(L-R) Draco and Hilly. Credit: WB/Dreamworks

Many times, racist characters can make you feel angry. However, the really well-rounded racist characters can make you feel simultaneously angry and saddened, just like a real person would. When I say “saddened,” I don’t mean you’re sad because of what they said (which can happen); I mean you’re physically sad for them. You pity them, and you wish them a better outlook later in life.

That’s the case with both Draco Malfoy and Hilly Holbrook from The Help (You can read what I’ve written about the film here. You can read my review of the film here). Both characters have a lot of similarities, which makes them oddly charming (snappy dressers, their natural ability to lead and develop blind followers, charisma, love of family), despicable (Hilly: racism, Draco: discrimination according to bloodlines, both are spoiled rotten and petulant), and eventually, in need of your pity and mercy(Draco: his realization that the Death Eater life isn’t for him through trials and tribulations, Hilly: Defining moment at the end of the film involving her and Aibileen–I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it yet).

The best parts of seeing these characters fall from “grace”, if you will, is to see them become whole human beings, the human beings you knew was under their ignorance and “I’m running things!” persona. Perhaps, in a way, it’s the natural human glee of seeing someone else fall, and it’s only even better when it’s a person who is already unlikable. But, it’s also fun to see these people’s facades crack because it shows them using their brains for the first time to think outside of what they perceive is “right”. It’s refreshing, and it provides hope for the audience that despite conditioning and staunch outlooks, people still have the capacity to change for the better.

With my writings on Draco, I’ve referred to time and again to the real-life case of Elwin Wilson, a former KKK member who, among other things, injured Congressman John Lewis. To paraphrase what Wilson said in an interview, he came to terms with the weight of his soul and felt that he would surely be going to hell if he didn’t reach out for some atonement. So, he went on an apologizing tour, so to speak, telling anyone he wronged by his ways that he was sorry. Now, If I’m being blunt, Wilson did some serious, horrific stuff in his younger days; compare to Hilly, who did some seriously heinous acts to people in the book and the film (like I said above, I’ll remain spoiler-free). Check it:

Here’s another video of him and Congressman Lewis on CNN:

It’s just nice to know that people can change, both in the movies and in real life. Maybe if there was a sequel to The Help, an older Hilly might have a type of turnaround like Wilson. It would be nice. Hilly’s mind starts seriously whirring at the end of the the film, so it could happen. (Fanfiction writers: there’s your idea.)

In any case, characters like Hilly and Draco provide a lot for audiences to chew on: cautionary tales, villains to root against, but most importantly, how there’s still hope for people to grow and develop into even better versions of themselves. They can teach that there’s always space for redemption.

Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) watching someone read Skeeter’s (Emma Stone) book in the grocery store. Credit: Dreamworks

I think a lot of people and some of the magazines/websites, including  black historians and this post from Entertainment Weekly, got hung up on the fact that this film about southern race relations in the 1960s is 1)humorous and 2) features a lot of non-evil white people. To me, it seems like a lot of people are having some kind of involuntary gut reaction, which is for them to say “This movie isn’t true to the times!” Well, I’m not one of those people, and I’ll tell you why.

To me, The Help is just what the book is, which is a different perspective on southern race relations–to show the side of life that is usually not shown. It shows the real life these women had, which deals with both the good and sad times. Their lives had both happiness and sorrow with both their friends and employers. There was just as much distrust between the races as there was actual friendship and love. Basically, the two races both relied on each other–more than they realized–and despised one another because of the fear, stereotyping, and discrimination many white people had for black people. And, like with Hilly’s friends, a lot of people caved to social pressure instead of standing up for what they truly believed in. If I’m being honest, much of the stereotyping came from ignorance as well as simply believing what one’s parents and grandparents teach one when one is growing up. Now, let me be clear, I’m not saying there weren’t any despicable racist monsters living in the south too, because there were. But there was also, believe it or not, actual genuine feelings toward black people as well, and vice versa. Just look at the amount of white people who marched with the SCLC, SNCC, Martin Luther King, and others. And also, let’s also not forget about interracial marriages, which did happen. And the author of The Help, Kathryn Stockett, is from Jackson, MS., and even said in her author’s notes that she had a black maid whom she felt really close to; she wrote that she wished that she’d asked her maid the questions her character Skeeter gets to ask. And, as I have said plenty of times before, I am from Birmingham, AL, one of the epicenters of the civil rights movement. I might not have lived during the 1960s, but my parents did, and I know from them how it was to be black during a highly-prejudicial time. So everyone must put this film and how its being presented in perspective. Not every southern white person living in the 1960s was evil.

