The few times I’ve seen a Harry Potter film in theaters I was dragged there by girls who where huge fans. But as the months building up to this day was getting closer I found myself getting excited. Perhaps it is because now I am considered a Harry Potter. After years of Lisa bugging me I finally got around to reading the book series, and then I could no longer tease her because I actually enjoyed the novels. The final book is over 750 pages, so when I heard it was going to broken into two films I figured it was for the best. However I also knew the first film was going to hardly entertaining for normal theater goers.
In the last film, The Half Blood Prince, we saw the death of Harry’s mentor and Hogwarts school headmaster, Dumbledore. But Dumbledore gave Harry a final mission before his demise. Harry must find the horcruxes that the evil Voldermort had broken pieces of his soul into, and destroy them. It is the only way to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once and for all.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron are about to embark on their quest to find and destroy the horcruxes. But before hand they must take care of their families, get Harry to a safe place, and then attend a wedding. Once on the run they encounter Death Eaters at every turn. They also have no idea where the horcruxes are, or how to destroy them. This frustration begins to boil over on the three’s friendship. Little does Harry know that Voldermort is also on his own quest. He’s looking for three magical items that will make him invincible. Let me just say that this film ends on a worse note than The Empire Strikes Back.
I tried judge this film as a sequel to another film, and not as a film based on a book. Sure they left out quite a few little things, but the overall story prevailed. However, this film is not the action packed battle people have been waiting for. Instead it’s the character driven set-up for part 2 coming out in July.
There is a lot of short action sequence, but nothing that really considered a battle. The film is mainly a lot of explaining and talking, one of which is the story of the Deathly Hallows. The short animated presentation was nice, but I did found it odd that Death looked like General Grevious from Star Wars. Another freakish and odd moment included Ron trying to destroy a horcrux and a very scandalous image of Harry and Hermione in their birthday suits.
In his third Harry Potter film, director David Yates has a perfect grasp on this world, but this film really shows how far the three young actors craft has come in their decade of playing these characters. Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint’s have come a long way since the little kids in The Sorcerer’s Stone, and this film shows they have talents beyond J.K Rowling’s characters. If you’ve followed these films from the beginning or grown up with Harry Potter I think you’ll enjoy this film. Just don’t go to a late show, or with anyone who doesn’t enjoy a great story with little action.
Rating: B
I have to ask, did you see the movie as a "new Potter fan" or, well because Lisa made you? Ha, ha. I always look back and say, "the book was so much better". It's so hard to imagine what I would have thought had I not read the book. There are so many little details that are left out.
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