Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes

Released: November 19th 2010

Running Time: 160 minutes

Grade Rating: B

Warning: This review will contain spoilers. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie yet, please be careful if you don't want parts of the plot ruined.

Harry has been burdened with a dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task: that of locating and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Never has Harry felt so alone, or faced a future so full of shadows. But Harry must somehow find within himself the strength to complete the task he has been given. He must leave the warmth, safety and companionship of The Burrow and follow without fear or hesitation the inexorable path laid out for him.

Okay, I'll admit it. I haven't read a single Harry Potter book. Ever. I only own two. But, I have seen all of the films, soooo I really did want to review the penultimate installment of one of the biggest movie franchises in the history of the world. It doesn't seem like ten years ago that Harry Potter, a short bespectacled boy with a bowl-cut, took his first steps into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I don't know if you've noticed but the films seem to be getting darker and darker as this saga progresses. I thought I liked this; it added to the intensity and mystery of the films and always kept you craving more and more. However, I feel like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, oversteps the mark just a tad.

The tone of this film is extremely solemn. It's bleak. It's dark, gloomy, depressing, intense, slightly bizarre etc. The fun and magical excitement of the previous film is about as present as Hermione's fashion sense. The entire films takes place outside the grounds of Hogwarts, therefore you don't get the same feeling. I don't know how to put it. The atmosphere of the Harry Potter films that we've all come to know and love isn't there. Instead, the atmosphere is cold and isolated. Having the wilderness as the setting really emphasises the loneliness of this film. The fun, wonder and magic seemed to have been sucked right out and replaced with helicopter sweeps of travel-brochure views. The backdrop looks like one of those serious desktop backgrounds you get when you've bought a new computer. Everything was different and I didn't really like it.

Unlike the other movies, The Deathly Hallows was mainly centred around the characters. They are beginning to grow up on us, ya'know. It is all about the emotions rather than the magical special effects and jaw-dropping fantasy creatures. I sorely missed it. The closest we get to a fantastical beast is Dobby. Oh, rest in peace, Dobby; you cute, little, trainer-clad, sock-loving hero! *wipes away a tear* Anyway, the majority of the film centers on Harry, Hermione and Ron as they journey alone to stop the evil Voldemort. This makes for lots of slow-moving, drawn out moments with the three friends trying to make headway in their search for the Horcruxes while their friendship is strained by a collective frustration and jealousy. I started to feel very uncomfortable when things began to get messy between the chums. Especially when, Harry and Hermione start snogging...NAKED! I mean, what happened? When did this start happening. I know it didn't really happen because it was all in Ron's imagination and everything but it's really hard for me to accept that these children's characters are thinking about these things. It was very un-Harry Potter like and just plain creepy/ weird.

Lord of the Rings is the only thing I can compare this to. The forests and the bearded guy and the search for a semi-inanimate object. I can't help but stay on the same subject of the depressiveness. If I went to the cinema on Christmas Day and watched Harry Potter and the Philosipher's Stone, it would put me in that Christmasey mood. If I had gone to see The Deathly Hallows on Christmas Day, I would just go home and go straight to bed. It was too dark and too distant to the other films and that's why I didn't like it. That's pronbably the only reason. The acting was good and so was the character development although I would've liked to have seen more...magic (and happiness). Let me know what you thought!