PoA viewing number three

[ashinae]

I still love it. The love has not diminished at all with a third viewing. I feel about this movie the way I think I should have felt about Return of the King. Certainly there are issues with the details missing -- I don't see why the production team felt it necessary to make it shorter than the first two, as if any of the three Harry Potter movies were worthy of the 150+ minute running time, it was this one.

But watching it didn't make me feel like I was watching a massively long commercial for a video game or for Weta or MASSIVE. I can't say that any of the story's emotional core was lost amongst hippogriffs and Dementors and ... such (Christ, would I get bitchslapped for spoiling someone who hasn't seen it and hasn't read the book for the dealy with Lupin's Issue after the Big Plot Reveal in The Place With the Reunion? I mean, is there anyone who actually doesn't know what's up with Lupin?) the way that much of the Return of the King story was lost amongst the orcs and trolls and Shelob. I was just about to start going on about that, but I shan't as I think that's a post for another time.

I am not sure that there's anything else I want to actually note that I haven't already, except for two small things:

There is something about Snape protecting the kids. It's a wonderful little thing. He's not actually bad, really, just deeply flawed, as are all the adult characters in the Potter series. It was his first instinct to protect them, and I think that reveals a lot about what kind of person he really is, deep inside.

The first time I saw the movie, I heard this, but thought I was crazy. The second time, I also thought I heard it, but really couldn't be sure because no one else said anything about it. This time 'round, I am certain I heard it. It was like seeing the Shrieking Shack moving when nobody else noted that detail. After the Time Turner is used, I heard ticking throughout all the quieter parts of the end of the movie. It's actually really neat -- I'm just afraid I'm still a little crazy because sara_elf and Jo (more so Jo, though) seemed to think I was crazy for hearing it.


*

This is a spoiler: Luke loses his dad's lightsaber after Vader cuts off his hand at Bespin.
This is a not: Luke has two lightsabers -- one's blue, the other's green.
This is a spoiler: Darth Vader is Luke's father.
This is a not: Anakin and Padme are going to have kids at some point during or at the very least just after Episode III.

People, get over yourselves about "spoilers". I used to not watch trailers, but you know, I got over that -- particularly when the movies are based on books I have read. The way a movie LOOKS is not a frelling spoiler. The fact that Princess Leia wears cinnamon buns in her hair is not a spoiler. Snape stalking into a classroom and using his wand to close windows -- not a spoiler, sorry. That Big Thing in Harry Potter book 5 that is still, in fact, referred to as "That Thing That Happens In Book Five" is a spoiler (please, read the book -- it's silly that we have to "protect" those of you who won't know until, what, two thousand and bloody seven or so?).

Part of the whole watching/not-watching trailers thing for me was that I was picking and choosing. What were the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings trailers giving away that I didn't already know, with the exception in LotR of Arwen's storyline? And it's not like they were going to up and have her die or leave at th end. I knew how her story was going to end -- she was going to turn around and come home and marry Aragorn. And with any other movie I have to watch these trailers to get some feel for whether or not I want to see the movie at all. What's the point in watching trailers for Troy and King Arthur and not for HP or LotR?

Spoilers give away plot points. The Big Reveal scene in Prisoner of Azkaban is a big fat spoiler that, you know, reveals the entirety of the plot leading up to that and changes the way you view a movie. It diminishes the shock or surprise of the story.

You've never watched or read Lord of the Rings. Someone mentions that Gandalf fights a balrog. You freak out. You = moron. Come on. You don't know what a balrog is. You don't know what it looks like. You may have some VAGUE idea who Gandalf is. How does this information spoil your movie viewing for you? Now, if someone says Gandalf fights a Balrog and DIES, then you have every right to be upset for having this big plot point ruined for you.

Minute details don't destroy your movie viewing. Would your enjoyment of Fellowship of the Ring really have been destroyed by someone saying "During that heart-to-heart chat that Aragorn and Boromir have -- notice the tear-tracks going down Boromir's face!" That isn't a spoiler, folks. Sorry.

I think it's ridiculous that the two points I put behind a cut, are even behind a cut. They're small details. You don't know what they relate to unless you've SEEN the movie. They aren't spoilers. I can maybe, vaguely, understand not wanting to know about the first one (though, really, if you've seen the first movie...), perhaps while squinting. How can anything actually be a spoiler when there is absolutely no context whatsoever for it? How could knowing such tiny details possibly ruin the enjoyment or plot of a movie? Explain this to me, please. I will never understand the mindset of the Overly "Spoiler"-Allergic out there.

It's silly to walk on eggshells like this. Really, really silly that we have to be careful of everything we say in regards to the current books and movies so as to protect the people who haven't read or watched them. Knowing that Hogwarts is in the Scottish highlands doesn't actually spoil the movie for you, does it? I genuinely do not understand.

Comments

[perafruit.livejournal.com]

ahem, sister.

[not-vacillating.livejournal.com]

After the Time Turner is used, I heard ticking throughout all the quieter parts of the end of the movie. It's actually really neat -- I'm just afraid I'm still a little crazy because sara_elf and Jo (more so Jo, though) seemed to think I was crazy for hearing it.

Ignore them. I heard it too, and I think it's really neat.