Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2


It's over. It's finally over. The last of the Harry Potter movies is now in cinemas and the franchise has finished.


For those who aren't in the know, a boy wizard has to show down the big bad that killed his parents. It's been an epic story of magic, mystery, mischief and an infusion of romance as the story moved forwards.


The story picks up immediately where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 left off. Voldemort has retrieved the elder wand and is now ready to take over the magical world. Muggles and half-bloods are doomed to misery as his pure blood supremacy takes full force.


The movie is, amazingly, quite true to the book. There are a few bits and pieces which have been dropped or altered to make it a bit more spectacular for cinema goers. Not enough changes, though, for too many grumblings. There's the fact that Harry didn't repair his wand at the end and they did change what Harry did with the elder wand.


Emma Watson is stunning in her role as Hermione, which no doubt fits like a second skin now. The producers must be counting their good fortune when they first cast her in the role all those years ago. Watson has grown into a talented actress with stunning looks.


Daniel Radcliffe has shown he has a career ahead of him. He could possibly turn out to be much like Elijah Wood. A few good movies and then disappears into nothing before coming back with a vengeance. The difference is Radcliffe has done seven well known movies. Note the use of term well known and not good. Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2, however, are certainly the jewels in the crown.


Rupert Grint. He's meant to be one third of the Golden Trio yet his performance didn't dazzle or amaze. He did his role competently but didn't set the screen on fire with his enthusiasm or stage presence like Watson and Radcliffe.


Alan Rickman, however, was a sight to behold. Finally showing the true depth behind Severus Snape, Rickman portrayed his character with an easy grace of the well seasoned professional that he is. Only as the final scene featuring Snape appears, do you truly realise just how amazing the character really was.


For the people who are waiting for that one line between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix LeStrange, it's there. Many were worried that it would end up on the cutting room floor but it didn't. Hearing Julie Walters calling Helena Bonham Carter a bitch... priceless.


The special effects are what you would expect for such an epic fantasy movie. The dazzling lights of the spells and the CGI of the stone gargoyles coming to life and just amazing and absolutely captivating.


All in all, the team did very well for this final piece of cinematic, and literary, history. Should anyone every decide that the will re-boot the series as Hollywood has taken to do doing at the moment, they won't come out of it unscathed. The series is ended, now let it rest. The movie is certainly well worth a look - go and see it now.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 is in cinemas now!

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1


We all knew that this was going to be the biggest Harry Potter movie of them all. It promised to be the summer blockbuster movie that rocked our world. It promised to be, the beginning of the end. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is now in the cinemas and living up to the hype all around the world.


Reprising their roles, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are back as the Golden Trio and setting out to destroy Voldemort's horcruxes so they can finally defeat him. Along the way, we can expect run ins with the fearsome Death Eaters, Ministry of Magic run militia, a few slightly odd characters and of course, Voldemort himself.


There were a curious few who wanted to know how the movie was going to show the tale of the deathly hallows or if it was just going to be Hermione reading the story from her book. While she does narrate the tale to her friends, there is an animation on screen telling the story of the three hallows and starting a quest to locate all three - the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility.


As with any of the Harry Potter movies out there, certain elements have been glossed over very quickly and others have been altered because... well, mostly because the movie studio could. Vernon Dursley, played for not even five minutes by Richard Griffiths, no longer puts up a fight before leaving his house. The Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour (Bill Nighy) sees Harry before the wedding and Harry attends Bill and Fleur's wedding without disguise.


Needless to say, these are only minor details but they are changes for the sake of changes and given the role J. K. Rowling has with the movies, one can't help but wonder if they threatened to half her payment unless she approved the changes without a fight.


In saying that, we finally have a Harry Potter movie which is mostly true to the book. Walking out of the cinema, there were excited whispers that it wasn't a complete disaster like there was a general expectation. This is exceptional news for David Yates who butchered the two previous movies in the series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Maybe now Yates can walk down the street and not be looked upon as the man who ruined the Harry Potter series.


All in all this is a great release with Ralph Fiennes as the evil Lord Voldemort, Alan Rickman is as unflappable as ever in his role as Severus Snape (well for the few brief moments he's in the film anyways) and Helena Bonham Carter as delightfully twisted Bellatrix Lestrange. 


This movie is everything that it promised and is going to have fans around the world clamoring for the final installment of the franchise due out July 2011. This is the summer blockbuster that we hoped for and a movie you don't want to miss.