Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review: All’s Well That Ends Well

After ten years and eight films it is now official – from this point on we live in a world without a new Harry Potter adventure on the way. For many this signifies the end of an era, the curtain on their childhood, and an emotional farewell to characters they have watched grow up in front of their eyes. I have personally not had an intense passion for the tales of the young wizard with a lightning bolt shaped scar on his head, but I nonetheless stand in awe of the film franchise that managed to maintain its cast and quality production standards to tell the full, epic story that stands alongside Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, the James Bond series, and The Godfather Trilogy as one of the finest motion picture franchises of all time.

My own experience with Mr. Potter began with the first film back in 2001. I was aware of the popular books but my high school self considered them child’s play so I easily dismissed them and any notion of seeing the film adaptations until I learned that the first teaser for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was expected to debut on prints of the first Potter movie. With this geeky knowledge I volunteered to take my young cousins to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

I wasn’t expecting much from the movie but was ultimately charmed by its high production values, charm, and above all – magic. Over the years I found myself heading back to the theater to see each successive film and g0t pulled deeper into the epic story as it went along. I wouldn’t rank any of the individual films as masterpieces and I often felt that viewers who hadn’t read the books were slightly abandoned when it came to fully understanding what was happening and why to the beloved characters, but overall I’ve delighted in watching everything play out with no notion of where it might actually be headed.

And that brings me to this weekend and the unleashing of the final installment – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Not having read the book I went in genuinely not knowing what was going happen or how Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) would defeat Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) to save both Hogwarts and the world. Storywise, things don’t get much more complicated than that with the film picking up immediately where Part 1 left off with Harry, Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint) hunting down the remaining horcruxes as Voldemort unleashes hell on the Hogwarts castle with an invasion. Ultimately of course, Harry must discover a level of self-sacrifice that will defeat the evil forces forever even if it means his own death.

Through the course of eight films we’ve gotten to know a lot of characters in the Harry Potter universe and I think if this final film has one major fault it is that we don’t get enough quality time with many of them. The film is obviously (and should be) very Harry-centric but with so much going on and such high stakes I feel like we were deprived of some great moments with the other characters that we’ve grown to love over the years. Dame Maggie Smith has a handful of cute moments as Professor McGonagall and Alan Rickman shines as always in the role of Severus Snape but so many others are only given glorified cameos while others are killed off screen with little fanfare or time for mourning.

The most glaring omission for me was the brief screentime given to Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) who has consistently been one of the most entertaining and wicked villains of the entire series. I won’t spoil here how she meets her end but it comes so quickly in the midst of the final battle that it virtually has no satisfying impact. Had they included even a small handful of moments of her doing nasty things in the heat of battle her demise could have been all the more satisfying. Instead it feels like a moment that is shoehorned in just because it has to be. And let’s be honest, Bellatrix deserves more than that.

I was caught most off guard by the sudden prominence of Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom who becomes Hogwarts most unlikely warrior. In many ways he has more to do and more heroics than Ron and Hermione who seem incredibly sidelined in this final installment. Sure, they get their moment to destroy a horcrux and have a big, romantic payoff but I never quite believed in their relationship like that. Both actors are perfectly fine and suited for their roles but there isn’t exactly great chemistry between them to make the leap to lovers feel plausible.

The above nitpicking aside, this final installment is as richly produced and enjoyable – if not more so – than the other seven films that have come before. The special effects are outstanding, the action scenes are thrilling, and the performances are all on point thanks to the wonderful mix of talented young actors and the impressive stable of classic British stars portraying the adults. Director David Yates makes a lot of great directorial choices but like I said before, I wish he and the screenwriters had taken a little more advantage of the shortness of this Potter film and used the extra time to explore other characters for an alltogether greater emotional whallop.

Regardless of the missed opportunities Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 2 still stands as finely crafted and enjoyable film that caps off the series with as much style and class that has kept us coming back to movie theaters for ten years now. Individually, the eight Potter films are not worthy of significant accolades or Oscar statuettes, but taken as a whole they are a rare cinematic feat of classic literature being adapted into worthy film adventures that come together as one solid epic saga. It is without a doubt that children and adults alike will be delighted for generations to come.

Grade: B+

Images courtesy of Jaap Buitendijk and Warner Brothers Pictures.