HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS : PART 2 – The Review

Being the huge Harry Potter fan that I am, I was nervous to see how the final film would play out. Sure, I have read the books, but you never know what parts they are going to use, change, or leave out. That being said, I couldn’t have asked for a better film ending.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is on a mission to find the three remaining Horcruxes (objects storing part of Lord Voldemort’s soul, making him immortal) so that he can defeat the Dark Lord (Ralph Finnes) once and for all. Joined by Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), the three of them continue on with their quest. With each destroyed Horcrux, they only anger Voldemort more. He will stop at nothing to make sure that Harry is dead, which includes killing anyone who dares stand in his way.

I am going to start out by saying (and this is certainly not a complaint against the film) that this film is, by no means, appropriate for small children. This movie is rated PG-13, and is extremely dark. Please do your homework before taking the little ones. I will expand on this in a bit.

I could not be more pleased with the final installment. As someone that has read all of the books, there were a couple of things that I felt could have been done differently, or that could have been included in the film, but I will get to that later.

Instead of focusing all of their attention on special effects and insanely overdone fight scenes, this film puts it’s focus on the emotional side. Were there some wicked-cool special effects? You bet your ass there were! You can’t have a wizard movie without special effects…duh! The effects did not overpower the story though. This is an emotional tale, and those involved with the film made an excellent decision to put that as the main focus. They didn’t just do this with the effects, this was also apparent in the dialog (or lack there of at times). Instead of muddying up an intense scene with some form of over-the-top, useless repartee of banter, they give the audience to take a moment, process what is going on, and experience all of the feelings and emotions that are taking place on the big screen. It’s actually quite intense.

Daniel Radcliffe was spectacular. He has really grown as an actor, and gave a stellar final performance as the infamous Harry Potter. There are so many overwhelming things being thrown at Harry in this film, including the loss of loved ones and the possibility of his own demise, and Radcliffe does an amazing job of delivering the wide range of emotions that his character must be going through. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint gave fantastic performances as well. Their characters, although on screen for the majority of the film, were not in the limelight as much as they have been in the past. Sure, they had their moments (including one that us HP fans have been waiting to see for quite some time!), but the focus in this film was all about Harry.

Alan Rickman. Wow. His final performance as Severus Snape was electrifying! We learned in the previous films (and books) that his hatred for James Potter was his reasoning for despising Harry. For the first time, however, we are given the actual reason. On top of that, we get an intense, breathtaking glimpse into the person Severus Snape really is. In the past, the character of Snape didn’t really require a great deal of range. Mostly, it involved a sliding scale of rage level and annoyance. This time, we get to see who Snape really is as a person, and Rickman owned those moments. The montage that tells us a great deal about Snape’s background is nothing short of majestic. His completion was simply brilliant. I will be gravely disappointed if he is not included in the nominations this coming award season!

Now, I have heard some people complain that the rest of the characters were not developed in this film, or that they didn’t get enough screen time, but that didn’t bother me. They can only fit so much into the movie, and I think that they covered the most important pieces to tell the tale. This is a series, and you should know the ins and outs of these characters by now. I admire the fact that they didn’t waste time on explaining who everyone is, or developing the characters that we have already had the time to become familiar with. We had seven movies prior to this one to learn the ins and outs of the characters, so I appreciate the fact that they saved their time for the more important stuff. Having said that, I do think that they should have given Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) more screen time. He has been such a big part of the story, fighting side by side with Harry through a number of battles, taking over Dumbledore’s Army while Harry was away, and his help with the Horcrux mission. We have really seen the character of Neville grow, from the clumsy, awkward “first year” student to the brave, self-confident young man that he becomes. (Of course, he still stays the same, love-able character at heart!) Lewis has done an incredible job over the years with his portrayal of Longbottom, and he continues to impress until the end.

