Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: First impressions (SPOILERS, obviously)

[amanuensis1]

Five hours after the book's release. Done. And I came to it unspoiled--I consider that alone one of life's triumphs.

I've spent those hours in a hotel room with dementordelta and snapetoy and treewishes, all of us reading our copies, knowing we wouldn't spoil each other, and there couldn't have been a better way to do it; it was terrific to have that experience.

What did I think? Be aware that these are first impression thoughts--I haven't slept since yesterday. I loved the first chapter like crazy. I was going nuts trying to figure out who the rotating figure was--every time they introduced one of my favourite Death Eaters and it wasn't them (Lucius, Draco, Snape), I would gasp a little in relief.

I loved the escape from Privet Drive, from the Dursleys to the Order to the seven Harry Potters (you know I want art of Fleur!Harry looking lovingly at Bill!Harry) to the battle to OMIGOD HEDWIG NOOOO. Hedwig's death hurt and yet in a way I loved being hurt that badly. (Not so much for another death, as I'll say later.)

After that…truth is, I thought the book turned into a mess. A goofy mess. I was hearing the Benny Hill theme music run through every one of their escapades. I missed Hogwarts. Badly. Hogwarts gave the books structure that this one just lacked for me, and I'm still rather bewildered at how "Eh" I feel over this book. It was as if Rowling had stopped writing Harry Potter and went off to write a new book in a new series, one that had good stuff but was no longer a Harry Potter book. I didn't feel this was the time to introduce a plot's worth of Dumbledore family backstory; I didn't buy the ministry takeover or the underground resistance, really. Harry Potter is Hogwarts and Hogwarts is Harry Potter, and the final battle at Hogwarts did not seem enough to make up for that.

New shit kept cropping up and it not only needed a bloody chart to figure it out (someone will make one soon, I'm sure), but the damn Deathly Hallows were introduced, what, two thirds of the way through? And then turned out OH HAY NOT TO MATTER MUCH REALLY? Ultimately the Horcruxes were, y'know, it. Though I did love Harry using the Elder Wand to fix his wand; that was a lovely final note, but not enough to call the book "The Deathly Hallows" in my opinion. The short fable about the Deathly Hallows is also likely the part of the book I like best/think is the strongest writing. What does that tell you, huh.

I LOVED that Harry was indeed a horcrux oh THANK YOU JO I CALLED IT FROM THE MOMENT DUMBLEDORE EXPLAINED HORCRUXES IN HBP HOOOYES! And while I did not actually want Harry to die I was giddy over Harry going to his death and then apparently dying because it was so damned RIGHT and so damned gutsy of Rowling to go there, after all. And when she saved him my reaction was, "Aw, darn, that was going to be cool if he died!", except that I don't think her saving him was a cheat (she did set it up, all the way back to that gleam in Dumbledore's eye in GoF) and, ultimately, I am happy that Harry is not dead, that I do not have to think of him being dead. That would really have hit me hard, later. And not much later, either.

I sort of like the abundance of deaths because it's a little numbing as to individual deaths, however, I'm truly, truly unhappy Snape did die, as much as I felt it was inevitable. Still wish she could have bucked that convention. I also disliked how swiftly it occurred. Nevertheless Harry did emerge from that with remarkable love for Snape (Albus Severus! :D ) and that helps. Some. The only reason I'm not more wrought about Snape's death is because so much of the book did leave me cold and feeling it wasn't a Harry Potter book. (I was shouting "Where the F**K is Snape??| internally through so much of the book. Goddammit, I wanted more facetime with him, as I'm sure did a lot of fans.)

Snape's loyalties? Am I smug? My ass. It was completely spelled out in HBP; now that Rowling's finished wet-fish slapping us with that one I am two years too tired to be smug.

I didn't like Harry using Unforgivables. Plain and simple no.

Ginny remains a big blank hole in the space-time continuum for me. I feel nothing for her, and nothing for the Harry/Ginny. I felt less for the Ron/Hermione here than I did in HBP, but that's because I felt they were established well enough in HBP and now they're just established and that's not very interesting to watch anymore. Yet I do not actually hate the Harry/Ginny because I don't think I care enough about this book and its conclusion enough to do any actual hating.

