I had written this yesterday morning, but haven't had the opportunity to post it until now. Well, even though everyone has seen this movie already anyway, I figured I'd still share my thoughts.
How can you possibly approach the culmination of a ten year odyssey such as this with anything other than admiration? The mere fact that the Harry Potter series has been able to achieve what it has without any major overhauls is something that's unprecedented in Hollywood. And so it is with that respect that the entire series comes to a close.
The decision to split the final book into two movies was an incredibly smart decision now that the final product has been released. What's even more apparent is just how different the two halves of the book are. While the first half was almost introspective in the way it adhered to the frustrating struggles within the forest, the second bolts right out of the gate offering little time for the slow, almost laborious conversations from the first. Given that the Harry Potter is heavy on exposition, the pace of the second film makes it almost jarring when they stop to explain things. The result is a movie that works as two wholes, each half offering a different type of experience while simultaneously seamlessly connecting as one continuous film.
Obviously by now, most people know the story. And if you don't know the story, well, too bad. Director David Yates has no time to catch you up to speed. You are either a part of this world at this point, or you're not. And frankly, I think the film is all the better for it. Picking up immediately where the first film left off with Voldemort acquiring the Elder Wand while Harry and friends recuperate at the home of Bill and Fleur (and a gravestone that was sorely missing from the first half), Harry soon entrusts the goblin Griphook to break into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringott's Bank to retrieve the final horcruxes. (I think I just broke my spell check with that last sentence.) The result of which is a thrilling sequence, especially in 3D, through the underground labyrinth of Gingotts that culminates in a daring dragon escape.
One of the more fascinating things about this movie is the way that it's able to deliver things that truly have never been seen before. To visualize in your head a war that is fought almost exclusively by people waving wands at one another sounds silly at best and stupid at worst. Yet, the verisimilitude that Yates brings to the production makes the constant battling an incredible visual experience that is completely sold by the actors' commitment. And even this is to say nothing of the violent destruction and murder present throughout. Watching Voldemort nonchalantly walk through bloodied and mutilated bodies only enhances the fact that there are real stakes in this battle. Long gone are the innocent days of a life-sized chess board or a basilisk who just reversibly freezes people. No, this time people will die. And characters who you would think would be safe in a "children's" series are disposed of with ease.
The caliber of acting on display is also unprecedented. After recently watching some of the earlier films in the series, it's amazing how far the three main characters have come, although Ron and Hermione don't have all that much to do in this final battle other than serve as support and finally embrace their latent feelings for one another. But one person truly shines in this movie and that's definitely Alan Rickman's Severus Snape. His screen time is definitely small, but what he does with it is phenomenal and is easily the standout character of the film. In fact, he may very well be the best character of the entire series and a lesser actor than Rickman could have completely ruined those scenes given that he was expected to do quite a bit in such a condensed amount of time. Even Maggie Smith as Professor McGonnigal is finally given an opportunity to show some fun and adds a sense of wonder that such fantastic British actors have stuck in there (and survived!) throughout this last decade.
But as the series star, the person on whom the entire story relies on, Daniel Radcliffe rises to the challenge of this final chapter and delivers one of his very best performances in the films. Much more naturalistic than in prior installments, his acceptance of his fate showed true growth not only as a character, but as an actor.
Despite the amazing spectacle and the overwhelming emotion of this last installment, there were some minor issues that I'm still unable to tell are actual issues or just my personal complaints about deviations from the book. The first is some of the deaths are visually strange and end up looking more like the flaking away of a vampire more than what other deaths in the series have appeared to be. Secondly, there were clearly a few moments that were just thrown into the movie as fan service to the books with little emotion attached nor the lead up attached. And yet, one of the things that greatly disappointed me was a distinct change from the book that included a tense verbal exchange between Harry and Voldemort during the final battle that was truncated to almost a brief throwaway line.
I often wonder if we'll ever see such a phenomenon again in my lifetime. The way that the Harry Potter saga was able to come together seems like so many things happening in such perfect ways that it almost seems impossible to ever replicate again. Most of the major and best British actors and actresses were able to make appearances in these films to add a layer of even more impossibility to a recreation.
Certainly there were changes from the books I didn't like. And I definitely wish that John Williams would have returned to score the final film, despite Alexandre Desplat doing an admirable job of bringing back many of the themes that Williams had penned so many years ago. But when all is said and done, this was an incredible finale filled with great characters, an amazing visual spectacle, and reverence for the source material that I am certainly glad I was around to witness.
GRADE: A-
-Sean Diroff
