Review: HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 

reviewer Michael Hill
Rated: 12a (UK)
Release Date: July 15th, 2011(UK)
Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson , Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter

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Just in case the tagline on all the films posters; ‘IT ALL ENDS’, has escaped you, this is the final film in the Harry Potter franchise. The most successful film franchise of all time based on J.K. Rowlings best-selling books.

I must admit that even though I have grown up with the series, I had not paid too much attention to it till catching up on them on blu ray last year for part 1. However I still remember the excitement in the cinema seeing the first film ten years ago, and now six films later I was sat in the same cinema to watch the series climax, this time in post production 3D and that excitement was there again.

Waffling narcissistic introduction aside, was the film any good? Yes, really good in fact. Steve Kloves screenplays, like the books I presume, have improved and more adult themed throughout the franchise, and this might be his best one yet. Likewise the child cast has grown up with the series and arguably give their best performances here, you can see and feel the danger and peril Harry, Ron and Hermione are in. And this surely has to be the biggest and best ensemble of British thespians ever assembled; Fiennes, Rickman, Hurt, Bonham Carter, Broadbent, Thewlis, Thompson, Walters, Coltrane and Maggie Smith to name a good few.

Without getting any spoilers away there are some great looking fight scenes, some pivotal twists and turns, a thrilling climax, the most realistic dragon I have seen in a live action film and more spellbinding sets and special effects than you can shake an elder wand at. You could argue the epilogue is a tad cheesy, but I guess the last few films has all been pretty dark so you’ll allow them a bit of cheese.

The 3D looked great in the cinema I saw it in, the best looking retrofit 3D I have seen. There were some jar dropping sequences with magic spells which were some of the best uses of 3D I’ve seen. It also did not give myself or anyone I was with the headache that, clash of the titans and green hornet caused.

This film is a fitting end to a the series and a credit to its director David Yates, who directed the last four films in the series. It is difficult to say if it is my favourite Harry Potter film as I would need to revisit the others again to comment, though it is a real spectacle and a great movie.

MOVIE RATING: 5/5

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