The evil person in this story is Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard). Here she is in her element–amongst impressionable friends with the help (Aibileen [Viola Davis] and Yule May [Aunjanue Ellis]) listening to her racist statements in the background. Credit: Dreamworks

Also brought up in the EW post linked to above was the issue that Elaine Stein, the book editor at Harper and Row (Mary Steenburgen) was, at the very most, flippant about the civil rights movement. In the EW article I linked to above, it has the opinion that all northerners were gung-ho about the civil rights movement, when that is completely not the case. Many didn’t understand it, some were perplexed by it, and some were just plain scared of it and what it could bring to their neck of the woods, not to mention what it could do nationally. The north is routinely painted as a utopia for black people escaping segregation, and on the whole, it was much better than living in the south–there wasn’t Jim Crow to contend with. But there was still prejudice to deal with.

And  neither the movie nor the book trivializes the plight of black maids. Just because there is no KKK group burning down a maid’s home doesn’t mean that the movie doesn’t address the lives of black maids. The film does not paint their lives as a walk in the park, or, as Minny says, “a Fourth of July picnic.” You see some major injustices in the film, and for The Association of Black Women Historians to say that the film doesn’t address the lives of black maids is really irritating, to say the least. Not every film about the 1960s has to be Mississippi Burning.

To the actual review of this movie: I really liked it. Having read the book (just finishing it three hours before seeing the film), I really liked how streamlined the film was as opposed to the film basically being a book-on-tape, something I have accused the Harry Potter film series of doing. I like that all of the major plot points of the book were hit and, in some cases, expounded upon. For someone like me who has read the book, the parts that got added onto in the movie help give me some closure to some storylines that I only partially got in the book. Of course, there are some things that are a little different than what they are in the book, but the differences aren’t real losses; if anything, the losses and additions help the story become more streamlined in order to cater to the language of cinema. This might be a spoiler, but there was the addition of Henry (Nelsan Ellis), a young black man who I think is a character based on Louvenia’s grandson Robert. Instead of getting hurt like Robert did in the story, we see the possibility of a one-sided attraction between Henry and Skeeter. It’s played to me as if Henry has a crush on Skeeter because she’s different from the other young women. In my head, it also provided a look at the “what if” part of the 1960s–I’m sure a lot of relationships could have grown if there wasn’t such a fear of getting killed just because you liked a white person.

Skeeter (Emma Stone), the girl Henry seems to like. Credit: Dreamworks

The acting in this film is what really sells the film. The entire cast is terrific, and while I could rave about everyone in the film–Emma Stone is particularly compelling as Skeeter, a young girl trying to make a small difference in her town, Allison Janney as  Skeeter’s nagging, but well-meaning mother Charlotte, Bryce Dallas Howard plays an excellent villain, Hilly Holbrook, who gets her comeuppance in a big, nasty, and much deserved way, Jessica Chastain is endearing as Celia Foote, a country girl who tries to fit into a big town and is refreshingly socially colorblind, Sissy Spacek as Hilly’s mom Mrs. Walters,Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson, the no-nonsense maid with a paradoxical weak streak, and Aunjanue Ellis as Yule May, Hilly’s former maid who wants to see her boys go to college–but I must say that while you come to see all of these great talents, you really stay for Viola Davis’ portrayal of Aibileen, Miss Leefolt’s (Ahna O’Reilly) maid and the caretaker of Miss Leefolt’s daughter, Mae Mobely (twin sisters Eleanor and Emma Henry) as well as Cicely Tyson as Skeeter’s old maid, Constantine. The other maids in the film are also compelling, even though they only have a few minutes screen time to tell their stories. The fact that those actresses were able to capture you with their small roles shows how on target everyone was with their acting. Even David Oyelowo, LaChanze, and Chris Lowell, who probably have the smallest roles in the film as Preacher Green, Constantine’s Chicago-raised daughter Rachel, and Skeeter’s boyfriend Stuart Whitworth, respectively, grab you. That laser-point precision and the importance all of the actors and actresses put behind this movie really make this movie sing. Everyone feels real in this film, and that’s really fantastic.

