Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

It All Ends

The magic words captured millions of viewers all over the world! As of this writing, the cumulative gross sales of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on its 3nd week of showing is a staggering $318,511,602 in 4,145 U.S. theaters. Distributor Warner Bros. said Sunday that "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. Source Yahoo Movies

All the Harry Potter movies are included in the list of highest-grossing film franchises of all time! A series of successful hits such as those could not be attributed to the geniuses of the marketing and promotion people alone. While it is undeniable that a highly budgeted marketing campaign extremely boost a movie's gross sales, the actual finished material however, must be true to its promise. Otherwise, it would not survive the second week chart when the first salvo of negative reviews have been detonated to massacre the sales outcome.

The Harry Potter magic continues in the box office despite the line "It all ends" due to the collaborative efforts of all those involved in making the film:

1. Screenplay: Steve Kloves

Steve Kloves

J.K. Rowling

Some Harry Potter fans who have read the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows novel by J.K. Rowling are disappointed that some scenes in the book are not depicted on the film's adaptation. It must be considered however that a novel and a screenplay have different medium requirements not to mention, boundaries. A novel is supposed to be detailed while a screenplay must be concise. The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows American version of the book consists of 784 pages. There were too many details to be compressed into a single full length movie that it was actually split into 2 parts. The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 Movie has a run time of 130 minutes.




Given the limited time frame of the film, Steve Kloves' screenplay successfully connected Part 1 of the movie to Part 2 and achieved a solid cohesion in his adaptation of the original story. In fact, Part 2 picked up exactly where the main protagonists were last seen on Part 1, the burial of Dobby the Free Elf.

The 1st scene set the nostalgic mood of the viewers while keeping them attuned to the unfolding of "secrets" of the characters, building the climax in a battle between good and evil then finally resolving issues to a justifiable conclusion, all for a satisfying and convincing closure.

2. Direction: David Yates

David Yates

Having directed two of the most recent Harry Potter Films that were both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, David Yates was the best choice to orchestrate the 2-part Finale. He won as Best Director in the 2008 Empire Awards for the Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix and got an Academy Award Nomination for Best Cinematography for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. His direction of the Harry Potter films gained him accolades, one of which was the prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing.




The multi-awarded and talented director, amazingly directed Part 1 and 2 of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows simultaneously! Only a caliber of a genius can handle the shooting of two films at the same time yet still masterfully create a distinguishable and remarkable attack for each.

Part 1 was a melancholic prelude  to Part 2's nostalgic and consequent closure. The fans were generally contented by the happy ending, pacified with hope that it could actually not be the end but a new beginning as the movie closed with a new generation of young students towed by their parents, Harry and wife Ginny and the couple Hermione and Ron aboard the Express Train that would take them for admission in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a new era of a much peaceful Wizarding World with the death of the prime antagonist, Lord Voldemort...the saga lives on.


3. Actors

Grint, Radcliffe and Watson

Daniel Radcliffe       Harry Potter

Emma Watson        Hermione Granger

Rupert Grint            Ron Weasley

Ralph Fiennes         Lord Voldemort

Michael Gambon     Professor Albus Dumbledore

Alan Rickman          Professor Severus Snape

The audience of the Harry Potter Films has grown to identify not only with the characters of the movies but more so with the actors who portrayed the roles. A great percentage of its success could be particularly ascribed to the fact that the main character, Harry Potter and the Actor, Danielle Radcliffe became one and the same person on screen. The strong affinity of loyal fans to the Harry Potter characters as well as the actors who portray them were tremendously displayed when one of the lead actors, Richard Harris who played as Professor Albus Dumbledore in the first 2 Harry Potter Films, succumbed to cancer in 2002. There was an outbreak of sympathies for the great loss and also concerns for the then upcoming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the 3rd of the series. Even the actor himself recognized the impact of his portrayal of the role in one of his interviews:

