Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Last Updated on Monday, 25 July 2011 12:51 Written by Samantha Wednesday, 20 July 2011 06:26
(MIGHT CONTAIN A SPOILER OR TWO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK, THERE ARE NO MOVIE SPOILERS LISTED.)
I had high expectations walking into the theater about this film. I sat down and got all excited about how after 12 years, it was all finally ending. I got into Harry Potter late in life (at the 4th movie), but still. Well worth it.
At this point, in most reviews, when you go into a film with such high expectations, you expect to read about how boring the film was, and how it lacked a plot and the acting was terrible and blahdee-blah.
I was not disappointed in the least bit. The film was NOT boring, it did not lack plot, and the acting was superb.
The movie begins where Part 1 left off, with He-Who-Shall-No… oh what the heck…. Voldemort opens Dumbledore’s grave, and takes the Elder Wand. This is of course 3/4th of the way into book #7. How is this movie 2 hours?
Easy. Every single scene from here on out (with the exception of the scene back at the safe house on the beach, Gringotts, and 1 quick scene in Hogsmeade Village) is at Hogwarts or on the grounds near Hogwarts.
While in Hogsmeade Village, we meet Aberforth, Dumbledore’s brother. He tells his sisters portrait to go to her portrait in Hogwarts and summons who she needs to. Who comes back through the secret passage way behind the portrait?
Neville.
Boy, did Neville grow a pair in this film! He became a leader! And a really good one too! He took charge, stepped up, faced Voldemort, and did what needed to be done. Neville leads our trio into Hogwarts, to the Room of Requirement, where all his friends are waiting for him. Ginny comes running in (and of course is excited to see Harry, completely ignoring Ron, and Ron makes a jokes about this) and lets them all know that Snape (the new headmaster) now knows that Harry was seen in the Village.
This is where the film picks up big time.
I am not going to give the next 90 minutes away at all. Just to say, I laughed, I definitely cried when Snape died and Harry took his tears so he could see Snape’s memories, I cried even harder when I saw Snape’s memories and how everything played out, and in the end, I left the theater completely satisfied and extraordinarily happy with how this film was made, and how they took all the other 6 books, referenced them all, and put the entire 12 year story together.
For 12 years we all thought Snape was the bad guy in Harry Potter. Turns out, he really was the hero.
There were three main stories to be told in this movie. The first was Voldemort and Harry. The second was Dumbledore and Snape. The last, was Snape and Lily Potter. It is the latter that makes you realize that the Harry Potter series is not all about Harry Potter, but a lot about Snape, too.
Daniel Radcliff did an amazing job portraying Harry in this movie. This was the first time, I was completely satisfied with his performance, and thought to myself “Wow. He really got into this one.” The emotions he portrayed were spot on.
Don’t wait for the DVD. See this one in the theater.
Grade: A
Available in 2D & 3D IMAX.
