Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 film review
After the criminally boring Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a solid return to form for the fantasy adventure franchise. And it’s a good thing too, seeing as this is the final entry in the series – or at least the first half of it anyway – based on the last of JK Rowling’s 7 bestselling novels. It would be very disappointing if the Harry Potter cinema phenomenon ended limply. However, although Part 2 of Deathly Hallows is set to only open in July 2011, at this point it seems likely the series will conclude on a solid, satisfying, if not completely faultless, note.
Perhaps what is most immediately obvious about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just how the film franchise has evolved over the years. Audiences still remain glued to their seats, captivated for full 140 minute stretches, but gone is the sense of wide-eyed wonder that permeated the first two films in the series – as tween Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) was exposed to the wizarding world for the first time. The penultimate Potter movie is dark and bleak for the most part, with a good smattering of blood, torture, a couple of genuinely frightening scenes and one surprisingly risqué sequence involving barely “legal” characters.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows isn’t without humour to ease some of the built-up tension, but the film is certainly the darkest, and most death-filled of the movies so far. At least 3 beloved characters are killed during the film’s 2 and a half hour running time.
Then again, in Deathly Hallows, the stakes have never been higher. The Ministry for Magic (the wizarding world’s government) has fallen to powerful dark wizard Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his Death Eater followers – and they’re intent on establishing pure blood magical rule over “impure” wizards and non-magical Muggles alike. Along with dodging their enemies, Harry and his best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) have to find and destroy the various Horcruxes (magical artefacts) that ensure Voldemort’s immortality, as well as make sense of the unusual items left to them by Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) in his will.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will probably be completely nonsensical to anyone who hasn’t watched the first 6 films, or read the books up until this point in the story. The movie is however a pretty faithful adaptation of Rowling’s novel – right down to the irritating stupidity of many characters – and kudos must go to series regular screenwriter Steve Kloves, and director David Yates (helming the franchise since the excellent Order of the Phoenix) for getting the film’s pacing right… even if the camping scenes are almost as tedious onscreen as on the printed page. Almost.
What viewers are most likely to walk away from Deathly Hallows: Part 1 with is a strong sense of Hermione’s importance in the series. At one point in the film Harry and Ron remark that they wouldn’t last 2 days without her, and given Hermione’s preparation, problem solving skills and general drive in Deathly Hallows such a statement is apparently very true. All of the 3 young leads produce solid work, but Watson does especially well conveying Hermione’s painful sacrifices, and emotional turbulence as a result of the unusual love-friendship triangle in which she finds herself.
Many characters from earlier Potter films return, even if just for a few moments, in Deathly Hallows: Part 1. The most important of these returnees, however, is Dobby the house-elf, who here fully redeems his reputation as the Jar Jar Binks of the Harry Potter universe.
It’s a good thing that the audience has established characters to latch onto because the few new additions to the cast have very little screen time and/or make little impression. This is sadly even true for Bill Nighy as new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Recognisable faces David O’Hara, Sophie Thompson and Steffan Rhodri are a lot of fun though as physically transformed, very awkward Harry, Hermione and Ron respectively.
Although I would still personally place movie #5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ahead of Deathly Hallows: Part 1 on my list of Potter film favourites, this second to last instalment in the series delivers the entertainment goods. There’s certainly no denying that Harry’s encounter with elderly historian Bathilda Bagshot (Hazel Douglas) goes down as one of creepiest movie sequences of 2010. More importantly, Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a perfect primer for Part 2, the FINAL Harry Potter movie. I know this because at the screening I attended, the audience were so engrossed in the action that they actually groaned en masse when the end credits started rolling.
Perhaps what is most immediately obvious about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just how the film franchise has evolved over the years. Audiences still remain glued to their seats, captivated for full 140 minute stretches, but gone is the sense of wide-eyed wonder that permeated the first two films in the series – as tween Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) was exposed to the wizarding world for the first time. The penultimate Potter movie is dark and bleak for the most part, with a good smattering of blood, torture, a couple of genuinely frightening scenes and one surprisingly risqué sequence involving barely “legal” characters.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows isn’t without humour to ease some of the built-up tension, but the film is certainly the darkest, and most death-filled of the movies so far. At least 3 beloved characters are killed during the film’s 2 and a half hour running time.
Then again, in Deathly Hallows, the stakes have never been higher. The Ministry for Magic (the wizarding world’s government) has fallen to powerful dark wizard Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his Death Eater followers – and they’re intent on establishing pure blood magical rule over “impure” wizards and non-magical Muggles alike. Along with dodging their enemies, Harry and his best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) have to find and destroy the various Horcruxes (magical artefacts) that ensure Voldemort’s immortality, as well as make sense of the unusual items left to them by Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) in his will.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will probably be completely nonsensical to anyone who hasn’t watched the first 6 films, or read the books up until this point in the story. The movie is however a pretty faithful adaptation of Rowling’s novel – right down to the irritating stupidity of many characters – and kudos must go to series regular screenwriter Steve Kloves, and director David Yates (helming the franchise since the excellent Order of the Phoenix) for getting the film’s pacing right… even if the camping scenes are almost as tedious onscreen as on the printed page. Almost.
What viewers are most likely to walk away from Deathly Hallows: Part 1 with is a strong sense of Hermione’s importance in the series. At one point in the film Harry and Ron remark that they wouldn’t last 2 days without her, and given Hermione’s preparation, problem solving skills and general drive in Deathly Hallows such a statement is apparently very true. All of the 3 young leads produce solid work, but Watson does especially well conveying Hermione’s painful sacrifices, and emotional turbulence as a result of the unusual love-friendship triangle in which she finds herself.
Many characters from earlier Potter films return, even if just for a few moments, in Deathly Hallows: Part 1. The most important of these returnees, however, is Dobby the house-elf, who here fully redeems his reputation as the Jar Jar Binks of the Harry Potter universe.
It’s a good thing that the audience has established characters to latch onto because the few new additions to the cast have very little screen time and/or make little impression. This is sadly even true for Bill Nighy as new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Recognisable faces David O’Hara, Sophie Thompson and Steffan Rhodri are a lot of fun though as physically transformed, very awkward Harry, Hermione and Ron respectively.
Although I would still personally place movie #5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ahead of Deathly Hallows: Part 1 on my list of Potter film favourites, this second to last instalment in the series delivers the entertainment goods. There’s certainly no denying that Harry’s encounter with elderly historian Bathilda Bagshot (Hazel Douglas) goes down as one of creepiest movie sequences of 2010. More importantly, Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a perfect primer for Part 2, the FINAL Harry Potter movie. I know this because at the screening I attended, the audience were so engrossed in the action that they actually groaned en masse when the end credits started rolling.
Comments
and i agree with tara, i'm also bleak about sirius.