Warner Brothers makes a smart decision to divide the last book into two movies. Some might see this is as simply a way to make more money (which it will) but actually it is the only way to adapt the conclusion to Harry Potter's saga. Too much of the book is important and any drastic cuts would lessen the impact of the climax. It also helps fix one of the book's major flaws and that is a long drawn out middle where Harry and friends go on an endless camping trip. As stated in previous blogs, David Yate returns as the director and with more time to play with he pumps up the action and delivers a thrilling setup to what I hope is one of the best fantasy film conclusions of all time. Grade: A-.
Spoilers: There are a lot of exciting moments in this movie, from Harry, Ron and Hermione's invasion of the Ministry of Magic (established in the fifth film), Nagini's ambush, and their escape from Bellatrix Lestrange's house. Finally we get to see our heroes use magic instead of learn it and it's real fun, especially when Hermione swells Harry's face as a disguise. I thought Yates handles their camping trip just right with majestic scenery and tense mystery. No film is perfect though. I wish the scene where Hermione and Harry dance wasn't so forced and stiff, I hated the rushed explanation from Ron where he tells us how he found them after being separated for so long (why not show us in a flash back?) and how the Durley's are forever tossed away as insignificant even though I feel they deserve some kind of redemption at the beginning. Dobby's death is expertly handled even though the impact isn't as powerful because of how his character is handled in past films. Since Dobby's only featured in a film three films back, being denied much screen time since then, we're expected to remember how much Harry loved him (of course, all I remember is how annoyed Harry was whenever Dobby was around). I also have a love/hate reaction to the animation sequence where the audience hears the story of the Deathly Hallows. It's nice animation but it feels out of place being the only animation sequence in all the films. I'd rather have the animation be some kind of magical spell Harry and friends could experience in much the same way Harry views memories in the Pensieve. Still the film accomplishes getting one excited for the next film, which I'm seeing in a few days. The last scene where Voldermort grabs the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's corpse is the powerful scene to end with without stating the obvious, to be continued.
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