Harry Potter - need the story so far... [Archive]

View Full Version : Harry Potter - need the story so far...

benhyr

7-18-11, 9:53am

The Storyteller

7-18-11, 10:47am

So, we're going to the last Potter tomorrow with our neighbors. We've never seen the movies or read the books.

I know that Lord Vold Wart or whatever is the bad guy. I assume this is the final show down... and the good guys eventually win.

Any huge things happen in part one that I need to know before watching part two? Maybe I'll go see if the local Redbox kiosk has part one in stock...

I'm not sure how interesting the last installment would be without having seen the rest. There are just so many things from the series the last films just assume you know. I certainly wouldn't see part 2 without seeing part 1, though.

Difficult for me to get my head in that place, having been a Harry fan since before he was popular.

BTW, part 2 hit 100% on the top critics in Rotten Tomatoes. That's pretty much unheard of for a blockbuster film. I'm sure some curmudgeon will come along to muck that up, though, although even Roger Ebert liked it.

benhyr

7-18-11, 11:08am

I'm not sure how interesting the last installment would be without having seen the rest. There are just so many things from the series the last films just assume you know. I certainly wouldn't see part 2 without seeing part 1, though.

I know. This is definitely more of an outing to hang out with the neighbors than it is to see the last of Harry Potter on the big screen. I'll at least check out part 1 so I can follow along a bit.

Gingerella72

7-18-11, 6:12pm

One of the most poignant and revealing scenes in the film is the death of Snape....and what follows will be horribly confusing to anyone who doesn't know the basic plots and storylines of the books and previous movies. As this scene is the most beautifully portrayed scene in the entire film series (IMO), this is what's behind it, in a nutshell:

--Snape was one of Harry's professors at Hogwarts. He has never made it a secret that he loathes Harry, and Harry pretty much hates him as well.

--In film 6, Snape seems to go over to the Dark Side after he kills the Hogwarts headmaster, Dumbledore. From that point on, the Good Side thinks he is Voldemort's right-hand man.

--In this scene, Voldemort thinks he has to kill Snape in order to have complete power, and does so. Harry witnesses it, and afterwards tries to comfort Snape. Snape tells Harry to collect his tears, as that will provide Harry the means to see into Snape's memories. Snape does this because he needs Harry to understand things and now that he's dying he won't have a chance later. Harry takes the tears/memories to the Pensieve - a device to view people's memories.

--Harry learns that Snape knew his mother, Lily (who was murdered by Voldemort when Harry was a baby), when they where children and Snape had loved her dearly. As an adult Snape was a Voldemort supporter but after Voldy killed Lily he became loyal to Dumbledore and the Good Side, but Voldy never knew this - he thought Snape was still "his." Later, Dumbledore pleaded with Snape to protect his beloved Lily's son, Harry, when Harry came to Hogwarts as a student. The scene then weaves in scenes from the earlier movies of a young Harry through the years.

--Then the memories show that Dumbledore knew he was dying and arranged for Snape to appear to murder him so that Voldy would have absolute trust in Snape.

--It is also revealed that Harry must die in order to make it so Voldy can be defeated, as Harry is himself a horcrux (more on horcruxes below). Not only does he have to die, but that he has to do it willingly, allowing Voldy to kill him without defending himself.

Horcruxes:

The basic plot of this movie is of Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, tracking down horcruxes to defeat Voldy. What is a horcrux? When Voldy first came to power years ago, he thought he could make himself immortal by creating horcruxes. A horcrux is an object that you place a piece of your soul into, so that if your physical self is killed, a piece of your soul is still tethered to the earth, thereby making you immortal. Voldy split his soul 6 times and so made 6 horcruxes, thinking there was no way he could ever die because of this. Harry learns of this secret and sets out in Part 1 to track down all the horcruxes and destroy them so that all that remains is the bit of soul still left in Voldy's physical body, which if killed at that point he will certainly die.

Hope that helps a little. Even if you're confused as to the plot, this movie is visually stunning to look at, as well as having an outstanding score. It is the perfect ending to the series. I've been a fan of the books and movies for years and am so, so sad to see it all end.

iris lily

7-18-11, 9:10pm

Gingerella, that's a great summary! I had forgotten all of that. I'm not big on the HP plots, I just like the magic and atmosphere.I had forgotten the resolution of the Snape Good/Bad dilemma, too.

benhyr

7-18-11, 9:48pm

Thanks Gingerella! That's exactly what I need walking into the theater tomorrow!

Gingerella72

7-20-11, 12:22pm

Thanks Gingerella! That's exactly what I need walking into the theater tomorrow!

So.....did you enjoy it?

(I can't resist asking, lol)

benhyr

7-20-11, 1:30pm

We did. We saw it in 3D on the IMAX screen. Once we knew the basic plot line was the need to destroy the horcruxes, the rest was actually pretty easy to follow. More details in the battle at Hogwarts would have been great and I expect the book does provide a lot more in that regard.

I think I've mentioned in another thread that, even though my dad was deployed 2 weeks every month, my fondest childhood memories were of him reading the Hobbit, Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings to me as bedtime stories. Eventually I took over the reading. And, dad chose those books because those were the books that he grew up with. I don't know that I'd be nearly the voracious reader that I am today without the likes of Lord of the Rings. I have a very strong feeling that the Harry Potter series is going to be the same for kids of this generation and their kids. so, if nothing else, I like Harry Potter for that.

Tiam

7-20-11, 4:32pm

I took my daughter to see DH1. I told her that the only thing she really needed to know to follow the movie is that Harry is hunting Horcruxes, objects which house pieces of Voldemort's soul. Kill the Horcruxes and you can kill Voldemort.

Now? For 2, I'd remind her of that, and say that 3 movies back, Draco disarmed Dumbledore on top of the astronomy tower and then Snape stepped in and killed Dumbledore. I'd say that Harry's wand got broken in DH1 but he took Draco's wand in a fight, and now it his wand. That's it. That's all that's really necessary to understand what's going on.

Merski

7-25-11, 3:50pm

Tiam

7-26-11, 1:52am

This last one was pretty violent! Here I was so smug during the previews of movies to come, smirking about how we would not be going to see the fighting robot movie and then one hour later I'm holding onto the arms of my seat watching wizards, etc. brutally killing each other. I'm not a violent movie watcher and can handle a little violence if it has to be included and of course I knew HP the final one would be brutal...

But it maintained it's pg13 rating here. We didn't get to see the direct deaths of many of the characters. There was violence though. I don't think any of it was gratuitous, and went along with the story line. Fighting robots aside, Rowlings ultimate theme throughout is love.

gail_d

8-4-11, 9:15pm

Gingerella72, just wanted to pop in here and thank you for that excellent summary!