Cicely Tyson as Constantine with young Skeeter. Credit: Dreamworks

Some have said about the film caving into the “Great White Help”-style of storytelling–this story has none of that in it. Saying it’s a “Great White Help” story is completely erroneous. This story is, in a way, a “what if” story for the author–like I said, she states that she wished she asked her own maid questions about what it’s like to be the help in a rich white home. Skeeter is a version of the author, Aibileen, Minny and Constantine are versions of  Stockett’s maid, Demetrie. Skeeter is the vehicle for what Stockett wished she could do in real life, so it would make sense that Stockett would write a white girl as the main character of the story who does the interviewing of the maids and the writing of the book.

Skeeter with Minny (Octavia Spencer) and Aibileen (Viola Davis). Credit: Dreamworks

Also, it’s not as if the maids totally depend on the white women for everything. We see that the black community depends one each other more than they depend on the white women–sure, they depend on the white women for work, but they depend on each other for help, reassurance, companionship, etc. Also, as I said earlier, there is a give-and-take between the white women and the black maids. It’s not as if the white maids routinely spout out advice to the maids with the maids taking it in some stereotypical “Mammy” way; some of the black maids, like Minny, speak as much of their mind as they can without losing their jobs. And when there is a scene where a white woman gives advice (Celia gives advice to Minny about her husband), it’s not in some “I know better than you” way; she tells her what she would do in a friend-to-friend way. Celia really cares about Minny, not just as the help, but as her only friend in a town of women who despise her for no reason. In another scene with Celia, Minny, and Celia’s husband Johnny (Mike Vogel), Minny is not taking courage simply because Celia cooked a meal by herself; she’s taking courage because (SPOILER) Celia said she’ll always have a job with her and her husband. This knowledge of always being employed after worrying so much about her income helps Minny to realize that she doesn’t have to depend on her husband to survive. She realizes that with a steady job, she can now survive without him. The kindness Celia and her husband show Minny also helps her in her decision, but it’s not the ultimate factor.

I think I’ve said all I can think of saying. Basically, this movie is at the top of the box office charts for a reason. It’s a fine film, and it deserves your attention, so go see it. If you don’t take my word for it, read this post, also made at Entertainment Weekly, and see what you think then.

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The main cast of X-Men: First Class: (l-r) Caleb Landry Jones, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hoult, James McAvoy, Lucas Till. Credit: Marvel/Twentieth Century Fox

I missed X-Men: First Class when it first came to theaters, but thanks to Twentieth Century Fox sending me a screener copy, I was able to watch it before its DVD/Blu-ray release September 9. So here goes:

Synopsis: The film chronicles the beginning of the X-Men by Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) as well as the Brotherhood of Mutants by Eric Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) in the 1960s.

My review: Let me start with the good things. Firstly, I really like actors Fassbender and McAvoy. They put their all into this film and in their characters, and you can see that. Having not read many X-Men comics (only certain ones about my favorite X-Man ever, Nightcrawler), I knew the gist of both characters but never really knew how nuanced they were. In this movie, you can see many levels of characterization in both Xavier and Lehnsherr. I wish the movie focused on their friendship even more.

