot points, and both movies take place in Philadelphia.  But the formula is applied to a different genre.  Also, Bruce Willis is not the only star.  He is starring along with Samuel L. Jackson, whom he also starred with in Die Hard 3.

            Bruce Willis is now bald, and his character, David Dunn, a stadium security guard, is not a walking dead person, like Malcolm Crowe in Sixth Sense.  David is very much alive, even following a lethal train wreck at the inciting incident near the beginning, in which all the passengers die except for him.  What’s more, he was completely unbroken not a single scratch, let alone any injuries.  Soon after, he finds a note on his windshield asking him a question which really starts him thinking about his seemingly lucky survival, especially after he meets the writer of the note, Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson).

Elijah is a gallery owner who loves, and finds importance in, comic books, especially those about superheroes.  He even finds connections between comic book stories and real life, and is a firm believer in it.  All his life, Elijah has had a disorder in which his bones are extremely weak, easily breakable, for which he was called “Mr. Glass” by other kids while growing up.  He wonders that if he is at one end of the spectrum, where his bones break easily, couldn’t there be somebody at the other end of the spectrum, who never gets sick, never gets hurt, is practically unbreakable?  This is why he seeks out David, and finally meets him about half an hour into the film, after learning the details of his survival from the train wreck.  After this, the story begins to pick up speed and venture more into the concept of the film: superheroes, comic books, and possible unbreakablilty (David).  The movie does contain a few elements from comic book stories (but not in written boxes), all mixed with Shyamalan’s formula, reality, suspense, and other elements.  It’s a cool story.

            I have to say, I kind of like M. Night Shyamalan’s type of films.  I don’t really love any of his films, but they are worth watching, especially Signs.  He has a very unique way of storytelling, and he provides the correct type balance between character, emotion, suspense, reality, supernaturality, and all other aspects.  He knows what mysteries to answer or to leave hanging.  He knows how to make something or some event believable even though it would never happen in real life (en example in Unbreakable is when David’s son, Josepsh, has his father’s gun and wants to shoot him – which he doesn’t – to prove that he is unbreakable).  He knows the best time to reveal little bits of important information, adding to the suspense, and he is great at placing important plot points and symbolic things within seemingly everyday appearance, dialogue, and description.  The concept which is prying into reality is not always or totally noticed believed amongst the characters and their families, but it is evident, and it really reflects in their emotions and behaviors.  And resolutions are also strong and clearly reflected and evident emotionally in character and family dynamics.  Shyamalan is an expert at this.  And his formula can probably be used for almost any subject matter, even things in plain real life.  I know he’s gone downhill lately, especially with Airbender, but he has been successful in the past, and I’m betting he’s still got potential now.  I think he should really use his potential and get back up to where he was, and that people should stop pounding and avoiding him and just give him a chance, and acknowledgement for his four best films (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village).

Cast and Crew:

David Dunn: Bruce Willis

Elijah Price: Samuel L. Jackson

Audrey Dunn: Robin Wright

Joseph Dunn: Spencer Treat Clark

Elijah’s Mother: Charlayne Woodard

Dr. Mathison: Eamonn Walker

Touchstone Pictures presents

A film written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Running Time: 1 hour and 47 minutes

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements including some disturbing violent content, and for a crude sexual reference