So is this good-bye, Harry Potter?

Never mind the 4 hour sleep, it was helluva freakin’ worth-it to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on IMAX last July 14. We opted for the first showing since I was coming straight out of a shift. I was with my sister, the person whom I credit for introducing me to the series a decade ago. At SM we met up with Isa, one of my closest friends from college who’s a fellow Potter fan like us. I would’ve loved to watch this with the TKC girls but sadly we’re islands (and countries!) apart. Remind me to suggest having a marathon of all eight flicks when we’ll have our get-together again next year. DVDs are on me. :)

The whole experience was bittersweet. I started reading Harry Potter when I was already in college but it never stopped me from appreciating the wonderful world that JK Rowling created. I bought the first four books in paperback. After that we (my sister and I) made it our goal to get the succeeding ones in hardbound, expenses be damned. That was much of a sacrifice since we were still students then.

Now, seven books and eight movies later… has the time finally come for us to say good-bye to Mr. Potter? Needless to say, I cried during the movie. Only two Potter movies had me sobbing this hard ever… Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows Part 2. If you hate spoilers then I suggest skipping the post below:

Neville and the Trio warns you of spoilers... and rants!

Daniel Radcliffe has improved leaps and bounds ever since he started doing the series. The Harry Potter in this flick was finally the take-charge kind of guy with Ron and Hermione duly designated as his wingmen. His strongest moments were probably those at the forest and the one with his son in the epilogue.

When it comes to secondary characters, it was Neville Longbottom’s turn to shine in this flick and boy did Matt Lewis deliver! Kudos to whoever added that fan-service part about him and Luna. ( you know what I mean *wink*)

Unpopular opinion: I will always love Bonnie Wright and her portrayal of Ginny Weasley. C’mon, the girl has managed to make do with whatever material has been given her. It’s not her fault that Kloves (or even Yates) failed to realize early on that Ginny was always meant to be with Harry hence giving her scraps of dialogues and scenes from the earlier movies. Why also blame her for the fact that she managed to grow taller than that shrimp, Daniel Radcliffe? :) JKR has already set it in stone, and I don’t think throwing bitch fits about how book!Ginny > movie!Ginny is going to change the fact that they will still end up together in the end.

Don’t even get me started on those who think that Daniel had more chemistry with Emma. This is Harry Potter. Everyone knows how JKR had it all end in Deathly Hallows. Magdasal nalang kayo na sana magka-movie silang dalawa na sila lang. [/end rant] There, I said it. My allegiance will always be to OBHWF (Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione).

Oh, and the editing still hasn’t changed. I scratch my head every time Mark Day gets a nomination for his work on the series when his shoddy editing ruins the transition of emotional scenes. Case in point: the deaths at the Battle of Hogwarts. Clearly, the guy still hasn’t dropped out of the Ryan Murphy School of Editing.

And last but not the least, the redemption of Severus Snape had Alan Rickman simply bowling everyone over with his portrayal of the long-suffering, conflicted yet heroic professor. Oh the perils of unrequited love! It was, and will always be, about Lily after all these years.

With the eight movies finally done, I hope we’ll get decent extra features on the DVD for Deathly Hallows Part 2. More like, Goblet of Fire-generous if you must David Yates. And please… not Hermione-centric ones.