Harry Potter fans, this one’s for you.
On March 12, Warner Bros. announced that the final installment of the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows, will be released as a two-part voluminous movie: the first being released around Christmas 2010, the second around May 2011 (a la Kill Bill).
David Yates, who directed the last and is currently working on the next, will direct both installments.
I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan. I’ve only read one of the books. I’ve seen all the movies. Generally speaking, they’re good. I have fun watching most of them. I’ll say the following about the movies:
The Sorcerer’s Stone was not bad for a kid’s movie; and considering that The Chamber of Secrets is in that same category, it was better than the first.
But then, The Prisoner of Azkaban came out and shocked everyone with how much darker it had gotten since the previous movies. Director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) created a richness that could captivate any audience, Potter fans or not.
The biggest mistake, however, was made when studio heads at Warner Bros. had to go and hire sissy-la-la Mike Newell to direct The Goblet of Fire. What could’ve/should’ve been the best HP to date, was bastardized. And what else would you expect coming from the director who’d just finished Mona Lisa Smile?
When Order of the Phoenix came out last year, everyone was so happy with what the newest and current director, David Yates, had done. Dressed-up, costume-wearing geeks could be seen exiting theaters in masses ranting and raving about how good this fifth installment was.
Was it good? Yes. Was it worth the hype it was getting? Definitely. Compared to The Goblet of Fire’s disastrous attempt at adapting HP to the big screen, The Order of the Phoenix was a friggin’ masterpiece. That’s not to say it was flawless, but it sure was moving in the right direction.
Yates is currently working on this fall’s Half-Blood Prince, and will get to work on the final installment(s) upon completion.
My only fears are the following: Yates will continue to make non-threatening villains like he did in The Order of the Phoenix (these little wizard kids were running around easily blasting Death Eaters that never fired back); and they won’t know how to fill two movies with one fairly simple book (unless the first movie consists of Harry and Hermione teleporting and camping for an hour and a half).
I’ll cast no judgments. We’ll just have to wait and see.
