In the first 6 books Harry Potter struggled with adolescence, becoming a wizard, and dealing with being the child who survived the attack of Lord Voldemort. Slowly his teenage years at Hogwort's School of Magic becomes increasingly dark and more dangerous as the last confrontation comes to it's climax in the eight and final installment of the J.K. Rowling's beloved series. Again directed by David Yates with a screenplay by Steve Kloves centers the last story on the personal angst of Harry who must battle Lord Voldemort and his army of dark wizards.
Picking up from the end of the previous movie, Harry is mourning the loss of house elf Dobby. Lord Voldemort has the powerful Elder wand and is basically in control of the wizards and the government. Harry (Daniel Radcliff) and his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) are still looking for and destroying the Horcruxes, the powerful objects that Voldemort has stored a fragment of his soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. As each one is destroyed Harry feels the same sense of loss of Voldemort feels as there is a connection between the two that must be resolved.
There's a sense of gloom and doom from the opening sequences, and the pallid color palette on the screen. People move in a slow dreamlike state. You can sense the time bomb running in the heads of the three main characters as they steadfastly deal with the seriousness of their lives. Considering that Part 1, although excellent, not much happened as it's mostly a set up for this movie. Part 2 hits the ground running with the impersonation spell at the goblin bank, a thrilling escape on a dragon, sneaking into Hogswort that has been taken over by Snape, and the epic battle of the dark wizards against the teachers and students at the school. Everyone that has ever been in the series gets a little face time, even the dead ones. Alan Rickman is wonderfully nuanced in the revelation of what really happened in the death of Dumbledore. Maggie Smith, who was suffering from breast cancer throughout the shoot, stands strong as Professor McGonagall. Even Julie Walters as Molly Weasley gets some serious wand time in a show down with Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). Neville (Matthew Lewis) enjoys some feel good hero moments, considering in the past he was the constant subject for mocking.
The special effect rival the scope and intensity of Lord of the Rings. The ending battle sequences are exciting and thrilling, but homages to the fallen are over in s blink. The performances of the three main characters have immensely improved over the years. Radcliff shows an maturity as Harry who had to grown up quickly to deal with the sacrifice that he's forced to make. There's a scene where he's shirtless and you wonder what Harry does in his off time to get such a six pack. But it also reminds one that Harry is not the cute little kid with a scar on his forehead. He's a young man with a serious responsibility. It's hard to let go of stories that have defined a generation of young people all over the world. The epilogue ties up the ending so we who has shared in this adventure the past 11 years can leave Harry and friends with a happy heart.
(Review by reesa)
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