Like I stated at the beginning, this film has a PG-13 rating. As the film series progressed, so did their MPAA ratings. Not by a great deal, but enough of one (along with the subject matter) for me to feel the need to discuss it. The books were written to grow with their audience, and since the films were based off of the books, they followed suit. This film, along with the last one, include some rather violent, disturbing, and emotionally stressful content. Although they do not cover their violence in blood and gore, there are still some rather disturbing death scenes. Lord Voldemort is conducting a “Wizard Genocide” of sorts. First, he was on a mission to wipe out those with one or more non-magical parents (which are called by a rather unflattering name that is considered a curse in the wizarding world… Mudblood), and now, he will stop at nothing to destroy Harry, killing every wizard that tries to stand in his way. Add the fact that he is also going after Harry’s loved ones to intentionally get to him, and you have a pretty hefty death toll. I am not sure of the final count in the HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS films, but the book that both films stem from has over 30. Kind of makes you think about taking your little humans to go see it, huh?

WARNING: SPOILER

(Even though it’s in the books, online, and everywhere else, I thought that I would be kind and warn you.)

My biggest complaint with the film is how they portrayed Fred Weasley’s death… or should I say, lack of portrayal. I have given this a lot of thought, and my opinion is not based on the fact that I have read the books. I took into consideration how I would feel if I had only seen the films. Conclusion: They might as well have left his death out. Harry turns a corner, and the entire Weasley clan is sobbing around Fred’s dead body. This scene is so quick that you don’t even have time to process it. When I saw it I was in shock. They barely show the Weasley twins in this film, show no fight scene or anything leading up to his death, and just skip to him already dead. We have become attached to these characters, and while I understand that not all of our beloved friends can all have drawn out death scenes, they could have made the movie longer (even if they didn’t show him in the beginning of the film) in order to include his fight scene and give him the death scene that he deserved. They didn’t even show his twin brother George’s reaction really. His dialog was nearly gone, and it was brushed aside. THEY ARE TWINS! THEY WERE A PART OF HARRY’S SECOND FAMILY! The only reasoning, besides time, that I can think of is that they didn’t want to bring the audience down any further before the final fight between Harry and Voldemort. Still, I disagree with their decision.

There were a couple of other questionable moments, such as:

• How did Harry know about Teddy Lupin prior to the death of Remus and Tonks? They never mention that the two had become parents, but Remus mentions his son at the end, without any explanation. This is rather odd.
• If the elder wand is the strongest, most powerful wand ever made, how in the world could Harry have just snapped it in half?
• Where was Peter Pettigrew? He was crawling all over Voldemort as his faithful minion one minute and gone the next. Sure, Dobby stunned him before his death, but they never mention what happened to him. Some might take that stunning spell as his death. It’s just confusing…

I could now take you through all of the changes from the books to the screen, but I I have decided not to because it is the film itself that I am reviewing. This might, however, end up being an article later.

I waited to talk about the final battle till I got to the spoiler section because I do not want to make anyone angry. Having said that, I really enjoyed the way that the last fight between Voldemort and Harry was interpreted. They cut out the dialog between the two and concentrated on the importance of the fight and the emotions of the characters. By not including dialog, they give the viewer time to take everything in and concentrate on what is happening to a greater degree. Sometimes listening can distract a bit from what is actually happening. I also was impressed at the beauty of Voldemort’s death. Was I excited when it happened? Of course I was! I was also moved by the slow motion and elegance of his body turning to ash and floating away in specs. Visually, I think that they made some great decisions and executed it in a fitting way.

For the past decade, we have traveled on an extraordinary journey with Harry, Ron and Hermione. More importantly, we have watched as three young actors stepped into these legendary roles and brought them to life. Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson spent a good chunk of their adolescence on the big screen, for the whole world to see. They have grown as actors before our very eyes, and their work will continue to influence generation after generation with their wizarding adventures.

We all knew it had to end. Harry can’t remain a boy at Hogwarts forever, and let’s face it… we have all be waiting to see the final fight play out on the big screen! Despite my few complaints, I am more than pleased at the ending of this film.

OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5