I also have to give some ups to Kevin Bacon, who played Sebastian Shaw. He played what I think is an unconventional villain in many ways–I can’t really put my finger on what’s so unconventional about him, but I really like when villains can blend into society by acting seemingly normal on the surface but are totally crazy and awful underneath. Bacon really put that type of dichotomy into his character I feel, even when Shaw was in full Nazi mode.

At first, I thought the primary colors on Azazel (Jason Flemyng) and Mystique were going to be unbelievable in terms of them being non-realistic, well, as non-realistic as a non-existent skin tone can be. But I think they turned out very well. Azazel was the most effective, I think, especially his tail; the work put on his tail to make it look like it was a part of his body that moved naturally was very well done. It helped sell his red skin, to me.

The other mutants in the film–Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Till) and Sean Cassidy/Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) were very well played, but I think Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) was the next best developed mutant after Xavier and Magneto, what with her struggle to reconcile herself with her natural state. She bonds with Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), who also has some low self-esteem and self-hate issues because of his mutated feet; their discussions about being “normal” in a world that wouldn’t view them as such is great on one hand–it’s nice to see such issues about self-acceptance being shown in a film. But it would have been even more impactful to have that same conversation with Mystique, Beast, and Armando Muñoz/Darwin (Edi Gathegi), since Darwin has a lot more issues to deal with aside from being a mutant in the 1960s. He’s also half black, half Latino, similar to someone else in the Marvel universe.

Darwin. Credit: Marvel/Twentieth Century Fox (Marvel MoviesWikia)

This leads me to the thing I hated the most about this film, and when I mean hate, I mean hate. You can say I’m playing a tired card if you want to, but why, out of all of the films about being different in society, did the black guy have to die first?! What kind of message does that send? In the movie about equality, diversity, and self-acceptance, you’re going to erase the one character that embodies all facets of society’s scorn against differences? And aside from him being black, his power is to adapt to his surroundings! If he can adapt to his surroundings, he should not have died in the movie. However, I’m willing to waive what happened to Darwin in this movie because of his power; his power leaves it open that he could come back in the sequel, similar to how Dr. Manhattan pulls himself back together in the graphic novel/movie Watchmen. In the comics, Darwin is presumed dead after a series of extreme events, but is later on found to be alive, having turned into a being of pure energy (again, Dr. Manhattan). But even with the canon supporting my belief that Darwin will return (despite what the Movie wiki states), why did he have to go so soon? We didn’t even get a chance to know him that well.

Also, why does Angel (Zoë Kravitz), another ethnic character, have to be the first to turn to the dark side? I guess, technically, she’s not the first, since the villain of this movie is German. But unlike Angel, Shaw can use his skin tone to get ahead and blend into 1960s society. Angel can’t–we see her working as a stripper/prostitute when we first meet her! With all of the racism towards dark-skinned people in America )and America’s cinema) during this time, especially about black women being either sex sirens or deceitful in some way, Angel’s actions are playing into those stereotypes, and it becomes really off-putting.

Angel. Credit: Marvel/Twentieth Century Fox

Aside from racial issues, parts of the storyline fall apart for me. I think there could have been more of a focus on Magneto and Prof. X’s friendship, because the elements that were in the film were amazing. If the whole film was just a masterclass of McAvoy and Fassbender’s acting, I would be able to rate this film much higher. I also think the film should have made the ideologies of Xavier and Magneto a bit clearer, because from my viewing, the ideologies are clear, but not clear enough. Also, Emma Frost, played by January Jones. She’s a REALLY big issue in this film. Here’s why.

Emma Frost. Credit: Marvel/Twentieth Century Fox

There has been talk around the entertainment blogosphere of January Jones’ wooden acting. I am not an avid watcher of Mad Men, so I didn’t know much about Jones’ acting ability in the first place. But having seen her as Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class, I am going to have to side with the blogosphere.

