The end of an era began at 12:01 am. We had snagged tickets via the internet so we got into the first showing. At our theater, not a lot of costumes, but lots of lightning scars, a few wands, and one cape.
The main difference was the applause when the movie began, and at the big victories including cheering when Molly Weasley took out Bellatrix, and of course at the end. Forgot what it was like to have audience participation.
Alan Rickman was stellar, with the scene of Snape crying over Lily Potter's after Voldemort's fatal attack particularly moving.
Ralph Finnes gives us Voldemort who for the first time begins to show fear and doubt, even while maintaining his absolute contempt for weakness or love or his followers.
Maggie Smith, who I had worried looked to ill to make it to the final movies, has the most fun as she gets to move to prime defender of Hogwarts, unleashing the stone guardians.
As always my favorites among the child (now young adult actors) are the girls, Hermione and Luna, but even Ron, Harry, and Malfoy have turned into real actors by now, with Nelville finally getting his chance to really shine. Perhaps the most moving scene that excelled over my reading of the book it as Harry passes out of the castle to give himself up to Voldemort and he walks passed all the dead Hogwarts defenders and we see the children, particularly Ron's first love, dead on the stretchers and Remus and Tonks laid side by side.
Although I would have preferred the final duel between Harry and Voldemort to be in public as in the book, rather than in the isolated courtyard as the movie, the scene still plays out well, as Nelville's killing of Nagina meshes with the crux moment in the duel, turning the tide finally and fatally against Voldemort.
And the cheesy last scene wasn't so cheesy, except that none of the kids really looked like they were 19 years older, (but isn't that what we tell ourselves too?)
