[Larry_OHF]

I am surprised to be the first to start this thread. I have no other forums to talk about it on, and am itching to share my thoughts. I know we have fans on IW.

It's probably not an issue worrying about plot spoilers since the book has been out so long, but if by chance you do not know the general plot, then let me forewarn you of spoilers henceforth.



Overall movie experience
I have read and heard some fans call it a roller-coaster ride and that is a good summary. For me, there were no slow moments, even during the quiet times. The character exchanges still held me spell-bound. I did have issue with some of the fast-paced scenes where running through the forest or other highly intensive scenes required fast footage. It was blurred and hard to follow. I wanted to see facial expressions, see spells be fired off and land, see details...but details were extremely hard to pick up. I think that was done on the purpose of making you feel immersed in the heat of the moment and from the characters' points of view...action was a blur and made it feel more dangerous. However, I would have preferred seeing those intense moments more clearly if that makes sense.

Character portrayals
A lot of fans on other sites are handing the movie's success to Emma Watson's Hermoine and I agree whole-heartedly. When reading the books, you get a sense that Harry wants to do everything alone and has a problem accepting others' points of view and hates asking for help though help is very much needed. Ron is a great friend but lacks adding anything of value to the group other than just being there for moral support. It's Hermoine that always has a plan and rationally thinks her way through the dangers and issues. The movie I think really picked up on this and correctly portrays Hermoine as the trio's main hero. The movie shows her niche of fore-thought as she had planned for the trip with everything they might need in that little bag of hers. She was the one that had a plan to get everyone out of harm's way. She saved the day so many times. Yes, the other guys had their moments as well, but they pale in comparison to me. Now...moving away from the characters and on to the actors...Emma Watson played her part much more convincingly than the other co-stars. I believed her character more. In fact, during the now-infamous torture scene...what everybody is saying is REALLY TRUE...that scene is horrible to sit through without squirming in your seat. Hearing her scream was gut-wrenching. Yet while that it going on, I did not get a sense of absolute urgency from the two guys while they were in the dungeon. I did not see Ron losing his sanity over hearing his girlfriend scream like that. I saw him worried but not enough for me to believe he felt anything like I would have expected to have felt in the same situation. Harry seems more interested that he's found Luna, in fact. Now...switch to a previous scene where Ron had been seriously injured and it was because Hermoine had shifted them to another location while they were making a warp while escaping the Ministry of Magic. While Ron lay there in shock at the sudden intense pain of having his arm butchered by the spell's effects of transportion gone wrong...Hermoine's trembling voice and almost on the brink of tears while trying her best to hold onto her composure so she can think clearly and heal Ron was in itself heart-wrenching. She successfully made me think she was worried for him and feeling bad about having a hand in the cause of his pain. I felt so sorry for her. I did not see that level of acting with the other guys. Maybe it's because they're guys, right? I dunno. I just know that if anybody deserves an award-winning performance...it would be Emma Watson. She won me over.

Book Adaptation/Movie Additives
I am not a believer in having to follow a book to an exactness. I understand that some things have to be done visually in a few moments to get many pages of text covered in a way to help the viewer grasp the situation. Sometimes, words on a page cannot be put into a visual remake and has to be translated into a different scene to get more emotion out of it. I am fine with that. I enjoy the simplicity of that. However, I do have issue with one scene. The scene where the Horcrux is trying to defend itself and portrays a nude Hermoine and Harry making out so that it could defeat Ron. I think the visual portrayal of that went a little too far in an uncomfortable way. I am not even sure if that is in the book or not, but I don't think it added value to the movie. Just saying. Other things they did not include that I would have liked to have seen but I understand that to keep on topic and to preserve time they could not was more of Hogwarts and the happenings there. Snape was now Headmaster. I would have liked to seen him do Headmaster stuff. Just a scene or two. Maybe during the next one, they'll spend more time since we end up there.