web counter
 

Eh, It's No Equus

By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (40)

harrypotterregularclothes.jpg

Another month passed, which means that another Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows trailer has to come out. It’s definitely a step up from previous ones, leveraging a load more darkness and atmosphere. It’s all terribly ominous and might lead to real dramatic tension in the hearts of the three people in the audience who haven’t already read the novel. Spoiler Alert!!!! The bad guy loses at the end. Well not really. The end of the next one. We actually don’t really know what happens at the end of this one.

One problem with advertising the film is that there’s no clear cut off between part one and part two. All the marketing materials say “HP7” or “Harry Potter 7” which just makes me wonder if the last one is going to be numbered 8 out of 7, 7.5, or just “8nal Potter.”

There’s been debate online about where the cut off will be, terrifying debate by people with page numbers memorized, who can say things like “it’ll cut after the part where they run through the forest” and be precisely understood by everyone involved. I like to think I have a decent memory and I did read the book when it came out, but I haven’t retained anything like that sort of level of detail from the novels. They were very good, and there are many scenes that still stick with me, but the hell if I didn’t have to look up on wikipedia just now what happened in the last novel between the Potter clone chase scene at the start and the battle royale at the end.

And that research has led me to the definitive, exclusive to Pajiba scoop on where the cut off point between the two films will be: half way.









Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance

← The 10 Blurb-Whoriest Movie Review Phrases | I'm Sorry I Sent You to that Crackhouse | This Week on "Glee" →









Comments

thats.. good to know, Lloyd.

I think..

Posted by: Magiel at September 23, 2010 10:04 AM

Thank God for the trailer business. There's just not enough work for good choirs these days.

Posted by: PaddyDog at September 23, 2010 10:12 AM

It ends with Voldemort getting the wand.

Posted by: Jay at September 23, 2010 10:14 AM

You're a wand.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at September 23, 2010 10:20 AM

I think there is a perfect place to split the book in half.

Spoilers Below: (really, do I have to even say this?)

When Ron abandons Harry and Hermione. You’ve got some fun during the wedding festivities. You’ve got some anti-government sentiment with Dumbledore’s will v. Scrimgeor. There is a Death Eater chase in the streets. There’s hiding out and finding out the Regulus angle/ horcrux. And then BAM! Ron abandons the mission.

Of course this doesn’t explain the presence of Xenophilius in the trailer as the trio visits him after Ron comes back, but hey. If it was up to me, that’s where I would split the book.

Posted by: Scully at September 23, 2010 10:22 AM

I looooved that shot of Michael Gambon as Gandalf when he falls after having fought the Balrog. It fills me with a-oh. . . oh. Never mind.

Posted by: coveredinbees at September 23, 2010 10:24 AM

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wait! Emma Watson is legal right? Hooray Harry Potter films!

Posted by: admin at September 23, 2010 10:34 AM

I think it will split when they're captured and find Luna. I believe that's more than halfway through the book if you're counting pages. Which, I haven't.

But they can condense down all that endless wandering-through-the-woods stuff to about five minutes.

Posted by: Wednesday at September 23, 2010 10:38 AM

Omg they're still making these?

Posted by: grace b at September 23, 2010 10:39 AM

I've read all the HP books at least 4 times and I swear to Christ I have no recollection of any Harry clones.

Posted by: Danielle Lilly at September 23, 2010 10:45 AM

I read somewhere that they split it after Dobby bites it. I think it was on a reputable movie site, but then again...

Posted by: ZombieNurse at September 23, 2010 10:47 AM

Danielle Lilly it's the start of book 7, when they try to get Harry out of 4 Privet Drive. A bunch of them take Polyjuice so when the Death Eaters show up, they won't know who the real Harry is.

Posted by: Scully at September 23, 2010 10:52 AM

I thought the best spot would be when Harry get's the sword. That is when they finally start to make progress in the book after hundreds of pages of moping in the forrest. So that way you could have it end on a high note leading into the ending but I know they are going with something else.

Posted by: TylerDFC at September 23, 2010 11:25 AM

Whoooooooa SLW, hold your horses. Had you read the book, you'd know your "It's no Equus" quip is off the mark. There is an ENTIRE chapter near the end (takes place in...wizard heaven? wizard limbo? both?) that has a certain Mr. Potter in his birthday suit. Ironically enough, it's during a conversation with Albus Gandalf. Yes, that's right, the old man character that Rowling confessed was gay. Now I'm not trying to stir up any wizard shit, but I think there's some hella subtext that I hope is explored in the film(s).

Posted by: Barnes78 at September 23, 2010 11:56 AM

Nice one. Is it just me or is the minimum amount of Ron in the trailer making it even better? Go that Ginger is such a piece of crap character

Posted by: Alex at September 23, 2010 12:09 PM

I just wonder whether or not the production team can top the high-class drama of Dumbledore drinking water for forty minutes in a darkened cavern.

Posted by: Robert at September 23, 2010 12:34 PM

that they keep plowing these out amazes me. i realize i am a minority, but I don't actually know anyone who has read the books or watched the movies.

I tried the first of each and couldn't get through either.

Posted by: idleprimate at September 23, 2010 12:47 PM

Screw you guys, I'm excited. Love the books and enjoy the films. They're a lot better than most of the shit the studios are releasing these days.

Posted by: EJ at September 23, 2010 12:55 PM

“8nal Potter.”

Does the fact that I laughed out loud make me immature?

Posted by: SlizBomb at September 23, 2010 1:01 PM

i realize i am a minority, but I don't actually know anyone who has read the books or watched the movies.

