Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows 2 - Review

A theatrical journey that started in 2001 has come to an end after ten years and fans are filled with a variety of emotions. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 has officially hit the theaters and after 10 long years, movie goers will finally get to see the showdown that has been building up between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.

Let me begin by saying this is not a straight book adaptation (far from it) and if you are still expecting that then there is something wrong with your expectations. After seven movies you should be fully aware that the eighth movie will follow suit and be its own entity. After seven movies you should be able to cope with this. So I won’t be focusing so much on the differences.

*Possible Spoilers Ahead

At just over two hours (2 hours 10 minutes) The Deathly Hallows Part 2 has amazing flow and at no point in the film do you feel that the story is dragging or boring. Throughout the movie you hear classic Potter riffs from John Williams intermingled with new music which had a nice touching effect. The acting within this installment was exceptionally well done. The main trio Harry, Hermione and Ron played by Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, gave deeper performances than movies past and it is a breath of fresh air. Alan Rickman, as Severus Snape, gave an emotional performance that opened up his character to the truths that have been hidden away for years while Ralph Fiennes commanded the audiences respect in what was the longest and best appearance for Lord Voldemort. However, Matthew Lewis should be mentioned as well for his great performance as Neville Longbottom. Granted Neville may not have gotten everything he deserved in this movie but it was still a fun role to see play out on the big screen since he is a badass in this book. One last person to note is Maggie Smith who plays Professor McGonagall. Among the serious tone of this film it is this unlikely character who gives the movie some of its few moments of laughter as well as some great lines.  

The movie tugs at your emotional heart strings right from the start as it opens on Dobby the House Elf’s tombstone outside Shell Cottage. The movie moves along nicely to the Gringotts break in scene which was really fun to watch and the dragon looked fantastic. The whole point of this break in was for Harry to recover another Horcrux. Going into the film we knew the explanation of the horcruxes would have to be twisted into the movie somehow since the identities of the remaining horcruxes were never rightfully explained. I actually thought the way that the movie did this was pretty good and acceptable. It indeed took some twisting of the story but it is what it is. Sorry to all you Slytherin fans but your house gets shafted in the movie as the entire house is ushered away on McGonagall’s orders before the Battle of Hogwarts starts and doesn’t return. There may have been a bunch added or changed to this movie but the one thing that made no sense was the Death Eaters burning down the Quidditch Pitch. It just made no sense. Just horrible. Okay, so I may be biased since I love quidditch but it still makes no sense. Ha.

Getting to see characters such as Molly Weasley and Professor McGonagall dueling was an amazing sight. These characters were so reserved in the movies that when you finally saw that other side of them your jaw dropped. Throughout the Battle of Hogwarts you see Voldemort do spells and the results are that the Elder Wand cracks a little. The movie literally zooms in on the splitting of the wand as it happens a few times. Am I to believe that the Elder Wand is not getting damaged by this? They show the wand splitting but then it’s fine a moment later. Odd.

The death of Severus Snape in the movie outdid that of its book counterpart in my opinion. It was more brutal in the movie and seeing it from the perspective that we did made it perfect. Furthermore having his memories come in the form of tears (rather than pulling them from his head) delivered the scene well showing that the memories and scene were driven by emotion. “The Prince’s Tale”, the chapter in which we see Snape’s memories and the truth behind his character, was done brilliantly. Yes, it was a little different but Alan Rickman delivered the scene so well and it was still a scene to be proud of. Delivering some of the most emotional moments in the movie it was really fascinating to see a young and emotional Severus Snape. Very well done. The continuity of Dubledore's pensieve is fixed which I really liked. In Goblet of Fire the pensieve is a big decorative basin while in The Half-Blood Prince it is just a small bowl. This movie fixes that continuity error by showing you the smaller bowl sits within the larger basin. Simple fix. Thanks. I was also surprised that they didn't touch on Dumbledore's backstory at all. This was a big chunk of the book just taken out. Very strange. I know this will have upset a lot of fans. I was upset as well as I was looking forward to see this on the big screen but nothing I can do about it. Weird movie choice but nothing I can do. But you do get to see Dumbledore look like Gandalf the White in King's Cross Station toward the end, ha.

The Resurrection Stone scene with Harry and his fallen loved ones was very touching and done very well. I think I just always like the scenes where you get to see his parents. Another scene that made me smile and laugh came from seeing Voldemort happy and laughing as he presented Harry’s dead body to the defenders of Hogwarts. That’s right, Voldemort laughing! This was followed by the equally funny Draco/Voldemort hug. Talk about awkward! Ha. Immediately following was the final showdown between Harry and Lord Voldemort. I felt it didn’t translate as well as some of the other aspects of the book. Although a fun and exciting scene to watch, I thought it didn’t feel as tense as it was convoyed in the book. But the other aspects of the battle more than made up for this; the fighting statues, Greyback biting Lavender Brown, and seeing the dead bodies of our loved characters for example. I was also personally fine with how the deaths were handled in the movie with the camera sprawling over epic duels to see dead characters laying on the floor and then the big reveal of Fred, Tonks, and Lupin. For the movie it worked well.

I thought that the epilogue scene was done great. The aging of the cast was done really well but Hermione seemed to only age maybe two years, as opposed to the nineteen that everyone else had which was odd. In this scene however, I didn’t think it was necessary to have that giant 9 3/4 sign take up a third of the screen. I think if the audience is seeing this movie they know what platform they are on.

Overall, this was an exceptionally well made movie and a wonderfully action packed ending to the Harry Potter movie franchise. Yes, it is different than the book. If you don’t like that then don’t watch movie adaptations of books. Just deal with it. There were a few things taken out of the movie that would have improved it greatly but for one reason or another didn't make the cut. It's a real shame. However, the movie delivered touching emotional scenes followed by action packed battles while still sneaking in some very funny lines. I applaud the efforts of the cast and crew for a marvelous job. They have turned the final chapters of a beloved series into movie greatness.

Rating: 9/10