I know Emma Frost is a rather cold character in the first place, and Jones’ ability to portray coldness could have been used effectively. In some scenes, it almost was. But the scene that kills everything for me is when she was being choked by the metal in a bed frame under the direction of Magneto. Where another actress might have acted as if she was really choking–strained face, mouth set in an awkward position, gasping, clawing at the air, etc.–Jones just minutely winces and barely moves. When she’s finally let go, she looks as if she was never being choked in the first place.

Overall, I will give this movie a passing grade. I really liked the relationship between Magneto and Xavier, and I like the idea of the movie. But I think there should have been more on the friendship between the two mutants and more of a correlation/parallel between what was socially going on in the 1960s and how the mutants were being treated by society. If these things were addressed more heavily, this would have been a really excellent film instead of just a solid one.

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UK poster for the film. Credit: Twentieth Century Fox

Synopsis (From Twentieth Century Fox): 

A single act of both compassion and arrogance leads to a war unlike any other — and to the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The Oscar-winning visual effects team that brought to life the worlds of Avatar and Lord of the Rings is breaking new ground, creating a CGI ape that delivers a dramatic performance of unprecedented emotion and intelligence, and epic battles on which rest the upended destinies of man and primate.

My review/analysis

As a Planet of the Apes fan (and I mean the ’60s-’70s movie series, ’70s show, and the original book), I was not sure what to expect. Having reported on various elements of the film for my job at Shockya, I saw very promising things but was very scared about being let down. It seemed like the story was actually going to respect the source material, unlike the oft-made fun of  Planet of the Apes by Tim Burton Turns out I was wrong about being afraid of the film. So, so wrong.

I actually can’t say much because I’m going to attempt to refrain from using spoilers, but the film is amazing. If you’re an Apes fan, this will meet, and possibly, exceed your expectations, since that’s what happened to me. I went into the film being a little skeptical, and came out with a better sense of how the original audiences felt when they saw the first ever Apes film in 1968. I thought I knew every nook and cranny about the series, but this film still managed to surprise and actually scare me. I was unnerved, sympathetic, and thoroughly entertained.

James Franco’s character, Will Rodman, is the human “star”, a scientist who is intent to find a cure to Alzheimer’s Disease due to his father’s (John Lithgow) battle with the disease. But, Caesar, the genetically-altered chimp he nurtures into adulthood, is the real star of the movie. Caesar is played by Andy Serkis, the mastermind behind the characterizations of King Kong and Gollum. Together with WETA Digital, he has created possibly the most complex, emotionally-rounded ape character since the original Caesar, played by veteran Apes star Roddy McDowall. In fact, many are now calling for Serkis to get the first ever Best Actor award for a performance where he was, practically speaking, never on screen. I will have to include myself in that group of people. The facial expressions alone were simply jaw-dropping, and to see Caesar interact with the human characters was fantastic.

To be fair, there are minor problems–Freida Pinto’s bland but necessary character;  poor Tom Felton–who is really great at playing the jerk–struggling with his American accent in his role as the sadistic Dodge Landon (notice the callbacks!);  the CGI on the apes falling apart a few times, a few interesting callbacks to the original Apes (most of them were good, however–there were two really good ones involving a space shuttle mission and a few more with the names of certain characters, like Maurice the Sumatra orangutan (played by Karin Konoval) and Cornelia, another chimpanzee (played by Devyn Dalton) the usage of the nickname “Bright Eyes” and tons more spoken and non-spoken homages sprinkled throughout the film)–but these are actually very minor quibbles, since you stay engrossed in the story from the get-go.

I also say those are minor quibbles because there’s a moment in the film that’s just as jawdropping as the moment when Taylor finds the broken Statue of Liberty at the end of the 1968 film. In my audience when the scene in question happened, everyone–including myself–gasped and were shocked into silence, which matched the shocked silence of Dodge Landon and the apes, in particular Buck the silverback gorilla (kudos to Richard Ridings, who was the motion capture actor for Buck). This moment really cements the tone for the final act of the film as well as the movie as a whole.