THE MALFOYS ARE ALL ALIVE (AND APPARENTLY WTF FORGIVEN??) OH MY GOD THAT PART COULD NOT GIVE ME MORE JOY. YES YES YES THANK YOU ROWLING FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY SELFISH PERSONAL AGENDA. LUCIUS, MY LUCIUS.

What do I think of the epilogue? I think I can still do a hell of a lot of slashing and ficcing even with its inclusion and not going AU at all. I think the Harry/Draco contingent is likely going nuts with joy; I know the fic I want to write for that. I know the Snarry fic I want to write (that's canon-compliant). I know the Harry/Lucius that also is bubbling in my brain ever so deliciously.

I expect fanfiction of these categories to emerge now: epilogue-compliant, epilogue-discarded, and Book 7 AU in general. I dunno, I'm just having a hard time feeling this book was a part of the Potterverse. Not just spoiled by fanfiction but because of the lack of Potter-like structure for most of the book. Have to see what happens with a second reading, sometime soon.

(Who the hell is Teddy Lupin living with if his parents are dead if he's not living with his godfather Harry, then???)



I intend to propose a fest soon, where every fic must start with the line, All had been well, thought Harry.


ETA: At this point, I'm saying what this book needs is a good screenwriter and a good director. And maybe something tighter and more engaging can be made of it. *waits and hopes*

Comments

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree with your thoughts (although I like Ron/Hermione. But only because I loathed it in the last book, and I found the development a nice change.)

And I was not too keen on the whole Snape-Lily backstory. It had it's moments... And Snape crying seemed odd to me. Probably because I liked Snape/Lily and wanted it done better.

Hedwig's death was honestly the only one really affected me. Mostly because I expected Snape to die, and found his character lacking in the last two books.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Snape-Lily, was, to me, sort of "fine, whatever, if it gets Harry to one-eighty on Snape, I'll take it." I expected him to die but still didn't want it to happen. HBP, for all that I didn't like it, turned me into a Snape fangirl of the first order.

[ook.livejournal.com]

I think that Teddy is probably being raised by his grandmother Andromeda.

I'm still not convinced that Snape is really dead. No Headmaster portrait, no ghost, no body, no funeral. And Snape would certainly have a bezoar or anti-venom on him (not to mention the Draught of Living Death). ;)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Agree with the Andromeda, makes sense!

We can denial!fic Snape until the COWS COME HOME, we can! :D

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

The fact that Swooshy Looshy survived made me give a little cry of over-joyed glee. THE MALFOYS ALL LIVE ON TO KICK ARSE! :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

DID IT NOT ROCK LIKE A ROCKING THING! *dances*

[melpemone.livejournal.com]

I need AUs! Happy AUs! I've been wandering around the apartment lost and sniffling since I finished it. :-(

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

What kind of AUs you want? Pairings, I mean? ^_^

[becky-h.livejournal.com]

I'm really with you. I get the impression that if I hadn't been so bewildered by the book that I didn't feel it was 'real' I would have hated it more. As it is I'm left blinking and staring a bit. Bits I love, but mostly I just can't work myself up enough to care because it failed, completely, to emotionally engage me.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

For a lot of it I was muttering, "Who are these people? Why is everyone OOC? Why should I care about this new backstory? What SERIES am I reading?"

[tagore.livejournal.com]

Well, she went with two deal breakers for me: Snape/Lily (ugh. just...ugh) and dead!Snape (whine). Whatever. I'm sort of apprehensive about the fic, now. Severitus for days, probably.

/delurking

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm actually rather fond of Severitus if it's done well, and have a Snarry Severitus kink too, so, hey, bring it on.

[gossymer.livejournal.com]

After that…truth is, I thought the book turned into a mess.

THANKYOU. DH really seemed to be all over the place.

Harry using Unforgivables had me going WTF.

Ginny was missing where it mattered- which made me happy.

If the Malfoys do not end up in Azkaban - does that make Lucius the richest wizard in London (I'm thinking back to the Times' magazine article for richest fictional men)

I intend to propose a fest soon, where every fic must start with the line, All had been well, thought Harry.

