I went in expecting to be disappointed yet again, but I came out feeling like the series had been re-energised in preparation for the big finale. For one, the pacing and structure is much better in this movie, particularly in the first half, than it has been in the previous movies. David Yates’ direction has the urgency and tension that I expected from the last movie and didn’t get. Also, this is one of the prettier HP films, as if someone finally realised how to match the technical wizardry and art direction with the magic of the world of the books.
Characterwise, the cast in this movie was solid. I really liked the way Jim Broadbent played Slughorn, an annoying character in the book that he rescues with interpretation. He managed to show that the bravado, the amorality hiding behind respectability, the constant name-dropping, hid a scared and sorry old man inside. Evanna Lynch continues to be the perfect Luna Lovegood, and steals every scene she's in.
I loved the way they translated the burgeoning teenage relationship mess in the book to film. They even manage to make me like the Harry and Ginny together; I particularly appreiated how Bonnie Wright plays Ginny, the quiet surety of her. She’s got steely cool that matches Harry’s hot-headedness. The Lavendar-Ron-Hermione triangle was portratyed on screen well too; the Ron and Lavendar bits were funny, and Jessie Cave's Lavendar was perfect, good naturedly delusional and hormonally in love. Emma Watson's acting has improved a lot, and I really felt sad during the scene where Hermione and Harry are commiserating over their unrequited crushes on others.
Props where it’s due - Dan Radcliffe has improved in leaps and bounds as well. Harry on Felix Felicitas was hilariously done, the stoner-vibe was a good touch, his voice and demeanour completely altered but in subtle ways. And I really liked Harry in this movie, more than I felt when reading the book - in the book he’s starting to become a hero-figure, something unreal. In this, you can chart his growth as a person, but he did come across as flesh and blood, that gap between child and man.
A really good example was the scene in the cave. Both Radcliffe and Gambon do such good jobs, as the roles between the old and young are reversed, and Harry has to be mature and brave to complete his task.
The Draco plotline of this book was one of my favourites in the series, and while I wished they played up Harry’s obsession with Draco a bit more I also understand that it wouldn’t work as well in the movie, and what they did do helped keep the movie going at a good clip without having to backtrack and exposit about Draco's actions later. I liked the repeated imagery for Draco’s plotline, the pulling down of the cover of the cabinet at each try, the grand gesture of it all. Tom Felton does a good job as Draco, striking just the right tone of petulance, frustration and growing fear in all his scenes.
The ending is a mess though. It completely negates the point of Draco fixing the Vanishing Cabinets if the Death Eaters do not use the opportunity to terrorize Hogwarts, as it happens in the book. By leaving the Hogwarts community intact and safe, the narrative lacks the sense of danger they need to experience to be galvanized into action against Voldemort. However, the killing of Dumbledore retained its heartrending feel - Gambon hit it out of the park with his tired but knowing “Please” at Snape, and Draco’s near-hysteric unraveling in the moments beforehand. The one benefit of the annoying change where Death Eaters are just useless audience members is because without the increasingly frantic chain of events beforehand, the shock of Snape killing Dumbledore has more resonance - it really does seem to come out of nowhere, and the moment has time to make an impact.
There was a weird disjunct between the first and second half, where the first half knows how to go for laughs when it needs to, while the latter is much much darker.
I was disappointed in that dreadfully dull last scene. I guess it was trying to show that they’re growing up, they have to leave the sanctuary of Hogwarts behind and Fawkes flying away was a nice shot but it just seemed an insipid way to end an exciting and mostly dark and unnerving film.