Also something that cements the tone–the thing that makes humanity close to the brink of extinction. No, the thing that begins killing humans isn’t the apes. You just have to watch to see what’s going to kill us in this new series (and take my word for it–there will be two more sequels!)

Overall, this is possibly the best movie I’ve seen thus far. I know I said Thor was great, but this movie really is the best of the summer. GO SEE IT!

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by LM Preston

A SURPRISE ADVENTURE!

FANDANGO BLURB:

A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force.

MY REVIEW:

I love westerns! But I have to admit, the title and the previews of this one didn’t impress me at all. My husband wanted to see this and it was his turn to pick the movie for our date night.

We have this sick ache for the excitement of our youth and therefore rush out to go to the opening midnight showings of new movies. Mainly in the summer we indulge this addiction, but hey, it’s fun.

So I sat down to watch this movie, just hoping to stay awake, and I have to admit – it more than kept me awake. There was a bit of a mystery, a great dose of Western fun, and some corny parts that was what I had expected. But there were some parts where I jumped in my seats, some where I laughed, some where I smiled and then cheered. And I wasn’t alone either, there was a packed house in the theater on Thurs night midnight and people were engaged then committed to the movies. I give this 3.5 spaceships.

LM Preston
YA SciFi Author
WEBSITE: www.lmpreston.com
BLOG: http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/
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Also, if you’d like to read up on Walton Goggins, who played “Hunt” in Cowboys & Aliens”, click here. 

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By LM Preston

Oh my FREAKIN’ GOSH!!!!!! Okay I’m totally gonna skip to the best part of the movie….after the credits roll, you get an AWESOME tease….THE AVENGERS PREVIEW!!!!!

FANDANGO BLURB:

After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals.

MY REVIEW

Okay, I’m biased and invested. I’ve seen all of the Avengers movies and I have enjoyed them. No…they weren’t basa** (shut your mouth!) flicks that make me want to watch them over and over again. But, they are entertaining and kept my interest throughout. Not to mention — who doesn’t dig a hero (even though the villain stole the show in Thor…that a whole other story).

Sorry, I digressed. Here’s my review:

I like this. Steve Rogers is my type of character. A boy bullied, beat up, kicked out, put upon and everything you can think of. But you know what – he never gave up. This movie covers the story of Captain America (the past him) back in the 40′s and the villain is a bit quirky. Also, I would have really liked a bit more depth to the story, but it was still a good one. As far as it lining up to the comic book depiction it did so for the most part. There were little off points. Like Captain America was a king with Hand-To-Hand combat. But in the movie it was all about the shield. I give this movie 3.5 stars with stripes. And just so you know, I FREAKIN’ totally enjoyed the tease trailer for THE AVENGERS!

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Credit: WB

I tried to come up with a nice title for this review, but I felt anything I might write would be too harsh, especially since I’m about to be harsh in my review. Three things before I begin–1) I have read every Harry Potter book and related material such as the books about the history of Quidditch and types of magical creatures,  2) after the official introduction of the film in this review, it will be called Two anywhere else in this review, and 3) a big thanks to The Edge 12 in the Crestline area of Birmingham, AL for allowing me to preview the film. It’s highly appreciated.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows–Part Two was supposed to be a film that was going to be epic in scale. To quote numerous people involved in the film, there was supposed to be Saving Private Ryan-levels of violence. When I read that, I naturally assumed that I would be watching relentless, grotesque, hair-raising action that would tug at my heartstrings and my composure, much like how I felt when I watched the opening scene of the actual Saving Private Ryan (WATCH AT YOUR OWN PERIL):

This scene is definitely hard for audiences to watch, but as a piece of cinema it’s haunting in its direction: no background music, the only sounds being people yelling orders and screaming for help, shots being fired, and bullets hitting metal and cloth and people dying. It’s not shot in a mythical-type fashion; it’s shot realistically as if someone was on the beach with those soldiers on Omaha Beach as they were completing their mission. That type of direction is what I wanted from Two.