*falls over laughing her ass off*

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

the unforgivables were a big WTF but a bigger WTF was his sorta-turning-to-the-audience with "bella was right, you have to MEAN it! " and McG being like WAY 2 GO!

[slashpine.livejournal.com]

Good comments! And yep, yep. Emotionally not there. Deaths tossed out like gobstones. Ginny - Ginny who? A distant thought.

And not nearly enough Snape!

Unstructured without Hogwarts: agree. How many campsites across how many mouths did the Trio camp in? Hermione and her father must have been freakin' Outward Bound certified! I was getting afraid to keep reading.

But so much time for Snape & others to be gettin' up to good stuff at Hogwarts, heh. I'm seeing a *lot* of fics coming out of that. Neville/Snape, of all things. Neville's clearly learned all the quiet but decisive heroism Harry lacks - who else would he have learned it from, but Snape?

The Epilogue leaves so many holes, someone's going to be sorry she wrote it *eg* All those years before Harry and Ginny finally have kids? H/D fer sure. AS/S? mrmf. AS/Teddy, now... or AS/SS (Resurrection Stone! And Albus Severus, aka A.S.P., will be just the Slytherin snakeling who will go into the Forest and find the Stone, and thus Severus.)

Overall? Not as bad as I'd feared, not as bad as JKR can write, actually. So that's good. The series is over: Let the creative writing begin!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

THE CAMPING TRIPS. Omigod, it just did not work for me at all. At least they could have stayed at Grimmauld Place for the duration and grounded us in canon that we know!

And, yes: she can hurt us no longer with surprises. Fanon is ours now! :D

[delfeus.livejournal.com]

I loved the book, largely because it wasn't the Hogwarts stuff that's been seen many times before. :)

I loved the Snape parts and the fact that there were many deaths. It's not a war if no one dies.

The only good thing about the epilogue is Harry naming his kid after Severus. I hate Harry/Ginny, she's just a fangirl. And like someone said, how believable is it that they're married to the same people they dated as teens? Also, Draco's unnamed wife is going to produce a shitload of Mary Sue fics.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the non-Hogwarts structure worked for you--worked for some people!

I do love that they didn't name Draco's wife. That'll be fascinating to see where that goes. (And you know Harry and Draco are so doing it behind their spouses' backs.)

[floweringjudas.livejournal.com]

Obv Teddy Lupin raised by wolves. XD GAY wolves.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Did we all lose it laughing at "Romulus"? Fanon predicts, baby. ^_^

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I just now finished the book and thank you for summing up a lot of the "omg good/omg bad" conflicts I had while reading it. The epilogue seemed to come straight from badfic itself. o.O BUT! But, so much to work with.

[sor-bet.livejournal.com]

the "omg good/omg bad" conflicts I had while reading it

I'm still having those as I read other people's reviews and think about the book after a single reading. I hope that I'll be happier with the way things turned out after a re-reading; that some of the deaths will make more sense.

And yeah, the epilogue.....I thought that it was terrible until I saw that people are already starting to ship and slash the next generation. AS/S, indeed. :-D

[lolitaray.livejournal.com]

Thank you. The Harry/Ginny really left me cold. Snape's last words to Harry left me with a lot of slashy AU hope, and Snape's whole unrequited love tale had me in pieces. And yes, I missed Hogwarts, also. It's still so much to take in.

Re the Harry/Draco, you think the opposite of me. I feel that Draco was barely mentioned in the book which of course leaves lots of room for interpretation, but I prefer to have been given some detail, with Snape.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I feel that Draco was barely mentioned in the book which of course leaves lots of room for interpretation, but I prefer to have been given some detail, with Snape.

See, Draco being alive and him and Harry being exactly the way they have always been with each other causes me to think that the field is open for us to play. If they'd fallen into each others arms at the end, what fun would that have been for fanfiction? :D

[heliopath.livejournal.com]

It was as if Rowling had stopped writing Harry Potter and went off to write a new book in a new series, one that had good stuff but was no longer a Harry Potter book.

