Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

My Favorite Scene: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (2011) “The Albino Dragon/The Final Duel”

With the triumphant return of The Wizarding World in the wake of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (the sequel for which is set for a November 2018 release), we’re running back through the Harry Potter series, examining the best of each in one “My Favorite Scene” column a month.  This installment ends our eight month journey through the original Wizarding World series with the finale: Harry Potter and the Dealthly Hallows Part Two.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series is split over two films and, unlike every other adaptation that has tried to milk extra box office cash from extending franchises, this choice is absolutely necessary to give an appropriate adaptation of the finale.  I think the finale is the second best film of the eight.  It delivers payoff after payoff moment, one of my favorite being the escape from Gringotts by our trio of heroes on the back of an albino dragon.  If you do a dragon right, it’s almost impossible for me to not feature it in a My Favorite Scene column.


Harry and Voldemort's final duel in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Deathly Hallows picks up on the dark tone from Dumbledore’s death at the end of Half-Blood Prince, and never lets you forget this is life or death; absolute war between Voldemort’s forces and the Wizarding World. Picking up where Dobby’s sacrifice left off, Part Two is the payoff for all the set up done in Part one.  Harry, Ron and Hermione scramble to find the last Horcruxes, the secrets of the Deathly Hallows, and Voldemort marches on Hogwarts for a final magical battle for the ages that ends in a final duel between Harry and Voldemort that doesn’t disappoint.


Deathly Hallows brings us back home to Hogwarts as Snape is deposed as Headmaster, and the faculty prepare for the seige of Voldemort’s forces.  Just when you think that the castle has offered up every secret it has to offer, Maggie Smith activates Hogwarts defenses and the magical fortress/school reveals another dimension in another wonderful scene that I will shamelessly sneak in here, as it also highlights the beautiful score Alexandre Desplat delivered for the finale.


Most of the character-building in Deathly Hallows takes place in part one, the exception being the final revelation of Snape’s story, the love he had for Harry’s mother as children, and how all he’s done for the cause, he’s done in her memory.  The flashback scenes between Lily and Severus were so well-done, but what could be Alan Rickman’s final moment than his final moments?

Alan Rickman in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

 

Great Snape 8 of 8
To honor Severus Snape and the late Alan Rickman we have our final Great Snape Moment.  Deathly Hallows has a devastating body count (Rowling really is ruthless), but Snape’s death is so awful because we finally understand him; we finally GET him, and just as we do, he’s gone.  The only comfort being Harry there to hold him and to tell him he finally got it, and having his mother’s eyes, Snape was looking at something of Lily’s when he made his last sacrifice.


It would have been easy to end the book and the film on the triumphant note of Voldemort’s defeat, but Rowling doesn’t usually do the easy thing.  The last scene of the film, is a pretty straight adaptation of the book’s epilogue: “19 Years Later”.  Now 37, we see Harry and Ginny usher their boys on the train along with Ron and Hermione’s.  There a nod between Draco and Harry as Draco puts his son, Scorpius on the Hogwarts Express (This is exactly where “book 8” or the stage play that I’m sure WB will try to make into a film when Fantastic Beasts is done, which will be about the time the trio will be around 37 years old).  It’s Rowling’s statement that life goes on.  The world keeps on turning whether we care or not.  It’s also the open door to more stories (one more for Harry, and possibly many more to take place within the wider Wizarding World).


The journey through the series is now complete, and it’s been a blast revisiting these films.  To check out the past entries: Sorcerer’s Stone click hereChamber of Secrets click here; Prisoner of Azkaban here; The Goblet of Fire here; and The Order of the Phoenix here; and The Half-Blood Prince here , and The Deathly Hallows Part One here. See you for Fantastic Beasts 2 in 15 months.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Poster

 

9 thoughts on “My Favorite Scene: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (2011) “The Albino Dragon/The Final Duel””

  1. All definitely great scenes in the movie. Death Hallows Part 2 is probably my favorite Potter film.


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  2. Is it just me, or is Radcliffe crazy as a loon, with questionable taste in picking films?

    I get why he was in a stage production of Equis in a role that involved nudity, it was a way of distancing himself from Harry and proving he could do more, and there was no way that was not going to work. But I’ve read interviews with him where he comes across as really enjoying roles that involve nudity. A lot.

    Horns? Victor Frankenstein? Swiss Army Man? I would not see Swiss Army Man on a bet, it sounds repellent. I did see him in a stage revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and he was wonderfully talented, can sing and dance. He’s unusually short, but he had a real stage presence. But I get the feeling that he will never be enticed into playing Harry again. I don’t think he feels like he needs it.


    Cursed Child is destined to be one of those holy grail projects that never happen.

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      1. If she builds on the sucess she’s had since HP, she has quite a career ahead of her. She is under no obligation to return to the wizarding world. It’s hard enough trying to not be associated with an early iconic role for the rest of your career. Watson is succeeding, and they want her to willingly go BACK?

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      2. Well, she wanted to leave to go to college, which she did after the films before starting her acting career as an adult. Who’s to say at 37 where her career is, but Draco already looks 37 and he’s as big a part of book 8 as the trio. I don’t think it’ll happen, but the Wizarding World isn’t going to stop with Fantastic Beasts either. Rowling and WB are both too wrapped up in it. Plus, you can’t just end with 13 films. That’s unlucky!

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      3. It’s good that the cast will probably not come together, because these reunions never work, never live up to the hype. The new Twin Peaks is working, but that is because it is not trying to recapture the magic of the original run, and the fan base went in expecting to be screwed with, and hoping they would be screwed with. Not exactly a common, widespread phenomenon.

        Now that Fantastic Beasts has opened up a vista far away from H, H, and R, the wizarding world needs to stay away from them. Young Albus is fine, we can see supporting characters drift in and out at diferent ages, or even become central, but when the selling point is a reunion, beware. I have not read CC, but I know all about it, and while I like the way I hear Harry turned out, I get why so many would not. The absolute best you can hope for is polarization, when you show what happened to beloved character like Harry, after his story ended.


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      4. It’s obviously different reading a stageplay than one of the novels and Rowling only provided the outline and didn’t write the whole thing, but I thought CC was a tacked on unnecessary addendum that didn’t do much for any of the characters or the world.

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