There is absolutely no way that this is true. Like, literally none, unless you've been living off the grid in a shack in the woods for a decade.

Anyway, the information has been online for months: the film climaxes at Malfoy Manor.

Posted by: Hector at September 23, 2010 1:06 PM

Uh, there's no debate about when it's getting split. WB confirmed that it'll be after Voldy raids Dumby's tomb and gets the Elder wand. That scene in the new trailer where he holds a wand up to the sky and shoots lightning out is very, very likely the last moment in DH1. This has been re-confirmed by screening reports last month.

Posted by: Tanya at September 23, 2010 1:14 PM

No, really, that's where the split is, that's why it's in the trailer.

Posted by: Jay at September 23, 2010 1:17 PM

I haven't read the book in a while so I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but I would think they would leave the 100 pages of camping for the second movie. Seems like a good lull with which to start a movie. Unlike, say, putting it in the middle of a book.

Posted by: katy at September 23, 2010 2:25 PM

I admit I'm a cynical 20 something who hates many, many things. But damned if HP doesn't make me giddy like a 12 year old. I LOVE these books and movies and this trailer makes me tingly in my happy place.

Posted by: Even Stevens at September 23, 2010 2:28 PM

I just hope the 3D doesn't suck the lief out of it and make it all "tricky".
Like "Harry Potter and the Marshy Mallows."

Posted by: Odnon. at September 23, 2010 2:40 PM

Fuck. The life. Not the lief.
Unless there is a Viking character in there that I didn't know about.
And if there is a Viking in there, that would be cool.
And I hope they don't suck him out of the movie.

Posted by: Odnon. at September 23, 2010 2:42 PM

Even Stevens, I would like to join you in the "tingly happy places" camp.

I am way too excited about this and now November is even CLOSER than it was and and . . .

Yup. I just came. Again. This is shaping up to be quite an afternoon.

Posted by: MyySharona at September 23, 2010 2:42 PM

Spoilers,or whatever...

I believe it should end on Christmas eve, after Nagini tries to kill harry and Hermione. We have Harry with no wand, and I think there should be a bit where we see Ron step into the deluminator orb (instead of him telling us, as it is in the books.) we then open the next one with the silver doe and Ron coming back.

However, everything I have seen indicated it will end after the battle at Malfoy manor. So... whatever.

Posted by: theresa at September 23, 2010 4:05 PM

Going to get real dorky here

My guess is the break symbolizes the point where Harry makes the decision he's going to trust Dumbledore which sets the path for the rest of the movie.

The first have they're wandering around and he's really frustrated and confused about who to trust and believe. He finally makes that decision after Malfoy Manner cause his head is finally clear enough to think about it.

Posted by: mzbitca at September 23, 2010 4:29 PM

TylerDFC, that's exactly where I thought it should break. I'm worried that they have put the break too far towards the end, and that part one will be rushed and part two will be all TBoH.

Posted by: Lauren at September 23, 2010 6:00 PM

Ooh, looks like I'm gonna get that "Shacklebolt's-Patronus-at-the-wedding" scene after all!

8nal Potter

That's just wrong.

Posted by: MelBivDevoe at September 23, 2010 8:26 PM

TylerDFC and Lauren, I agree, in theory, except for one thing -- Ron's the one who gets the sword from the pond, not Harry. (I mean, Harry tries to get the sword, but then he starts to drown, so Ron has to both save Harry and pull the sword out.) And he's the one who destroys the Horcrux. I'd worry that if they split the movie there, they'd have to make Harry the hero at the end, which would suck -- the movies have de-awesomed Ron enough.

I agree, though, that the place they've decided to split it (though it makes sense thematically) is going to squish the first part and give the second part some veeeeeery long action scenes.

/nerd off

Posted by: Becca at September 23, 2010 8:38 PM

idleprimate, you go straight to hell.

Posted by: annie711pm at September 23, 2010 10:28 PM

5nal Destination and 8nal Potter? It's going to be a great movie time for the proctologically-inclined.

Posted by: Uriah Creep at September 23, 2010 11:22 PM

Just can't wait...

Posted by: general rhubarb at September 24, 2010 3:47 AM

The only thing about this that pisses me off is that I'll have to wait another goddamned YEAR for the conclusion. Or is it year and a HALF? TWO years? Bastards.

Oh, lord, when it finally comes to an end, though, I'll weep like a child. These books, flawed though they may be (and let's face it, there are flaws in everything in this world, but this has been as close to perfection I've experienced since Narnia), provided me with so much tingly happiness during an otherwise desolate dystopian existence... Let us not forget -- these were the Bush years.

Yes. That happened.

And Ms. Rowling helped. She soothed, she laid balm on the wounds with which that simian douchetard seared my soul.

And now it's over. I moved on to the Twilight series -- pah! Pfooey. To go from Chateaubriand to... fuckin' dog food. What a desolation.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at September 24, 2010 7:45 AM

I think it looks pretty fucking good.

Posted by: logan at September 25, 2010 12:20 PM

Anyone else read "8nal Potter" as 'anal Potter'? No...just me?
Go about your business.

Posted by: PissBoy at September 27, 2010 9:04 AM

the ending in the trailers shows harry and V fighting one on one with no-one around.

the ending of the book was so powerful because everyone was around to watch harry destroy him. harry beat him in every way possible in front of everyone. utter defeat.

now the movie that will come out seems to focus on an individual fight rather than a global recolonization.

pity. it could be so much more.

Posted by: tyler at October 3, 2010 10:17 PM

stupid spellcheck.
global recognition

Posted by: tyler at October 3, 2010 10:19 PM