♥stranger than fiction♥

It was eleven years ago when I watched the first installment of the Harry Potter films, the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and it was a week ago when I watched its final installment, the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Up until now, the whole movie, and the whole series, perhaps, still lingers in my brain. When I remember bits of the scenes in the Harry Potter 7.2, I cannot help but still feel sad, not only because the scenes were basically depressing, heavy, and quite really unbearable, but secondly, because I thought that it will be the last Harry Potter movie that I am going to watch inside a movie theater. I even cried lots when the epilogue was showing because I know there will not be another scene next to it, nor another film to be shown the next year that I can patiently anticipate. For me, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was not just an end of an epic book and movie series but also marks the end of my childhood.

The IMAX Experience

I booked tickets from IMAX MOA just a week before the date I intended to watch the movie. I even ordered a Gryffindor shirt online just so I can have something to wear that day and well, to show my support to Harry and all the other casts and tell them that I am indeed with them until the very end. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 is the only HP film to be shown in 3d so I want to watch it in not any theater but the best theater there is. I haven’t tried watching anything in 3d yet so I was kind of hesitant to watch it in digital 3d so I opted for IMAX. Yes, I spent P450 worth of ticket for a movie only to be shown once and without any teaser trailers before it actually starts (I was really hoping for the movie trailers, actually. It’s my most favorite part when I am watching movies in movie theaters).

The IMAX experience was superb. It is really eyegasmic and thought, Avatar would really fun to watch here. I thought I was going to wear those glasses with blue and red colors on them. I would say that the P450-worth of ticket was all worth it. The movie started on time, the seats were ultra-comfortable, you feel like you’re in a VIP movie theater or something. However, I felt that it was very unnecessary for the Harry Potter producers to make the final movie shown in 3d. I don’t think there were lots of scenes that called for a 3d effect. In fact, I can only remember three–the Warner Brothers logo shown at the beginning, the trio’s ride together with the two goblins to Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault, and the scene when Voldemort’s face was breaking into pieces when Nagini was finally killed by Neville Longbottom. With the exception of the showing the Warner Brothers’ logo, I thought that those two other scenes weren’t really important at all. Or were they? Enlighten me, please.

The Performance

As for the artists’ performances, I thought they really improved so much since the first film. Over all, all the cast showed their greatest performances yet. They all gave their all, I suppose knowing it will be the last time that they would portray those roles. There were not a lot of speaking lines for a lot of characters but you can see it on their faces that what they are doing were way beyond just acting.

For one, the last scene of Fred and George when they’re both still alive was just heart-breaking. You can see them smiling, trying to be cool, pretty much being their usual self but you can really see it in their eyes–the fear that anytime something terrible might happen to any of them or any of their family and friends, yet they have to stay strong, or look strong, at the very least, for each other.

Another scene that brought me to almost-crying and whole-body-goosebumps was this duel scene between Minerva Mcgonagall and Severus Snape. This was the very first scene when I first felt my heart was growing its own tear ducts. I was not crying yet but I know my heart was already.

This scene was just heart-pounding and heart-breaking at the same time. You can clearly see from this two that they don’t want to hurt each other because they are friends but they cannot just let their guard down because they are both protecting something or someone. Snape was hiding and protecting the truth because he knows it was not the time yet to spill it all. Mcgonagall, on the other hand was just fed up with all these dark forces on Hogwarts and she was not holding back anymore. I cannot stress enough how impressed I am with Maggie Smith, the actress who played Professor Mcgonagall. She was undergoing chemotherapy while filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 and two yet she was able to deliver her role perfectly. well, I honestly thought she was not really acting, she and Mcgonagall are both very brave and battling cancer and death-eaters feel pretty much the same, I guess.

Of course all the other casts did well, too. They all deserved to be part of the movie, lead by the trio, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe, who played Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter, respectively, but describing their performances one by one won’t be that thrilling for me and won’t be that good-to-read for the others. And no, I didn’t forget about Alan Rickman who played Severus Snape, he deserves a whole section of this post.

“Look at me. You have your mother’s eyes.”

