Recently, an article was published in a Newsweek titled "Deathly Hollows? Try Deadly Boring." I probably wouldn't have even glanced at the page if there wasn't a picture of Rupert Grint, a red-headed actor who has played the role of Ron in all 7 of the Harry Potter movies (I have a thing for red-heads.) Anyways, the article, written by Ramin Setoodeh, is entirely centered on bashing the film editions of the fictional phenomenon that is Harry Potter. Setoodeh states that "the film itself looks like it was shot under a storm cloud." He later goes on to complain that the leads of Ron, Hermione, and Harry hardly ever crack a smile. Well, in case that he has never read the books, even though he claims he has, the story isn't exactly a heart-warming read. It tells of the struggles a trio of young wizards must undergo in effort to restore order to a corrupted world- a task that takes wisdom far beyond what they have accumulated. The odds are in every way against them. It is meant to be a dismal setting. The purpose of this is to provoke a sense of helplessness that when built to a climax, will produce a more gratifying ending. Any smart author will do anything to break away from traditional story lines as much as possible- and yes, I consider J.K. Rowling a fictional literature genius- so the fact that she makes the plot as dark and twisted as possible makes it more interesting to read.
Setoodeh notes that "you have no idea what you're watching unless you've read the books, and even then you need the Cliffs Notes." Okay- first of all, may I point out that you are a story critic and you are making "actually reading the book" seem like a giant obstacle hindering your path. Just read the damn book. Also, I would like to point out that I have no idea what Cliffs Notes are, so I assume this is an attempt at humor. Attempt failed- I cannot relate to the reference. He then states that "Potter onscreen just gives you a headache." Never once have I suffered a headache during watching Harry Potter, thus, this statement is inaccurate. In that exact same paragraph, he also makes it a point that James Bond's 22 chapters have lost the world's most successful film franchise title to Harry Potter. I'm sorry, were you trying to diss Harry Potter or reiterate how awesome it is? I can understand how he got caught up in it all, though. It happens to everyone.
In the next paragraph, he tries to bash each of the directors individually. He begins with Chris Columbus- director of the first two films- claiming that movies 1 and 2 were a “narrative mess.” Funny how the movies wouldn’t be as popular as they are today if the two movies that began the whole thing weren’t such a “narrative mess.” He also mentions the latest director- David Yates. He claims that he suffers from “Peter Jackson disease.” He complains that the cameras rock and quiver too often. From what I saw, the cameras only move in a distracting way if the scene is a battle scene or a chase scene. This type of camera motion actually adds to the frantic emotion of the scene, in my opinion, making the purpose of the scene to the plot more meaningful. The next paragraph really gets me steamed. Setoodeh makes the gigantic mistake of comparing the scenes (well, the woodsy setting of most of the scenes) to the Twilight books and movies. I am a twilight fan, but Harry Potter and Twilight are definitely on different levels of awesomeness. Different realms of awesomeness. Different universes of awesomeness. Harry Potter wins everyday, hands down. Setoodeh’s point is that he likes the Twilight movies better for their “giddy, guilty pleasure” qualities. He claims that the love triangle that presents itself between Ron, Hermione and Harry isn’t satisfying enough for his taste and that he would rather see “shirtless werewolves.” He claims that Harry Potter is “too comatose to pull off sexy.” Is that what friendship has come to these days? Is that what the modern day society thinks should happen between 3 good-looking teens out in the wilderness? I personally prefer the darker, more ominous plot points that actually pertain to the story in any moderate way. The love triangle is emphasized just enough- to make viewers predict future occurrences and to feel emotional connections with the story.
In my opinion, I want Harry Potter to last forever. The directors have done a wonderful job bring to life the world I loved reading about. And critics like Mr. Ramin Setoodeh can try to produce a better film, and then they can go and bash the artistical genius of other directors.
