The saga draws to a close, though it may mean more to those who have devoured the novels.
What They Say:
The end begins as Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort’s final horcruxes, but when Voldemort finds out about their mission, the biggest battle begins and life as they know it will never be the same again.
The Review:
Unsurprisingly, with this being a part two movie, it doesn’t exactly kick off on its own merits. In fact, like a lot of movies of this nature, going into the start of it can be rather underwhelming as it follows the dramatic events of the first part. With the deaths that we’ve had, the changes to the nature of Hogswart and the way our main trio are on the run as they try to destroy the magical devices that are the basis of Voldemort’s power, there’s a lot that has come before. And with the way this particular two part film is working, it’s referencing a lot of things that were setup in the first six books as well. While I haven’t read the books, I have watched all the movies to this point over the years, but I’m in that odd space where I’ve enjoyed them for the most part, but never felt particularly connected to them and remembering who some of the vast supporting cast of characters are makes it difficult to really get into it more.
Thankfully, Part Two does get underway after a slow start of dialogue that is useful even if it is plainly telegraphing everything. The heist to get one of the devices is a deal with a devil but it’s one that Harry and the others need to do as they track down the final pieces. That in itself is the main thrust of the film for a good part of it as they deal with finding them, their connection to Voldemort and destroying them. And while they do this, they have to try and fix other things along the way while avoiding Voldemort as well, at least until they have to confront him because it’s the only way to really defeat him. In the end, the structure of this half of the story is very simple and we do get moved from location to location as they hit some of the stresses and pressures of what they’re doing and move on to the next, all while hitting up more of the supporting cast.
What this film brings to the table is bringing it up several notches to something appropriately epic. And it does achieve this pretty often, both in the visuals of it all as Hogwarts falls apart under the attacks, and as Harry realizes the scope of the connection he has to Voldemort. The actors have all grown up under the eye of the camera and seeing that evolution here, which is shown with some brief flashback material that ties well into the story at hand, and because we’ve pretty much spent the last ten years with these characters and actors, it’s easy to get into the swelling of it, especially with the slight tweaks to the musical themes to deal with the state of events.
Over the course of the films, I had a hard time getting into the ones with the cast in their younger years. It had some whimsy to it and a cute approach to the magic with a slightly dark edge there that was seen, but it never held any magic for me. When it got to the last couple of films as they got older such as with the Order of the Phoenix, it came to the point where I could connect and sympathize with the characters more. The film that really surprised me was the first part of this storyline though as it spent a lot of time really focusing in on the main characters, the problems at hand and keeping a lot of magic out of it as they went to trying to understand the mystery. Combined with the more real world cinematography as they leapt from place to place, it became the first movie that really drew me in.
With this feature, it manages to take what it built up there and capitalizes on it with what the majority of fans want with the wide ranging cast getting involved, the action and magic running rampant when it hits its stride and still mixing in some of its quirky elements. It left me with a lot to like, though with a lot of things that I’d like to see explored all on its own. The relationship side of the franchise has always been weak, but it’s been filled with a lot of potential. I’ve always liked that it avoided the obvious pairing of Harry and Hermione, and seeing her and Ron make a bit more of things. The one that won me over the most though was seeing the initial burst of interest in Harry from Ginny and watching that blossom over the course of the last couple of films, though a part of me was curious how he and Luna would work together. It’s these smaller moments that made me smile the most throughout, even if it avoids dealing with how characters this age might really act in these situations. Everyone’s so serious and driven, but they do manage a couple bits of dry humor that works very well.
In Summary:
As the concluding chapter of the franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 sends everything off just right. While it’s an awkward start, more so for the casual fan than the die hard fan, it picks up its pace pretty well after that and it keeps up the energy well from there with the right kinds of lulls to let it all sink in. The cast here pulls it off well and I continue to find Voldemort to be one of the more interesting villains in his visual design because of the simplicity of it and the fact that he spent so much of the series off screen. As the second half of the story, it is mostly the action and intensity that you’d expect and David Yates pulls it off very well, both in its visual design and pacing. With these two final chapters being the only ones I’ve seen theatrically, they’ve definitely been polar opposites in many ways, but they combine together very well and it has me enthused to marathon them both at the same time later in the year. While the die-hard fans will hem and haw about things that were excised for various reasons, I think they managed to do a good job in making something accessible and definitely enjoyable as well as making sure that it’s properly cinematic. Devices that work in books sometimes have to be changed, and I’m never a huge fan of changes like that, but the end result here is definitely worth it. There’s definitely a good amount of payoff here for those that have gone through the entire franchise and some cute moments in the epilogue to show how life goes on afterward.
Grade: B+