Yes. So many of the pivotal plot-points were not referenced in any previous book, which she has never really done before. Whut! I was expecting some grand tapestry to emerge, tying the seven books together, but it didn't happen. I'm left feeling a tad bit bewildered by it all, though I did love most of the ideas in principle.

Using the Unforgivables was kinda unforgivable. I was reading in fear of an Avada Kedavra from him at the end; she seemed to be leading up to it for a while there.

And I have forgotten most of the camping already, which shows how unmemorable it was (or perhaps how very sieve-like my brain is).

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Re: the camping: You know, when the protagonist is saying, "Damn. Nothing's happening. This is boring," this is not a sign that your reader will SOMEHOW MISS THAT! IT DOES NOT EXCUSE THE BORING!

I am really happy that the Dumbledore-look at the end of GoF turned out to be pivotal. That alone makes up for the lack of seven-book tapestry to a huge degree, for me.

[pushdragon.livejournal.com]

I predict it will be slash convention to simply ignore the epilogue unless it happens to be convenient. It was only written to forcefully seal off the possibility of further sequels, wasn't it?

And not only did all the Malfoys survive ... but we got a new one to play with!!!!!! And one who could have any mother you like, leading to any permutation of character traits, combined with Malfoy looks and hauteur. Oh, we are lucky!

Some excellent thoughts you've expressed, and the only one I really disagree with was that the absence of Hogwarts structure diminished the story. I thought it made the structure less predictable. I didn't miss the same old round of classes and Quidditch practices and Hermione doing everyone's homework. Basically, I was so swept along by the plot, I didn't notice many flaws in it :-)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I cannot help but jump right on the Albus Severus/Scorpius ship. It's Harry/Draco redux in a "Get it right this time, boys!" way.

I'm still not happy with the Camping Trip or the way the book tried to get me to care about Dumbledore's backstory at a time that should have been action-filled and ending-driven. I suspect I might have missed Hogwarts less if that had not dragged so for me.

[anjenue.livejournal.com]

THE MALFOYS ARE ALL ALIVE (AND APPARENTLY WTF FORGIVEN??) OH MY GOD THAT PART COULD NOT GIVE ME MORE JOY. YES YES YES THANK YOU ROWLING FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY SELFISH PERSONAL AGENDA. LUCIUS, MY LUCIUS.

IAWTC. :D:D:D:D:D

I'm still in shock about how much of this seems to have been taken right out of fandom. Horcrux!Harry, Horcrux!Nagini, Snape/Lily, RAB, what Snape was up to.... Maybe that's why it was so erratic?

And you're very right. This H/D shipper is about to die of glee. (Though the Snaco shipper WEEPS at the senselessness of Snape's death.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I am SO sad about Snape. Not MAD, because his death fits with the story (I always expected him to die. Hate it, but expected it), but, oh, Snape. Why could you not have been rewarded for your years of service with some happiness?

I haven't been able to make any "it reads like fanfic" or "JKR's been reading fanfic" accusations because those just aren't fair. I mean, eventually the fans are going to predict SOME parts of the ending!

[askani.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the book yet, I did read quite a bit of from the leaked photos, though.

What I read from that, I felt was a rather good and interesting read - for a fic! Not for the last book.

I'd rather, at this point, re-read ootp or hbp. Or I'd rather just pull up some good fic and re-read that.

From what I gather, Teddy would be 19 since it's 19 years later and he was born during the war. So, one would assume that right now he's living in a flat by himself. Although it probably was Tonk's mom who raised him with 'help' from his godfather, Harry.

I like how Harry said something like, 'he comes over four nights a week, might as well get him to move in.' pretty funny.

I'm kind of sad that the cannon is over, even though I like fanon more. I'm kind of worried how this will effect the newsletters in time to come. I like doing the snitch. :)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Teddy would be 19 since it's 19 years later and he was born during the war. So, one would assume that right now he's living in a flat by himself.

This is such a good point I feel foolish for not having realized! Gah, of course. He's out of Hogwarts and presumably has a job and a flat. (And as these things go with Rowling, he's gonna have a wife soon if he's already nineteen, heh.)

