Welcome to the No B.S. movie review. For these, I won’t be pandering about things your average movie fan doesn’t care about (the cinematography matters largely if it affects the presentation) or summarizing the plot (my phone alone has four different ways to find previews, and that’s without counting previews in theaters or commercials on television). No, the point of these reviews will be to give you the basics to decide if you really want to see this flick. Yes, that means spoiler-free. For a more traditional review by our own Travis Leamons, click here. Without further ado, the No B.S. Review for …Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
First of all, if you aren’t a fan of the series, I cannot imagine why you’d jump in with the last installment. This is an almost entirely action-filled movie with great effects, but pretty much every reason to care and every bit of depth to the characters is a callback to previous movies. There’s so much going on here, and so rarely is the plot stopped to explain, that at least a solid understanding of the world, characters and motivations is an absolute necessity.
Director David Yates clearly gets these books and how to translate them from the page to the screen, having directed the previous three films – some of which are the best in the franchise. That said, fans of the book, particularly of the book’s tertiary characters will likely be disappointed. Where the first film of the Deathly Hallows duo had less action and more time spent developing plot and giving time to characters, this is almost entirely Harry’s film with a ton of emotional moments from the remainder of the cast cut down or out completely.
Since this is the film that Harry, only the titular character, finally seems in command and makes his own decisions, most who have watched him grow won’t mind, I’d expect. Daniel Radcliffe, as Harry, gives a stellar performance, especially given that he’s on screen practically the entire 130 minute film.
The rest of the cast is present to perform in the giant set action pieces. These are spectacular, but to matter at all, once more, you must have seen the other films. You could, instead, just sit back and enjoy the explosions, but this isn’t Transformers and there’s a rich back-story that makes the moments matter to a fan. Unfortunately, however, the 3-D is an utter waste, added on for extra revenue, but so strongly against much of the way the film is shot that it’s difficult to see and has less effect for the most part.
There is a great deal of violence (but no gore) in this movie, so if you’re considering bringing a younger family member, be prepared. Voldemort, the central antagonist, is also quite frightening and, like Harry, takes more action in this film, giving younger members of the audience more time to be genuinely frightened by Ralph Fiennes creepy portrayal. Luckily, the franchise has been around for so long, many of the younger fans have grown to an age they can handle this level of intensity. Still, you should know who you’re taking to the movie and what he or she could handle.
Okay, so, let’s see if this movie is for you. Do you enjoy the books or the rest of the franchise? Do you have an emotional investment in the main cast? Can you deal with major pieces being missing from the novel and tertiary character moments being cut? Do you enjoy giant action sequences in a fantasy setting? Can you (or rather the child/children you bring) handle some violent and frightening moments? Is the misuse of 3-D acceptable (or just see it in 2-D)? If you answered yes to all of these questions, then feel free to see the movie, though, honestly, if you saw the rest, you really shouldn’t need my urging, and if you didn’t, don’t start here. My Rating? 8/10 for a fantasy epic worth seeing on the big screen for fans of the franchise, but with enough cut out to keep it from something more.
New readers, if you like or dislike the format, please let me know, either in the comments below or on Facebook. Those who read the review of Horrible Bosses, let me know how the review holds up for a second movie. For everyone interested, please bookmark and check in on my writer’s page where I still owe readers more NBA Western Conference Review articles, a Soundgarden Concert Review (the videos were late coming), more comics articles and, of course, another movie review next week.
