Monika’s Pensieve

There was a test screening of the film in Chicago last Saturday. It’s not complete yet (the soundtrack is yet to be finished and some of the special effects are still not done), but reviews have been good. To check some of them out, see here.
I’m much amused by some of the comments - sounds like it’s going to be a bit more “adult” than the other Harry Potter films, which is correct (the same is true of the book), but there’s some stuff I wasn’t quite expecting *grin* Anyway, a couple of points that caught my eye:

• Apparently, we’re going to be treated to a shot of Daniel Radcliffe in female lingerie ;) The 7 Potters sequence is the first time I’ve been looking forward to a special effect sequence in a Potter film (6 people transform themselves to look like Harry, so that the Death Eaters don’t know which one of them to chase), but it never occurred to me that it would include Daniel Radcliffe in a bra *grin* (when the six characters transform into Harry, they’re still wearing their own clothes and have to change into Harry’s). I was expecting some skin show and something slightly awkward when they’d all start changing clothes in front of each other - it’s a very funny moment in the book as well. But Fleur’s lacey bra totally exceeds what I imagined they’d do ;)
• All the reviews say that the scene in which Bellatrix is torturing Hermione is very harsh. I remember some time back Emma Watson was asked what scene in the 7th film she was most looking forward to and she said being tortured by Helena Bonham-Carter ;) So I guess that worked out well *grin* It was always going to be an uncomfortable scene, but it sounds rather harsher than what one would expect from a Hollywood family film. So again something I didn’t quite expect. I’m glad they are taking a harsher route on these things though. That’s how this film should be IMO.
• It’s interesting to hear the comments on the scene between Snape and Voldemort - apparently they’re great together. I’m very happy to hear that, as I find them very exciting together in the books as well. It’s not until the 7th book that we finally got them together in a scene, but it was worth the wait!
  Quite apart from the characters though, Alan Rickman and Ralph Fiennes are quite a duo. Two guys famous for playing villains with very domineering screen presences, playing just that alongside each other. AFAIK it’s the first time they’ve shared screen together, so I’m really looking forward to that! *grin*
• The Harry/Hermione kissing vision goes further than I would have expected. One of the reviews says they’re topless, er what? lol I’m going to assume that means just Harry or that at most we get a bit of Hermione’s back. Another review says “skimpy clothing”, so even if they’re not topless it still goes further than I would have expected :] They’re both silver whispy smoke in the vision, so I’m going to assume it’s not graphic. But er really - topless? lol I thought this was supposed to be a family film *grin*
• Ron’s fallout with Harry sounds really good. I mean it has been sounding really good for ages now. And the little bit they showed us of their fight on one of the trailers looks great too. But what I’m really glad to hear is that the tension between them has a good and long build up. So yay! I’m really looking forward to angsty and jealous Rupert Grint *grin*
• They actually managed to sneak in an unobtrusive comedic reference to Twilight and the rivalry between Potter and Twilight fans *grin*
• Ending part one with Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore’s grave sounds great to me. I can see how that would work.

On the negative side of things, while Yates does like to try some edgy things, he also makes sure to pull off the conventional Hollywood heroics and all of that *sigh* So there’s already one thing I’m anticipating not to like:

• Hedwig’s death is going to be way more sentimental than in the books. As in she actually tries to save Harry from Death Eaters and so on and dies in the act. She’s an owl for goodness sake! Maybe I’ll feel differently after I see the scene, but honestly… I tend to like most of Rowling’s deaths precisely because they’re usually freak accidents that could have been avoided rather than heroic sacrifices.
  And how typically Hollywoodish to make Hedwig’s appearance around Harry the clue as to which of the Harries is the real one *roll eyes* The beauty of the book is that it’s because he casts “Expelliarmus” - the only spell in those circumstances (they’re up in the air), which guarantees his attacker will not be in mortal danger. Everyone else is casting whatever gives them better chances of survival. I never got why Hollywood likes their heroes to use the same methods as their villains :-/ I suppose that’s not entirely the case with Harry anyway, but that was one of the most defining moments for me grrrrr….