Writer: Steve Kloves
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Release Date: November 17, 2010
Length: 2 hours 26 minutes
J.K. Rowlings extraordinary world of Harry Potter is almost coming to a close for the big screen with the second last film installment of the franchise. Director David Yates of the previous two films made a wise decision to split the last epic novel into two parts to include as much as possible from the book as it would not be right to condense the exciting story. As I have not fully enjoyed Yates’ last two adaptations, my expectations weren’t too high for this film but I still had a huge hope that for the ending note, he would go all out and do this incredible tale complete justice. In the sixth film that came out in Summer 2009, we learn Voldemort, Harry’s immortal enemy, has split his soul in seven and put those seven pieces into various important objects or beings. These are called Horcruxes and in order for Voldemort to be killed once and for all, Harry must find and destroy each Horcrux. In this film, Harry and his two sidekicks, best friends, Ron and Hermione go on a dangerous pursuit (requested by the late Dumbeldore) to obtain and abolish all of Voldemort’s horcruxes. This means they don’t return to their beloved Hogwartz for their last year of school. As the three friends continue their search in hiding, they learn that the world of Magic is becoming a corrupt society with the Ministry of Magic being overthrown by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. This is the darkest novel of the series as the main characters are much more exposed to the saddening outside world and the people running it. Those disturbing themes of the novel are translated well on screen and the audience can fully appreciate this is no longer a children’s story. However, there are many important themes like friendship and becoming an adult that do not translate well into the film due to Yates’ repetition of mistakes from the previous two films. What’s noticeable about Yates direction is the artistry, look and shot of a scene. The last three films have had beautiful cinematography and art direction. Every shot is certainly pretty to look at but Yates, whether intentional or not, limits the dialogue and I find myself noticing how everything looks while I’m waiting for someone to speak. Much of the dialogue between the three main actors felt forced and they were only speaking lines sometimes to explain something important from the book that the audience needs to understand. I miss the heated arguments the kids would have in the previous films where sometimes a character might heaven for bid naturally cut the other one off. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson all perform well as usual in this film although, not in fault of their acting abilities, some of their scenes did not keep my interest whatsoever and came off boring. I was much more compelled by the scenes with the adult cast including Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, and Helena Bonham Carter. Like always, Fiennes was scarily venomous in his role as the crazy Dark Lord Voldemort. Alan Rickman, with his oddly captivating unemotional voice was fantastic as Severus Snape. Helena Bonham Carter (for the few scenes she was in) gave a hilarious and terrifying performance as the insane Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort’s followers. An improvement from the last film was that this actually had a semi-exciting climax. One of the benefits of splitting a story into two films is that you can end the film leaving you hanging with anticipation. A weakness from splitting the story into two films was that this half didn’t seem to be enough of its own film. It just felt like someone pressed pause on a very long film and added some epic music and credits. This film by no means was bad. It was decent, but when you think of how amazing the films used to be – the first being nominated for 3 Oscars – it is just an incredible shame that this remarkable story must end off on a note of mediocrity. If you are a fan of the novels, this latest film might disappoint you, but if you are an outsider to the series, it might just pass as an enjoyable film.
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