This is it.
This is the one we’ve waited for. Patiently. Impatiently. In ernest. In pain. With bells on. For Godot. Finally, I feel like a Potter film hit exactly the right tone – before you’ve nestled in with popcorn, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II hits the ground running as if to say, “screw the maudlin crap from Deathly Hallows I, let’s take the fight to Voldemort!” And in just moments we are presented with, arguably, the very best action scene in all eight Harry Potter films, a bank robbery involving a huge dragon. And once the fight has taken, the soldiers aligned, the moves made, only then we return to how much we care about the people in J.K. Rowling’s world. We need to see them at their heroic best, so that we can then weep their gains or losses. And there’s a lot of weeping. Play your cards wrong and it may take up the last 40 minutes of screen-time.
There’s a segment at the start of Act II which spells out every Potter fan’s love of the franchise – Harry enters the Room of Requirement through a portrait passage from Hogsmead, and there to greet him is … everybody. All the minor folks we’ve missed: Neville, Luna, Dean, Cho, Ginny, the whole of Dumbledore’s Army. And it’s awkward; General Potter has returned to lead the platoon, but he can give no standing orders as yet. Immediately following is perhaps my favorite moment in all eight films – every student is called to the Hogwarts great hall where the situation is explained and fugitive Potter is called out – any student with information needs to divulge now or pay the price. In the silence and anonymous conformity of the ranks, one student steps forward: Harry Potter himself.
And this was my moment, the culmination of the strength of a character it has taken seven-and-a half films to fully realize. Harry steps knowingly into the gauntlet with courage, determination, defiance and just a hint of impatience. It’s time to end this now, for good or bad.
And if you haven’t been there for the first seven, neither of those moments would mean a thing to you. This is why I’m happy to give Deathly Hallows, Part II a great review, but remain reluctant to call it a great film.
If you love the books, you may not love Deathly Hallows II. There are many changes; some I loved (the dismissal of the goblins v. wizards subplot was completely unnecessary for the run-time allotted) and some I did not (the final conflict of Harry v. Voldemort needed to be in public in full view of everybody left alive; this matters for many reasons). Still, I felt liked David Yates captured the essence of the conflict if not the actual events. That’s the part that mattered to me.
Rated PG-13, 130 Minutes
D: David Yates
W: Steve Kloves
Genre: Closure
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Are you kidding me?
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Don’t start your Harry Potter viewing with this one. Really.
Disappointed at the lack of frivolity in this review? Try Potternotes or Wizards of the Caribbean.