I didn’t really get any of that, and that’s really the thing I was disappointed about. Mind you, I don’t like watching violence, but when I have to watch it, I want it to be what I expect. The Battle at Hogwarts is supposed to be one that will go down in the books as one of the biggest battles in magical history. A bunch of kids, a smattering of grownups, and magicked statues are fighting a large army of evil-minded people, dementors, and giants, all led by Lord Voldemort, the most evil wizard alive. With the stakes this high, the battle scenes are supposed to be gripping. You’re supposed to feel like how you feel when you watch the Omaha Beach opening during Saving Private Ryan. But instead, several things went wrong with the battle scenes:

1) We get the “calm before the storm” scenes what with Fred and George  (James and Oliver Phelps) asking each other if they’re all right, Lupin (David Thewlis) and Tonks (Natalia Tena) trying to grab hold of each other’s hands, etc. But neither scene is really all that powerful; they’re only slightly powerful if you’re read the books and you know who’s going to die. If you’ve never read the books, you know something’s going to happen, but in the long run, it doesn’t really matter. Meanwhile, the Omaha Beach opener starts with Capt. John H. Miller’s (Tom Hanks) hand shaking violently as he unscrews the cap of his canteen. Several soldiers are violently throwing up. Sounds of wretching can still be heard as other men say their (in some cases, final) prayers and kiss their cross necklaces, and cross themselves. These men know that this day is more than likely their last, and as we see later on, most of them don’t even make it out of the boats. With the opening of Ryan, we get the desolate, haunting feeling of what it’s like to know you’re at your end. With the scenes in Two, we don’t get that feeling.

2) The longest battle scene, where we see multiple people fighting each other, is not all that awe-inspiring. We see a giant crushing people, others using magic against the invaders, etc. But Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint) just running through the mayhem barely having to hide, duck, or scope out the field just undermines all of the carnage going on behind them. It shows us, the viewers, that the three kids are in no danger at all, when in actuality, they’re in very grave danger. The music also doesn’t help matters. The music basically tells us, again, that there is no real danger; this is “movie” danger, not “flight or fight” danger. Meanwhile, the Omaha Beach scene gives the audience the real-life “flight or fight” feeling. There’s no escape from the battling–there’s no music to listen to, there are no lines to listen to, no crazy cuts or fast-forwards–so we either feel like we have to leave the theater or reassure ourselves that this is a film and that we can sit through it.

3) The people that do end up dying in the Battle at Hogwarts don’t get the send-off they deserve. My fellow ShockYa writer Rudie Obias and I touched on this in ShockYa’s “Movie Night” podcast. Our point was that in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) was the most human and authentic death in the series because we felt the helplessness when we saw him, an innocent boy, die, and it was hit home again when his father found out. His grief made the whole scene realistic and very heart-wrenching (click picture to watch at YouTube):

But in Two, when (roll-over for spoilers) Fred, Tonks, and Lupin die, as well as several school children, we don’t stay on their deaths long at all. Out of all of the deaths, we should be especially moved by Fred, Tonks, and Lupin because we know them. We see the Weasleys cry over Fred, but that scene only lasts about two minutes. We only get a glance at Lupin and Tonks before the scene cuts to another. And by the time we see Ron, who was distraught over Fred the last time we saw him, he acts as if he’s gotten over the death already. You don’t get over your brother‘s death that quickly. We don’t get the same sort of gravitas we got from Cedric’s death in these deaths, and that’s a shame.

Other grievances I have about the film include the fact that these last two films have been specifically made to court the fans. I’m not saying that the fans don’t need courting, because the fans are the only reason why the films have gotten made, but these films also need to address the regular movie-going public as well. Anyone watching these films without a knowledge of the books will be completely lost. I’ve read all of the books and I was still lost through a lot of it. If I was lost, just think of how someone who’s never read the books are going to be.

Also, Draco (Tom Felton) didn’t get to say anything! He was one of the kid characters that had the most growth, even more so than Harry Potter because Harry was always on the good side. Draco had to realize that the side his parents had him on was wrong, and some of that internal dialogue should have been given some sort of verbal release. More on Draco later, though.