(And remember--we have two films to come, plus we have a CLOSED CANON to play with that no one can joss! :D )

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

Hey, we managed with Sirius, so we can sure manage with Snape as well. I think I'm one of the few people who liked Snape's death in DH (for as far as you can like any death of a favorite character). Snape's death convinced Voldie he was now the master of the Elder wand and thus now willing to take on Harry directly, and give Harry a chance to defeat him. So, in a way, it was Snape's death, that directly helped defeat Voldie and end the war. And that works for me.

And come one, with Harry having all three hallows (one needs only a summoning charm for that ring), I'm sure he'll fingure out a way to bring Snape back for good in about a thousand fanfics to come. ;-)

[orpheus-samhain.livejournal.com]

I liked the way JKR plotted Snape's death, too. I still weep after him but if she had to kill him, it was one of the better ways, probably, for many reasons. (the one you mentioned, Snape wasn't disclosed so he was a spy extraordinaire, Voldy doesn't have favourite or nondisposable servants, not everything worked as DD planned, also I really like 'absurd' deaths, because, really, how many reasons one needs to die? stray bullet and all that esp, during war, esp. around a person who absolutely doesn't mind killing)

*back into the corner to cry*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Teddy would be 19 by this point, so probably moved out and being all independant and grown-up, while snogging his step-cousin ;)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

God, yes, I forgot that he'd be older and independent. And out of Hogwarts. I'd still like to see fic where Harry raised him while being nagged by Andromeda that he was doing a crap job at it. ^_^

[penknife.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming Teddy's still living with Andromeda.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Which doesn't augur well for him. Think of it this way:

Andromeda lost her husband to the War, then loses her only child when said child completely forgets that she has a newborn baby dies in battle, along with the son-in-law she didn't really much like in the first place. The odds that Teddy grew up somewhat, uh, damaged by this are very good, and the sappy ending is whistling in the dark IMHO.

In fact, one of the things I really hated about that damn epilogue is that it shows how psychologically unsophisticated Rowling is. These people wouldn't be normal! They were thrust into a war as teenagers! Their friends died, they were injured, Harry died and came back - how could they possibly be the normal, well-adjusted adults we see here?

I'd love to see a post-war fic that shows what they'd *really* be like:

- Harry drinks to keep the nightmares at bay, and hasn't had sex with Ginny in years.

- Ginny is a compulsive shopper and overprotective mother who drives her children crazy and reads the Bible obsessively.

- Hermione and Ron are on the verge of divorce because she finally realized how empty life with a quidditch prat with whom she has virtually nothing in common has become. Also, she wants a job and he doesn't, and they fight constantly.

- Draco and his unnamed wife (Pansy?) aren't doing badly, except for Narcissa and Lucius's constant demand for money to support their lifestyle. That's why he goes to leather clubs fairly regular for a good beating to keep him sane.

- Teddy is a nascent serial killer who is about one week away from gutting Andromeda because she has never, ever, ever been able to forgive him for living while her daughter died, and for being the son of the werewolf who was the reason Tonks is dead in the first place.

THAT would be a lot more realistic than what we got. And no, I am not going to write it because I work in a mental health clinic and I see enough of that every day of my life.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I was pissed off over the Lupin/Tonks business. Bad characterization, bad timing, bad biology unless she got pregannt accidentally-on-purpose to keep him from bolting, and they didn't even get a funeral while Harry digs a grave for Dobby with his own hands?

YUCK.

Also, agreed that the plot was a mess. I have to admit that I'd read/been spoiled for much of it, and when I tried to explain to a casual reader last night, she *laughed*. I feel like getting an icon that says "we waited all this time for THIS????"

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

My icon says what I had to say about Dobby's funeral. ^_^ And how on earth did you manage to explain it to a casual reader? I'm just starting the audiobook in the hope I can put some of the elements together on the second go-round.

Largely Agree...

[monkshood-hp.livejournal.com]

There just isn't enough Snape in this one. I know what JKR's trying to do with DD's backstory thematically but the book could be structured better. If I were JKR, this is how I will do it:

1. POV switch between Harry and Snape every 4-6 chapters or so. By doing that, we get the Hogwarts' action and the trio, which let's face it, were just going nowhere until Snape gave them the sword...

