HP7 review
Given that technology buffs everywhere are going to be talking about the latest installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise, my wife and I accepted an invitation to see a preview of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 at the Darling Harbour iMax in Sydney last night.
According to the Australian theatrical distributor of the movie, Roadshow Films, Harry Potter is officially the most successful movie franchise of all time, having overtaken James Bond.
I confess that I haven’t read the Harry Potter books, and I’ve only seen one previous Harry Potter movie (in London of all places in December 2003).
But that doesn’tseem to matter, since everyone somehow knows the basic premise of Harry Potter.
Harry Potter was a regular 11-year-old English school boy, living an unpleasant life with some awful relatives, until he finds out one day that actually he’s a Wizard, and starts attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Anyone with an interest in archetypes will recognize the plot straight away as a classic hero quest story (think Luke Skywalker, King Arthur) . To be honest, that’s all you really need to know to get what Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is about, which follows Harry and his friends Ron and Hermoine as they seek magical objects (Horcruxes) to defeat their arch enemy the Dark Lord Voldemort.
Both my wife and I really enjoyed this movie. It was scary, action packed, and kept us on the edges of our iMax seats right until the final minutes of the film. Needless to say, the special effects were fantastic (though my wife said they were uncannily similar to the effects in Lord of the Rings).
As I was watching the movie, I couldn’t help thinking that the movie studio has been extremely lucky that those child actors they recruited for the first Harry Potter movie back in 2001 have all grown into fine adult actors that now in 2010 really suit their roles (the sctors deserve to do well post Harry Potter.)
If you’re an existing Harry Potter fan, you’ll absolutely love this movie – no doubt there are all sorts of revelations for those caught in the Harry Potter spell – fans were already lining up for the sold out first public screening at midnight as we were leaving iMax at 8.30 pm. And if you’re not a fan, but have enjoyed movies like Lord of the Rings, you’ll still really enjoy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
October 8th, 2011
Both my wife and I really enjoyed this movie. It was scary, action packed, and kept us on the edges of our iMax seats right until the final minutes of the film.