On the couch

When it came to picking a director for the final stages of the Harry Potter film saga – specifically Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows – you have to assume the people in Warner Bros had two choices – go nuts or go safe.
‘Nuts’ would have meant getting someone like Alfonso Cuarón, director of Prisoner of Azkaban – the best and most visually stylish of the series – and let he and his team do what they wanted with the massive, incident-packed tome that is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
‘Safe’ is what they chose and in director David Yates, the man behind Potters five, six, seven and eight, safe is exactly what they got. Ardent fans can rest assure that their plumage will be as smooth and unruffled as the final credits roll as nothing, nothing, has been left out.
Such is the rigid adherence to the book that for the more casual observer, the ones who haven’t read the books and don’t really want to but find the films pleasingly distracting, Deathly Hallows Part 2 (DHP2) feels more like somebody filming a checklist being systematically ticked off.
Picking up right after the tragedy that concluded Part 1, DHP2 sees Harry, Ron and Hermione quit the wandering and interminable navel-gazing that made up much of the last film and pull on their action trousers and arse-kicking boots.
With Dumbledore dead and Voldemort in possession of the most powerful wand in the world, the trio head to Hogwarts to find the final horcrux and make a Hail Mary play in the hope of ridding the world of the nose-less nuisance for good.
Almost from the off there’s action, grimacing and magical explosions all round. For all the talk of box-ticking, it cannot be said that there’s ever a dull moment in Harry’s traipse towards an inevitable showdown with He Who Must Not Be Named.
Harry rallies the troops of his former alma mater and the last half of the flick is a thoroughly enjoyable battle royale between pupils and teachers of Hogwarts (as well as some well-meaning grown-ups and parents) and the unkempt forces of Lord Voldemort.
The path of righteousness does not run smooth, however, and, while the powers of good inevitably triumph (if you consider this a spoiler consider yourself sent to the back of the class to stare at the corner), it isn’t without some bitter sacrifice and a surprisingly high body count on the side of the goodies.
While the rush to fit everything in means that some moments don’t get the attention they deserve – the comeuppance of Bellatrix Lestrange being a prime example – there are too many enjoyable bits in DHP2 to think of the film as anything other than an overall success.
Is it a little too safe sometimes? Yes. Are the acting chops of Radcliffe, Grint and Watson still ever so slightly in doubt? Probably. But it’s still a well-made, solid finale to a cinematic juggernaut that will be watched and rewatched for countless Christmasses to come.
From one box office behemoth to another. The Hangover, Todd Philips crowd-pleasing vulgarathon about a group of friends who lose the groom on a bachelor party bender the night before the wedding was always going to be a tough act to follow.
Starring a trio of actors who, at the time, were far from internationally recognised names, it came from nowhere to become one of the most financially successful comedies ever.
So no pressure for the sequel then.
Well clearly not because what The Hangover Part 2 offers up is more of the same. The same story – drunken night out, drugs involved, somebody gets misplaced; the same jokes – Bradley Cooper is party animal dad, Ed Helms is bland on the surface but crazy underneath and Zach Galifianakis is socially awkward and inappropriate; even the same cameos – Ken Jeong as the gangster Leslie Chow stealing the show as the only truly funny thing in the whole movie.
To fill in the gaps, this time around the wedding in question is nice guy dentist Stu’s (Ed Helms) and is being held in Thailand and the missing person is Stu’s 16-year-old brother-in-law-to-be.
As recycled comedy goes The Hangover Part 2 is a perfectly acceptable 90 minutes of film but if you’ve seen and enjoyed the first one, there’s really nothing here to make you slap your thigh, or any other part of your anatomy, with laughter.