Book-Movie(s) Comparison: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I really enjoy both parts of The Deathly Hallows. Despite splitting the last book into two movies, there’s a ton of stuff left out, but the films still convey the overall story well and manage to be a fine pair of movies to boot (spoilers.)

First off, props to these movies for handling the mess The Half-Blood Prince left them to deal with. The previous movie gave the two Deathly Hallows films basically nothing to work with in terms of the trio hunting Horcruxes, but damn if the films don’t do the work to make it all hold together. Not to mention, Part 2 does a good job really making me feel for the deaths of Tonks and Lupin – since neither of them have anything worthwhile to do after their introductory films and Tonks barely gets a chance to be a character at all, injecting their deaths with so much earnest pathos that doesn’t just coast on the good will of their book characters is no small feat.

For me, tying up those loose ends that got dropped in earlier movies makes up for some of the plot threads that don’t get included here, like most of the stuff about Dumbledore’s past. There’s plenty of smaller details, world-building stuff, and character moments that don’t make the cut (personally, I wish we could’ve got a bit of the secret radio station, and I’d have liked more about Harry’s growing obsession with the Hallows,) but the films don’t feel all that cut up as you’re watching them. It mostly hangs together quite well.

One thing I will point out, though, is that I wish they’d kept the explanation of how the Death Eaters can detect/locate anyone using Voldemort’s name. It’s pretty obvious that such a scene was originally in one of the films, since 1) the trio is initially perplexed at how the Death Eaters find them in the café, 2) they eventually switch to calling Voldemort “You-Know-Who,” and 3) there’s the big dramatic moment where Xenophilius Lovegood calls the Death Eaters by saying, “Voldemort.” But without the actual explanation of the spell, you need book knowledge to put those things together.

Part 1 does an especially nice job keeping the plot moving. What felt like endless chapters of the trio camping and bickering in the book is accomplished in a few montages and a handful of well-chosen scenes. (Montages that feel appropriately cinematic, I should point out – not like The Order of the Phoenix, where some of the montages blatantly feel like transparent attempts to cram 7-8 chapters into 20 seconds.) The emotional throughlines of the main characters carry us along, and the significant scenes/set pieces crop up just often enough to keep things from ever feeling too slow.

Most of the big moments from the book are given their due in the films. Particular standouts are the trio sneaking into the Ministry of Magic, “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” the Prince’s tale, and the Resurrection Stone scene. Re: the last two, both of those scenes in Part 2 really hit me in ways they don’t in the book. When I’m watching Part 2, I almost inevitably cry when either of those scenes come on.

I also think both films are a little like The Prisoner of Azkaban in that they include some great scenes that deviate from the book. It’s a small moment, but I really love Harry dancing with Hermione to cheer her up after Ron leaves in Part 1 – a fabulous, sweet display of their friendship. And man, does Neville get to come through towards the end of Part 2! I know the same basics happen in both the book and the movie, but I just adore the scene of him standing up to Voldemort and vowing to keep fighting, even though everyone thinks Harry has been killed.

Finally, we’ve gotta talk casting. Rhys Ifans is excellent as Xenophilius Lovegood, just knocking it out of the park in his scenes. Bill Nighy only makes a brief appearance as Rufus Scrimgeour, but he conveys the feel of the character with limited screentime. And even though Part 2 plays the scene between Harry and the Grey Lady very differently than the book does, I really like Kelly Macdonald’s performance as the film’s version of the character.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

The last book in the Harry Potter series isn’t my favorite, although I enjoyed it more this time around. I was better able to recognize some of the groundwork the book lays for its bigger moments, and I also think scenes from the movies gave me a greater appreciation for certain passages I wasn’t crazy about in the book (premise spoilers.)

Gone is the familiar Hogwarts backdrop.  Harry has given up school in order to track down Horcruxes, the magical MacGuffins of evil that, once collected and destroyed, will finally allow Voldemort to be defeated.  Ron and Hermione, being Ron and Hermione, of course aren’t about to let Harry go it alone, and so they join him on his quest.  As they struggle with their baffling mission, try to elude the nefarious wizards and witches who are after them, and battle the dark magic that seeks to influence them, they inch ever closer to the final battle to come.

Like I said, I think I better understood what the book tries to do reading it this time. Parts of it are frustrating – seemingly-endless camping scenes, the trio going around in circles in their quest – but that’s because those things are frustrating for the characters as well. It’s like Harry’s anger in The Order of the Phoenix, which feels over-the-top because it is over-the-top for character. Here, the enormity of our heroes’ quest and the little guidance given to them is overwhelming for them. And so, things drag, and they second-guess themselves and bicker, and they take one step forward and two steps back. I won’t say that necessarily means it’s a thrill a minute to read, but the book very successfully conveys the feeling it’s trying to get across.

And the book gets into some interesting things. Harry learning some less-than-inspiring speculation about Dumbledore’s past is interesting, as it makes him question so many of his own past experiences, given what he learns about someone he’s so looked up to (even if some of those specifics are even more unsettling to read now than they were in 2007.) I like all the stuff about the Hallows themselves and Harry’s increasing preoccupation with them, the ongoing plot about the corrupting effect of the Horcruxes is good (albeit a tiny bit One Ring-ish,) and I enjoy reading about how the wizarding world has changed since the events of the sixth book and how the trio has to evade those who are after them (Hermione once again proves how thoroughly indispensable she is.)

I’m still mixed on some of the sadder moments in the book, as well as the climactic twist. I won’t get too much into the details of all of it here. I’ll say that, while some of the sad moments hit exactly as they’re supposed to for me, otherwise feel somehow simultaneously overwritten and underwritten, making them feel more like intentional tearjerk gambits than organic moments. And as for the twist? Again, I understand it a little more this time and see the reasons woven into the story to justify it, but it’s still not my favorite. Not that I know how I would’ve preferred the series to end. But that’s the hard thing about endings, isn’t it? So often, I can’t articulate what I’d like to see – I only know I’ll recognize it if I get it, or perhaps more significantly, if I don’t.

That epilogue is still silly, though. The book would leave a much better taste in my mouth if it didn’t conclude with that saccharine “Where Are They Now?” scene, and I’m not sure if anything could make me change my mind on that.