In an interview with the Toronto Star in 2001, Harris expressed his concern that his association with the Harry Potter movies would outshine the rest of his career. He explained by saying: "Because, you see, I don't just want to be remembered for being in those bloody films, and I'm afraid that's what's going to happen to me." Source: Wikipedia

Harris as Dumbledore

Gambon as Dumbledore

There would have been no better actors to play the roles of the main characters but those who did with the inclusion of Michael Gambon who perfectly fit the big shoes of Richard Harris in his apt portrayal of Professor Albus Dumbledore in the last 6 Harry Potter Films. Part of the audience's acceptance of the new actor playing the role of Dumbledore could also be due to the make up and costume. Dumbledore is identified as an old and wise bespectacled wizard with long white hair and beard, concealing mostly the actor's face.

Another outstanding character performance was that of Professor Severus Snape as portrayed by Alan Rickman. The actor was so convincing that the audience always had a feeling of mistrust towards the character until his true loyalties and motivations were finally revealed and so he found redemption and forgiveness from the avid fans who saw the good in Snape in the end.

Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape

The remarkable roles and portrayals however, may affect the careers of the actors especially in the case of Danielle Radcliffe. He is so identified with the Harry Potter character that portraying other roles could be difficult for audiences not to be reminded of the boy wizard. Such was the case of Christopher Reeves of the Superman Series and Pierce Brosnan of the James Bond Series. It would take brilliant acting to break away from the strong association of the audience to an actor who successfully portrayed a character for so long.


4. Production Design, Special Effects, Make up and Costumes

Production Design: Stuart Craig
Visual Effects: Framestore, Moving Picture Company and Double Negative
Costume Designer: Jany Temime
Make up: Amanda Knight & Lisa Tombli

Goblin Bankers at Gringott. Want to apply for a loan? :))

The 3D movie format brought out astonishing special effects that would have been ordinary in a regular motion picture. The best set design as well as the special effects however would not be seen on the fight scenes which should have been the highlight of the movie but on the chase scene when Harry, Hermione and Ron broke into Bellatix Lestrange's vault with Griphook as accomplice. They boarded a cart that took them on a roller coaster ride underneath the Gringotts Wizarding Bank operated by goblins to retrieve one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. They escaped using the dragon guarding the vault charmed by Hermione.

The scene where Harry Potter, in a near death experience spoke with Dumbledore in a "heaven-like" train station was blindingly white and boring.

In the epilogue where the characters of Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron matured, the make up and costume were convincing but they looked much older than their supposed 30 or so years of age.

Mature Ron

Mature Harry

Mature Draco

Mature Hermione

  
5. Soundtrack and scoring - Alexandre Desplat

Alexandre Desplat

Do not expect any LSS after seeing the movie, but nonetheless, the music and scoring were mostly appropriate to the scenes. Here's the track list:

Title                                                                    Length

1.       Obliviate	3:01
2.       Snape to Malfoy Manor	1:58
3.       Polyjuice Potion	3:32
4.       Sky Battle	3:48
5.       At the Burrow	2:35
6.       Harry and Ginny	1:43
7.       The Will	3:39
8.       Death Eaters	3:14
9.       Dobby	3:49
10.   Ministry of Magic	1:49
11.   Detonators	2:23
12.   The Locket	1:52
13.   Fireplace Escape	2:54
14.   Ron Leaves	2:35
15.   The Exodus"	1:37
16.   Godric's Hollow Graveyard	3:15
17.   Bathilda Bagshot	3:54
18.   Hermione's Parents	5:50
19.   Destroying the Locket	1:10
20.   Ron's Speech	2:16
21.   Lovegood	3:27
22.   The Deathly Hallows	3:17
23.   Captured and Tortured	2:56
24.   Rescuing Hermione	1:50
25.   Farewell to Dobby	3:43
26.   The Elder Wand	1:38

All in all, the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is very satisfactory and worth seeing. As nothing is really perfect, minute loopholes in the plot and the execution are forgivable. It's a 4/5 rating for me.