Trailers are popping up all over the internet this week, signaling the oncoming rush of summer blockbusters. Once Thor hits theaters next week, all bets are off.
Case in point, the new trailer for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Or, as I like to call it, HP7.2 (so geeky!)
I have a history of “Meh” when it comes to the Harry Potter films. It’s always been kind of peripheral to my interests. I never read the books, I never got swept up in the hype. I’ve seen the majority of the movies, but DEFINATELY lost interest after the sprawling mess that was Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.
I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in the theater, but I don’t remember it. I waited until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out on DVD, but I don’t remember it. I didn’t bother seeing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at all.
I’m not curmudgeonly about it. I want to care. I just… don’t. For some reason, these films fail to connect with me. Maybe because they feel so repetitive? Or maybe they’re too British? And yet, that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying nearly a half century of James Bond films? What gives?
At any rate, here’s the new trailer. It’s… confusing.
Have you figured out what has me confused? Why did the people who cut this trailer together feel the need to include the same audio clip of Ralph Fiennes yelling “NYYYAHHHHHHH!” five different times? FIVE! What’s up with that? This is your last movie, people. Let’s go out with some class, can we?
Fiennes’s performance as Lord Voldermort has been the only interesting thing about the last 4 movies. The way this trailer is cut makes me kind of hate it now.
What’s your thought to the the new HP7.2 trailer? Are you prepared for the franchise to end? Leave your comments below.
The difficulty with the Harry Potter franchise is that the books are poorly suited to film adaptation; that is, they would be better adapted as television series. Then the film/showmakers could bring out what it is about the HP series that makes it resound with its fans.
The films are so truncated from the source material that the strength of the franchise ultimately becomes lost.
Judging by the thickness of some of those books, I believe you.
I look at those dense tomes sometimes and think “THIS is children’s literature?”
More power to J.K. Rowling for getting kids to read. But after a certain point, you could tell it wasn’t really about kids anymore – neither the books or the movies.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Potter flicks. I’ve been a die-hard fan of the books for years, and the movies have never quite been up to snuff. Ultimately, a degree from a commercial arts school and a fondness for DVD commentaries have been enough to dissuade me from the fanboyish notion that the movies must be EXACTLY like the books, but I digress. The point I wanted to make is that after book two, the novels cease to be mere children’s literature. It’s actually a bit ingenious on Rowling’s part, that the books are written from a psuedo-first person perspective, and as Harry matures, so does the perspective we see events unfolding in. So books 1 and 2 could be considered children’s, while 3-5 are young adult. By the time we reach books 6 and 7, the main cast of characters are 16 and 17, and we’ve crossed into the adult literature territory. So if only makes sense that the movies would follow suit.
I suppose factor is a time I hadn’t considered. Harry Potter’s story is a long-form narrative. Not episodic like The Baby Sitter’s Club, or something. You’re right – the books aged along with the audience.
I think I’m flummoxed by it somewhat because each book – and every movie – begins nearly exactly the same way. A ride on the train back to Hogwarts and a Quiddich match thrown in somewhere, too.
If they do for HP what they’re currently doing for Game of Thrones, it might end up decent. Even then, GoT has apparently gotten hopelessly truncated. HP would probably have to be 7 seasons of 1 hour (42 minute, stupid ads) episodes long, with each episode roughly translating to a chapter in the book. That’ll get VERY interesting around GoF, which is 37 chapters long. Heck, even Prisoner is 22 chapters long. Remember that network TV series are usually around 26 episodes, and cable series can go fewer than that.
I’ll give you that the first 2, possibly 3 books are relatively simple and each chapter probably can’t be stretched into an hour long (42 minute) show. But some of the chapters in books 4-7 are incredibly complex and might warrant MULTIPLE episodes each. How would they work this using mostly a child acting core?
BTW, Alan Rickman almost HAS to be cast as Snape. I don’t think anybody else could possibly fill that role. Certainly without being as memorable as Rickman. Idk. Is there an actor out there that can straddle the good/evil as deftly as Rickman has managed to do with his version of Snape?
I can understand why they would have to cut things out of the movie… they were big books and its perfectly reasonable to do that. The thing that still confounds me are the scenes that they just MAKE UP! Why? If they would quit sticking stuff in that never existed they might fit in more of the actual plot.
Ah well. I suffered through the rest of the films (mostly because i don’t feel comfortable criticizing something I haven’t seen). I’ll probably see this one too… So i can at least say with confidence that i didn’t like any of them…
Oh god… I almost peed myself with Ralph Fienne’s screaming. “NYYAAAAHH!”
hahaha I think I counted up to 7 “NYYAAAAAAHS” in that trailer.
Subliminal NYYAAAAAAHs?
I think you may have started a drinking game Tom.