The film itself was really dark, and I don’t mean in tone. The color of the film was just blue, gray, and black. When it did get bright, it was relief because I knew I’d actually be able to see some things. The overall muddy tone of the film was highly distracting.

My last grievance is about how workmanlike this film felt. We just moved plot-point to plot-point like we’re in a game instead of watching a movie. There should be some more emotional depth going on instead of just relaying the book to the audience. Basically, for a film about magic, there was hardly any magical feeling to the film at all.

The positives I have about the film deal with, ironically, the “bad guys”, Voldemort, Snape, and Draco. The only truely bad guy Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) was amazing. His evil just radiated from him, and you really couldn’t wait to see what he got coming to him. Fiennes is one of the actors who gave magic to the film in terms of emotional depth. I felt like Voldemort was something spectacular and unique in a perverse sort of way, and all really good villains should feel that way to the audience.

The other two “bad guys” aren’t so much bad as they are either misguided or troubled. (They’re not bad, they’re just drawn that way!) Snape (Alan Rickman) finally shows his true feelings about Harry, his mother Lily, and Harry’s future as “The Boy Who Lived.” While it is true that the scene is only in place to set up a throwaway line in the epilogue, Rickman played it fantastically. He was one of the other actors who brought magic to the film in terms of emotional depth. And (roll-over for significant spoiler-induced speculation), but while the books talk in depth about Snape’s eternal love for Lily but show where he messed up in their relationship, the movie paints a slightly different picture, providing more fodder for the groups who believe that Snape is actually the true father of Harry Potter. I have to say that, according to the movie-verse Harry Potter storyline, it makes the most sense. In any case, I’m now an even bigger Rickman fan than I was before. 

Lastly, Draco was amazing as well, even without any lines. By extension, the Malfoy family (Helen McCrory as Narcissa, Jason Isaacs as Lucius) as a whole had one of the biggest arcs in terms of secondary characters. As a family unit, they realized that being on the side of Voldemort is not really what they had in mind, and through the ordeal, they learned that they aren’t actually on the good side as much as they were seriously misguided by what they had been taught. Draco especially learned this lesson the hardest way of all when he was charged with killing Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. His arc culminated in the scene where he (roll-over for spoilers) stuck with the side lead by Neville until his parents, who were also pretty much done with Voldemort even though they were still standing next to him, over to them. Also, we see them all leave the battlefield in a determined and battle-hardened manner, much different than how they were depicted in the books. They finally learned their lesson, and that’s fantastic. It’s also especially great to see older Draco in the epilogue; it seems like he’s become a much nicer person, which is doubly fantastic. The way Felton put so much emotion in his eyes and mannerisms really drove home how much Draco had changed for the better, and since it’s not easy to act without lines, Felton should be commended. Like the other two, he was an actor who really gave me the emotional magic I was looking for.

I will also say that Neville (Matthew Lewis) was pretty rad in this movie, having turned into the BAMF of the series. And out of the Trio, Watson and Grint really ground Harry’s epic storyline by providing realism. And even though she wasn’t in Two much, Helena Bonham Carter was born to play Bellatrix Lestrange. She really brought the crazy in a delightfully scary way. She also played a Hermione-as-Bellatrix spectacularly well, providing another emotionally magical spark.

Overall, I feel that while the film is already considered a success, the storyline in Two (and One for that matter) were wildly uneven and left me wanting. However, as a series, it’s an amazing feat to have completed eight films and have them all be successful.

Again, thanks to The Edge 12 (7001 Crestwood Boulevard in the Festival Shopping Center next to Home Depot) for allowing me to view the film.

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With real life stuff, I nearly forgot about Draco-spam! Let’s see what we’ve got for Day Four:

promo picture of Tom Felton as Draco for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows–Part One. Credit: WB

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Here’s day three of Draco-spam week! Enjoy.

Poster from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows–Part Two. Credit: WB

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