Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Review

Part 1 of the last chapter in the series, continues right where Half-Blood Princeleft off. The wizarding world is facing its darkest times, Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes) and his followers have slowly taken over every day life. Their power gains every day, everyone who is against them is in mortal danger, especially one Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe). His closest friends and allies are with him, however Harry feels he is putting too many people in danger. Despite everything going on, the Weasley’s hold a wedding feast; it is here where a huge attack happens. During the attack, Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) escape on their own and go into hiding. With the elements that Dumbledore has left them, they embark on a journey to find and destroy the remaining Horcrux’s, which contain parts of Lord Voldermort’s soul, in order to defeat him.

I had the highest of expectations and excitement going into this film; I have been a fan of the series since I was dragged on opening day by my father to see the first film. Last thing I expected was to completely love that film, and go forward to read all of the novels. While both the films and books have their ups and downs, I have enjoyed them all, in different ways. I felt a little under-whelmed by Half-Blood Princethe film, but I knew that was the set up to the huge finale. And it worked, as this film delivered on all points. This film grabs you in from the first frame with Rufus Scrimgeour the Minister of Magic (Bill Nighy) giving a speech, which informs us the audience, exactly what is going on. Soon enough we see what Voldermort and his followers (including the likes of the Malfoy’s and Severus Snape) are up to and what they have planned. This then leads us to see where Harry is, and what lies ahead for him.

The film progresses perfectly from there, with an action packed scene where they try to escape from those who are after them, including Voldermort. As I mentioned earlier, despite everything going on a wedding goes ahead. However Harry has his own ideas, and he thrives to find out more, especially with what Dumbledore had planned for him. It is from here our main trio go on an adventure, with danger at every corner and their friendship going through it’s toughest patch. Despite having read the book (I downed that in 12 hours), the events that unfolded were still surprising. This is the first film where Hogwarts isn’t our main setting, we’ve gone away from what we’re used to. And you know what? It works!

What makes this film work so well is it has taken the best elements of the book and brought them to life. At its core is the friendship between the main trio, and the dangers that surround them all. Since the first film, Radcliffe, Grint and Watson have come along way. They have all matured before our eyes in each and every film, and I do believe this film contains their best performances. By now they know their characters and each other inside and out, there is a natural flow between them all. I felt their reactions to their situations were quite natural, and when they needed to show their maturity, they did. The supporting characters are always great, as are the actors behind them. Everyone does their thing, and they are all great. The film belongs to the trio though, I really can’t say enough about how great they are.

The film has fantastic CG, great actions scenes, and it is so much darker than the other films. It has been a long time since these films were aimed at children, and you’d be mad to take anyone under the age of 12 to this. It is violent, scary and it has some fantastic jump scares that actually really work. The film definitely keeps the audience’s attention all the way through. Pacing is pretty good for the most part; each scene has its purpose even if it doesn’t seem so right away. David Yates does such a great job in the director’s chair, the material and his cast really fit together. It certainly ends off with a cliffhanger, as we do have another film to go. This really leads that second half up to be something of epic proportions. As it stands now, this is one of the best films in the series. It does everything so right, whether you are a fan of just the films or both the films and the books you will be impressed. I can’t wait for Part 2, despite the fact it brings the end of the series in film form.

Rating:

Marcella Papandrea

Film nerd extraordinaire from the land down under.

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