2. Don't lump Snape's backstory into one giant 'This is your life, Severus Snape'! flashback. Petunia could have overheard Harry talking about Snape and mentioned quickly that she knew him. Harry could have gotten Hagrid's memory and find out what they were arguing about... The backstory should have be pieced together by Harry -- not offer in one big lump.

3. I want more Doe! I want the Doe to be something Harry obsessed over. I would have Harry talking to Lupin about the doe and Lupin saying that it was Lily's Patronus.

4. Okay. The Ass ship is hilarious but I want a more solemn reflection from Harry when he came out of the Pensieve. Granted, knowing you've been set up to die is a big shock but can't you at least have one or two thoughts about Snape as wel... Snape wasn't Dumbledore's -- he was Lily's

Has anyone figure out what Snape died for yet? I just couldn't understand why JKR would do that -- I mean, getting killed for powers you don't actually have? WTF? She should at least having him offing Nagini before getting a gash...

Re: Largely Agree...

[sayan.livejournal.com]

Didn't she say somewhere that Snape was fashioned after her old Chemistry teacher whom she hated? There...

Sorry if I am being mean about the lady, but that death was so avoidable.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

But what did you think of the Death Eaters at Hogwarts teaching the kids to Crucio each other?!???!
It felt as close to And Just Plain Wrong as it could be, and still generate a PG13/15 film...

[incapricious.livejournal.com]

Yessss, I totally thought of that when I got to that part!

[asyndeta.livejournal.com]

I loved almost all of it, unreservedly, but seriously - fuck the epilogue. It just felt like a farewell kick in the balls to fanfic writers everywhere. Do we not have imaginations? Do we need everything tying up that neatly? I like Harry/Ginny (which makes me the only one, apparently), and them and R/Hr being married was fine, but was it necessary for them to have so many kids? Hermione especially strikes me as the type who would stop at one and then go on the Pill, ignoring all protestations.

At least it more or less left my OTP alone. Ahh, Neville/Luna, where would I be without you.

I laughed out loud at the mental image of La Famille Malfoy just kind of sitting in a corner and wondering if they should really be there, post-Voldemordeath.

Finally, because I need to re-read some bits and marshall my ranting for my own LJ....place me firmly on the Snape Denial ship. Of course I know that JKR considers him Really Actually Dead, but bollocks to that. No portrait + no body + 'come the hell on, Snape is too paranoid not to have prepared for this possibility' gives you quite a bit to work on.

oh god, doing PotterPuffs for this one will be impossible. It is very much THIS ARE SERIOUS BOOK whereas HBP had quite a few lighthearted bits.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

ARE YOU KIDDING? One sentence--Lucius and Bella fighting each other to get to the door first when Voldemort goes hissy-fit! Another sentence--Umbridge preening over her locket like she's related to the owner! Another--Harry Polyjuiced as someone Arthur Weasley hates! Another--Hermione putting on Bellatrix airs when she's polyjuiced as her! Another--Ron getting Harry out of the icy pond wondering if he's mental! Another-the treasure-reproducing protection spell! I was nearly laughing my head off at all the hijinks of this book! The book was loopy!

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Lucius may be alive but he was a huge, HUGE wimp! My favorite characterization of him was totally jossed! I loved most of this book to itty bitty pieces, but the Snape/Lily stuff, the Harcrux stuff, and Lucius as Super Wimp were the pits. :-(

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Also, Draco is alive.

Although balding. So there is *some* justice.

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I'm sorry you didn't like it, that's such a disappointment. But there is much slashing and much fic writing left to do, so we'll continue to have our own fun.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying I didn't like it--I definitely didn't like the flat romance, and there's no way you can make me care about Dumbledore's sister this late in the game, and the way the Camping Trip was used to flesh out the book to become a year long was dreadful to me. And I seriously thought a lot of the escapades were Keystone Cops-goofy. Not all, but a lot of the Trio escapades. But essentially the final plot elements do work and I do believe the film of this can kick serious ass!