Quick Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Part 1. (2010)

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Part 1. (2010)

Bottomline: If you're a Harry Potter fan you will love it. If you haven't read all the books then you will be lost in places but you will still like this movie.

Where Can I See It? It is playing about every 15 minutes in every movie theater on the planet. If you're going to see it, see it on the big screen.

CAVEAT: It is rated PG-13 for a reason. It is dark. It is scary. There is death. There is tension. Not for easily scared little ones.

CAVEAT DEUX: This is the first of two parts.

QMR Opinion:
I was so, so disappointed by the Half-Blood Prince (2009). It was sooooo boring and such a poor representation of the book. Not so The Deathly Hallows. This is a faithful adaptation of the book, which helps in some scenes but hurts it in others. Our three principals -- Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) -- have moved beyond Hogwarts and are now facing Voldemort (Ralph Finnes) and his minions head-on. As with all the Potter films, the acting here is superfluous to the rest of the story; however, I was and have been particularly impressed with Rupert Grint. Through all of the films he has always managed to take what could have been written off as the "comedy relief" character and given him a lot of depth. The cinematic quality of the film is dark to represent the darkness of the times so there are moments where the action is quick and takes place in the dark so you're not really sure what just happened until it's over. However, there is plenty of action. As my 13-year-old daughter put it after the movie: "That did not seem like two hours and thirty minutes." Indeed. This is a fast-paced Potter that sets up the ultimate showdown that will occur in Part 2, which is due to be released in July 2011. I truly enjoyed this film and eagerly await Part 2. A couple of quibbles: There were several scenes that could have been tightened such as a lot of the dialogue scenes that slow the movie down but do nothing to move the movie forward and a death scene that just takes too dang long. And there is a lot of handheld work in the film, which tended to be more distracting than helpful. It increased the tension in some scenes but took me out of the movie in others.