Maybe there's something wrong with me, but basically it did not seem to affect me as much as it did with everyone else. No, I cried - but only past The Prince's Tale and once Harry brought Lily and James and Sirius and Remus back. Because somehow, despite how many characters there were, despite all the different amazingly complex backstories, the characters who touched me the most are the Marauders - the ones we hear less about.
I enjoyed it, I think. I don't know how I feel right now. I would love to be like the rest of you, and be all excited and feel very fulfilled about it and the way it ended, but I just can't. I'd be lying to myself. I'm not going to pretend that the film was flawless and I never expected it to be, and maybe I've just matured since last November and I've been able to look at things more seriously. Because looking back I just think of all the things I would have done differently.
For example:
- When Luna sat down next to Neville, I thought it was adorable. He looked so pleased just to be there while I couldn't help but notice that Luna looked a little bored. I thought she could have grabbed his hand in a kind of 'For goodness' sake' kind of fashion; just hastily and almost impatiently.
- When Ginny kissed Harry, on the steps, I would've loved it to pan up to reveal Ron, looking absolutely shocked and letting out a whimper. Frozen, Ginny and Harry stare in horror at him and Ron just waves his hands and says 'Not the time, not the time!'
- The fucking Romione kiss. Ugh.
- When Harry sees Ron and Hermione holding hands, it would have been nice for Harry to make a joke like 'Took you long enough'; but Hermione's little smug look was enough for me.
But I digress.
I'm avoiding reviews for now because I'm still not sure how I feel about it, and I don't want to be swayed either way; not until I've done this at least.
I liked The Prince's Tale part and it was the bit that stirred me the most and caused me to start crying. I also liked it when McGonnagall stepped in front of Harry to save him and I like Helena as Hermione. I liked most of the performances, especially Maggie Smith's, and Dan's and Tom's. The line at the end about the Elder Wand - "It's mine" - was said so casually and so just... Harry-like that I fell in love with Dan just then. He was the perfect Harry; he grew up to be, at least.
It was a fine film, I'm sure. Maybe I'm just bitter that there's no more. Maybe I'm annoyed that the epilogue came out so cheesily and that they made Ron pudgy; that they left out Teddy Lupin; that the kiss changed; that James Potter still does not look like James Potter to me; that the girl who played young Lily had brown eyes. I'm nitpicking.
However, I'm not sad. Bitter, maybe. But not sad. I just think they could have ended it differently. It wasn't bad but I didn't love it. I just didn't. Maybe it would've helped to have been in a packed cinema, where people were cheering and clapping at certain parts. But overall, I do not care for it that much.
But it made me realise something. It made me realise that if anything, it "ended" long ago; it ended with the books ending, if it ended at all. This film wasn't anything new, I wasn't really surprised and it just didn't feel like the end. I guess maybe that's something good about this film; this isn't the end. It really isn't. I feel like it'll never end. Magic never ends; I'll never stop loving these books, these characters, these films, these actors.
That's something so lovely about Harry Potter. Because there is a gap in between when the films come out, and the books, you learn to get on without it but it's as constant in your life as anything. It's always there; an undercurrent. You don't stop loving it, you just stop thinking about it all the time. And then a film comes out, and it all comes back. To me, this film is like... a child moving away from home. It's the ending of something, but it's not like I'll never see them again. I have Wrock, fanfiction and so many things, including my own mind, to imagine how things might have gone. And I can always look back, re-live Harry's school life.
This isn't the end, it just isn't guys. It ends when you choose it to; technically speaking, it could have ended long ago. And we didn't let it. So why should it be any different now?
Always,
Mel.
