Am I the only one that thought this might have been an anagram for something? Although if Tom Marvolo Riddle/I am Lord Voldemort is the standard set by the books then I should know better than to bother.
No other movie franchise has held my attention for as long (10 years) and as often (8 movies) as Harry Potter. Well, there’s the Bond franchise, but that’s cheating ‘coz they’ve had, what, 6 different actors play Bond? Plus, none of those are related, whereas the individual Potter stories come together to form a gestalt – somehow bigger and more epic than its component parts.
You may recall from my review of Part 1 that I didn’t have many kind words for it. However, I’m happy to report that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a much more satisfying movie. It’s like the two were twins at birth, and one was sacrificed so that the other might live a better life; all the energy that was lacking in the former is present in spades in the latter.
I still make no apology for saying that the book on which it’s based was a travesty of lazy writing, but the authors of the screenplay have done extremely well to bring forward the strengths in the plot and hide the rubbish – again, by burying it in the first part – so that fans could enjoy a thrilling and satisfying end to the ride that they’ve been on for the last decade.
The cast and crew should be applauded for their efforts – unlike many others that received cheap, nasty cash-ins, Potter has been fairly reliable in delivering the goods. It’s had a good run, and as a fan, you couldn’t ask for more.
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A franchise, by definition, relies on a tried and tested formula across multiple narratives, but Pirates of the Caribbean – birthed from a themed ride at Disneyland – takes the Mickey (har har). Rather than coming up with an original idea, the writers borrowed (adapted) a Tim Powers novel called… On Stranger Tides.
How closely the movie follows the book, I can’t say (I’m not a fan of Powers) but it certainly fits the Pirates theme perfectly: pick a mythical destination, pick a fabled creature, a supernatural enemy, and a cameo appearance, then have the protagonists find object(s) in order to reach said mythical destination where a swindle and double cross occurs, but Johnny “Cap’n Jack Sparrow” Depp prevails.
The returning cast and crew phone in their parts, being almost identical to their previous incarnations with nothing new to add – which I’m sorry to say, includes the usually wonderful Hans Zimmer (the music composer). On Stranger Tides looks, feels and sounds so similar to the previous movies that it wouldn’t be fair to say it’s bad, because it would imply that the others were too (and they weren’t).
If you aren’t sick of Johnny Depp doing his Keith Richards impersonation yet (or Keith Richards doing his Johnny Depp impression for that matter), by all means go and see this movie.
Chris Hemsworth has beefed up from his Home and Away surfie days
Here’s the latest Marvel comic-to-movie adaptation, another cog in the machine will eventually become The Avengers. For those not in the know (which included me prior to the movies), one of the business strategies used by the comic industry is to introduce fans of one hero to others through “crossovers” that featured multiple superheroes teaming up with each other. It was hoped that these partnerships would result in fans of one series also taking an interest in the others. Thor is the latest Avenger to get his own feature, after The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man (and soon to be followed by Captain America).
The movie itself is surprisingly good, of the same calibre of Marvel movie releases since they took back control of their own brand from the greedy, uncaring Hollywood studios. It’s definitely cheesy, but in a way that shows they’re not taking themselves too seriously, making it a fun experience rather than a cringey one.
Chris Hemsworth, of Home and Away TV series fame, is yet another suprisingly good Aussie male lead – although exactly why this is still surprising is beyond my mere mortal understanding. Maybe it’s because Australian stuff is generally so crap that the surprise comes from discovering (again and again) that this country actually possesses people with talent. The other surprise comes from Natalie Portman, who played a character that pretty much spent the entire movie with nothing better to do than lusting over Thor. If this was Marvel’s way to win over Portman fans from DC Comics’ excellent V for Vendetta, then I’d have to say it was a wasted opportunity.
As the poster proclaims: "One nerd to perform the whole trilogy!"
A word of advice to those considering going to see Charlie Ross’s One Man Lord of the Rings: watch the movies before you go. In one intense hour of comedy, he simultaneously parodies and pays homage to Peter Jackon’s trilogy, so not only will the show make more sense (or any sense at all), it’s much funnier because you pick up the very fine nuances in his send up act.
Ross is obviously a seasoned performer and his decade of experience on stage shows in his finely tuned act that covers all 3 movies in an hour with no props – just his plainly dressed self, his vocal cords and clever lighting – as well as his ability to recover from hiccups in events (“news and the weather” he quips as his vocal acrobatics results in a gob of spit flying into a front-row member). He captures the movie actors’ physical and vocal inflections perfectly, and does a pretty convincing rendition of the music as well.
What made it even more enjoyable was the contrast between his immersion in the action delivered with frenetic energy, and the charming moments when he engaged the crowd. As well as littering the piece with casual digs at audience members who had neither seen the movies nor read the books, he bantered with the audience both during and in between scenes, and finished with a brief monologue about himself and how the show came to be.
A brilliant performance that makes me wish I hadn’t passed on One Man Star Wars.
One Man Lord of the Rings is playing at the Sydney Opera House until April 3 (and in Melbourne and Brisbane thereafter).
Cue "Harry Potter theme music, deconstructed darker mix"
Here we are at what should have been the final movie of the Harry Potter franchise. What we get instead is the first of a two-parter, which the cynical might say is Hollywood’s way of cashing in by dragging things out, but I do sympathise with the screenplay writers to some extent, since the source material they had to work with wasn’t exactly something that fits nicely into your usual 90 page script.
Author J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final book about the adventures of “the boy who lived” should have been a short, tight and thrilling conclusion, but the complexity of the previous books meant that she’d painted herself into a corner with a huge number of loose ends that needed tying up. That’s why it’s baffling she chose to introduce the eponymous Deathly Hallows: three magical objects that combined, give one power over death.
I would’ve forgiven the script if it’d taken liberties with the plot in order to make it a better fit for the format, because what we end up with is a 2-hour+ treasure hunt with Harry, Hermione and Ron – young adults now – who are just too old for that kind of thing. As the series progressed (in both book and movie forms) the gap between “magical kids story” and “dark adult novel” has increasingly widened to the point where they’ve simply lost cohesion – the story somehow expects the reader to develop (in age and maturity) at the same rate as the characters being portrayed. If you let your pre-teen child start reading or watching the Harry Potter series, don’t expect to let them finish until they’re well into their late teens.
The brooding metro lead, hot-as-hades sexpot and ginger tough-guy-with-a-soft-spot - they're not the cute-as-a-button kids they used to be...
Back to the movie: while the kids are out wandering in the wilderness without a clue, the audience also finds itself lost since the plot fails to deliver any kind of motivation or suspense for the characters; by the time the credits roll they haven’t even found everything. It’s also interesting to note where they chose to draw the line between the two movie parts, with the second one shaping up to be just one big extended epic battle between the forces of good and evil at Hogwarts.
Hopefully that means part 2 will deliver the punch that that this one sorely lacked.