This was Severus Snape’s, played by Alan Rickman, last words before he died. That was exactly when my eyes decided to start acting like waterfalls. Snape’s last scenes became the end of the calm me. Although it was not directly shown, Snape being bitten by Nagini, I don’t know, three to four times was just so hard to bear. I cried so hard during that scene even more with his last scene and all the other scenes after this (actually, I did not stop crying since then until I was walking out of the theater already).

Alan Rickman’s acting was just so moving, it still breaks my heart when I remember all his scenes from this movie, including that of when Harry was viewing his past through the Pensieve. It made me cry buckets and I think he truly overshadowed the main characters. I think he was the true hero of the entire film. I absolutely love his character and the way it was portrayed was just great. The movie staff and most especially, Alan Rickman did justice to his character. Alan Rickman deserves all the awards!

The Deaths

After Snape’s death, all the other deaths of characters were shown. It was just too devastating and too hard for me to handle when Tonks’ and Lupin’s dead bodies were shown and then Fred’s. I was just crying so hard and hoping the one on my left does not hear a thing at the same time. Thank goodness for the director and the writers not showing how they died because that would just be unbearable.

And then there was Lavander’s death. I hate her so much during Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince when she all just did was basically kiss Ron Weasley, and well, make Hermione Granger vomit. But seeing her being eaten by a werewolf was a shocker. It was just so…morbid.

The Kissing Scenes

There were just two, Ron/Hermione’s and Harry/Ginny’s.

Of the two, of course, I would definitely go with the Ron/Hermione kiss. Well, for an obvious reason that I have a huge crush on Harry Potter and seeing him kiss other girls just makes me cringe and wants to vomit, just like what Hermione felt when Lavander kissed Ron all the time at HP 6. And another thing, the kiss between Harry and Ginny, speaking as a completely third party objective with absolutely no personal interest in the matter, was really awkward. Ginny was kissing Harry’s upper lip, which if you are keenly observing, is almost non-existent. It was just wrong and awkward.

But Ron and Hermione’s kiss was just romantic. It quite gave me a shock and as Ron said it, it was like a now-or-never kiss. It was something, I think they both waited for that all their lives (your fans anticipated for that too, as much as those two did). That was a total pick-up-er for all those depressing scenes of death and war, actually.

The Comic Reliefs

For those who have been watching Harry Potter movies starting from its very first installment, you would probably observe that all the movies, no matter how dark and depressing the whole movies are, there are still scenes that will absolutely make you laugh. Well, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 is no exception to that.

I loved how these scenes and others more were able to be great icebreakers. It did not stop me from crying (yes, I was crying and laughing at the same time) but they were really funny and witty.

And yes, all those minutes Harry Potter pretended to be dead seemed like a big joke for me. I mean, I get it, Neville Longbottom’s speech is supposed to touch your feelings and it was supposed to be his ‘moment’ but that just seemed to be just like Allan’s (Zach Galifinakis) speech from The Hangover Part 1. When I heard Neville spoke those mushy lines I was just “this is like The Hangover all over again!”. And Voldemort’s laugh when Neville stepped forward was just hilarious!

Until the Very End

Yes, finally all was well at the wizarding world as the good defeated the evil but seeing them after nineteen years, with their children boarding the Hogwarts train almost became the death of me. I refuse to leave the theater as I was not done crying yet. It was just seeing the movie that you anticipated every year come to an end. It was just hard seeing them age and then reflecting on how much your life has changed as well.

But I guess, it was not the end yet. I mean, I can re-watch my DVDs when I feel the need to. I can still let Saab and my other children in the future to know Harry Potter and all the other characters and creatures that made my childhood mystical and magical. And hopefully, it would make theirs mystical and magical, too. After all, as J.K. Rowling, author of the books said, “Hogwarts is always there to welcome you home”.

Mischief managed.

DISCLAIMER: Well, I know those people would condemn me for feeling like this, as I have not read any Harry Potter book yet, and you might feel that I am exaggerating. But hey, at least I still have books to look forward to read still. I definitely will, when the lazy person inside me would allow me, soon. :)) And oh, the GIFs are not mine.