Thank you Harry Potter

It's so sad that the most acclaimed saga of the decade has finally come to its end this year.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Potter fans will finally be able to catch the last glimpse of the-boy-who-lived's adventure through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

I got the chance to see the movie last week with Eileena, Bella, Jennifer, Bianca, and Hanson on Sunday, July 17, two days after the release day. At first, I was so nervous for not getting the tickets seeing the movie was highly anticipated by Potter fans, but we finally got them through pre-order process.

Anyway, let's just get on to the movie. You may want to watch out for spoilers if you haven't seen it yet.

The movie basically is a continuation of the previous one released on November 2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. Basically, the movie is obviously based on the book. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in a whole tells about Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) going on an adventure to seek Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) Horcruxes (sacred items where Voldemort keeps his souls). The goal is to destroy the Horcruxes one by one in order to put Voldemort's immortal life come to its end. But finding them isn't easy because aside Harry, Hermione, and Ron need to go to unexpected various places in the magic world, they are aware that Voldemort is watching over them and trying to fail their mission by sending his minions, the Death Eaters. Harry also aims to discover his faith and the truth about the past he has never known before.

I gotta say Part 1 was a little disappointing. Maybe that's because I'm not getting used to seeing movies that are cut off in the middle of the complication, thus we all have to wait for the latter portion of the movie several months ahead. I was a little nervous to see if the latter part of the movie will be as promising as most people say. Like everyone else, I wanted the final movie of the most intriguing saga of the decade to be brilliant. But in the end, all of my anxiety was answered positively.

Part 2 was absolutely, definitely intricate. I couldn't get more satisfied. All Potter fans are surely aware that Potter movies have got darker and darker each movie. As the final installment, you can guess that this movie is the darkest among the whole saga.

I read the novel, it's just that I forgot some parts of it because I only read it once and it was back the time when it was newly published. I'm pretty sure everything matches with the book, with some tiny parts that are cut off in the movie. The producers somehow try to fit all important details in the book to the movie that they want audience not to miss out (which leads to the movie being split up into two parts), and that's a good attempt. The several months of wait for the latter portion of the movie isn't wasteful.

*spoilers* Well, I gotta say the seventh movie is full of action and surprising scenes which won't fail to amuse the audience. One of my favorite scenes would be when Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) bravely stepped forward to Voldemort's presence and brought up a heartfelt speech, saying no matter that Harry has died, "he still lives among us."

The Battle of Hogwarts was also one of the tensest moments during the movie. The sense of unity among the wizards is strongly felt during the time where Hogwarts staff and Order of the Phoenix collaborated their power to create a shield to protect Hogwarts castle from Death Eaters' attack.

The latter portion of the movie resembles a war/disaster movie than the previous Harry Potter movies I knew before, seeing wizards and witches who were dying and injured due to the battle, lay on the stretchers in a Great turn-to-barrack Hall. The scene where Fred Weasley died as he was surrounded by his family, wasn't depicted to the fullest. Fred is one of the most important and loved Potter character and I guess, the director needs to include the scene how he died to add more emotional effect on the audience. But anyway, I definitely love the part where Molly Weasley bravely duelled with Bellatrix Lestrange and eventually killed her by dissolving into pieces.

Not to mention, one of the most awaited scenes in the whole Part 2 movie is, of course, the 19 Years Later scene. Audience have surely anticipated whether Warner Bros decided to replace the current actors with older ones. However, much to our surprise, the 30-something-year-old Potter and friends are still portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, and Rupert Grint!

You might wonder how could the teenage cast of Potter and friends portray the much older ones. Well, the make-up artists did all the job. They attempted to make Potter and friends as adult looking as possible.

Apparently, the make-up and appearance effect work out to all Daniel, Tom, Bonnie, and Rupert, except for Emma. Despite donning a mature trench coat, hand bag, and a hairstyle that hardly changes. No matter how they're trying to make Emma look out, it just doesn't work on her. She still looks slightly older than her age, and even everyone seems to agree that she acts more like a sister to "her" daughter, Rose.

Overall, the 19 Years Later scene is a scene where all Potter fans can reminisce back to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone scene where Harry first boarded the train to Hogwarts. When I saw the scene, I felt dejavu and I felt like rewatching the Sorcerer Stone except the fact that it wasn't Harry who boarded the train, but his children instead.

This is where another favorite moment of the movie occurred. Little Albus Severus, Harry's son, doubted about the thought of getting selected to Slytherin, to which the adult Harry responded that his son name was named after the "two headmasters of Hogwarts." Actually when the audience are exposed to the adult Potter characters, I could hear a couple of giggles and gasps all over the cinema referring to the jaw-dropping make-up effects done on Potter casts, not to mention Daniel's wise, fatherly tone when he spoke to "his" son. Good thing he really pulled it off. *spoilers*

Wow that's long...
The most impressive aspect of this part 2 is, it features a lot of flashbacks from the previous movies, especially the movie makes a lot of references to the very first movie. We all remember Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone (the first installment) as heart-lightening without any dark elements. It's simply a movie for children and family.

But along the time, Harry Potter movies just got darker and more serious as the stories were altering and the characters were growing up. Watching Part 2 would be a great opportunity for Potter fans to reminisce to the very first movie. In Part 2 movie, we can all catch a few glimpses of elements featured in the first movie, such as the original Harry Potter theme song that gradually ceased in each movie, but in most of Part 2 movie, you'll get to hear lots of Harry Potter original theme song that most Potter fans have longed to hear since the early movies.

Visual Effects are no doubt anymore. Harry Potter series are popularly known for the amazing effects and gigantic set. The effect producers really pull it off in the last installment.

Overall, Part 2 is the most emotional Potter movie that successfully paralyzed me on my seat. It successfully captured all audience's emotion too, I believe. Thus, I give it rating:

10/10

Enough with the review and spoilers. Now, it's time for some random movie-off-topic time.
Shortly after the movie was done, Eileena, Jennifer, Bella, and I took some pictures in the...well...you know where girls these days like to take pictures while hanging out right? ^^

From left to right: Bella, Eileena, me, and Jennifer


We're not posing Glee's sign. But it's "7" instead, as in the Harry Potter 7.

Anyway, I'm so satisfied and sad at the same time. Satisfied because the final movie was beyond awesome, and sad because it concludes the whole chapters of Harry Potter movie series. I didn't go all emotional, sad, shedding tears after the movie finished, like some of people I heard. But you know the feeling when the saga you grow up with finally has to come to its end.

Oh well...

Thank you so much Harry Potter, for the wonderful 10 years.
Here's a bit of not-really-an-artwork collage of mine dedicated to Harry Potter saga.

“Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” - JK Rowling.