Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Movie Reviews

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Megat Redzuan / Reviewed on: July 15 2011


It all has to end, every single minute of the 18 hour-long Harry Potter movies preceding this one have been leading up to this moment. There was incredible hype for The Deathly Hallows Part 2 ever since the final scenes of the DH 1, and it has the impossible task of meeting the expectations that it has set for itself which is incredibly high. This is the perfect way to end the best movie franchise ever made. It's amazing to actually take a step back and look at all of the 8 movies, it never drops in quality and the shifts in the tone of the movies is just bloody awesome from the Sorcerer's Stone's light, funny, cheerful tone to the very dark and serious tone of the Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows 1 and 2. As always Mr Yates gets into the thick of the action and assumes that the audience knows everything and literally picks up where DH1 ended. Hogwarts surrounded by hovering Dementors and a despondent-looking new headmaster Severus Snape, cue the title sequence. You know you're in good hands. 




For the fans who did not like the DH1 citing a lack of action sequences and a slow dragging story (I really enjoyed DH1) will be satisfied with this one. Almost immediately it starts with a break-in into Gringotts bank with Harry and a creepy looking goblin on his back under the invisibility cloak, Ron wearing a goatee and Hermione taking the form of Bellatrix Lestrange via the polyjuice potion. Helena Bonham Carter was absolutely amusing impersonating Emma Watson's character impersonating her. Searching for a horcrux, followed swiftly by an abrupt escape plan with the trio holding on for dear life on a dragon. Action sequence junkies you'll love this movie. The special effects in this one is great, amazing looking wand duels, knights, trolls and everything in between as Hogwarts is turned into a battlefield not dissimilar to the Lord of the Rings' movies. The calm before the storm is very similar to The Two Towers when they're preparing for the arrival of Voldermort and his posse, everything is so well-paced and the story just flows effortlessly. 

But even with all that in abundance, the heart of the movie will always be in the close intimate scenes, the CGI effects will never upstage the emotional core of the movie, two life-long friends finally share a tender moment, a boy circled by his deceased family and his reunion with the man he so much admired and so much more. There are a lot of deaths and I'm quite surprised that a fair amount of them occurs off screen, probably it's supposed to give a much stronger impact but I really wanted to see the demise of some of them. All in all the story was very solid and so unbelievably satisfying. Desplat's score, hauntingly magnificent. Truly beautiful and laced with bits from John Williams' and Nicholas Hooper's pieces, reminding us of much simpler and happy times and when everything came crashing down respectively. Eduardo Serra's cinematography is phenomenal, really capturing the look and feel of the movie as he did in part 1, you really feel that death is coming for Hogwarts.

The stand-out performance for DH 1 was Emma Watson, DH 2 is where Daniel Radcliffe really shines. Harry Potter is no longer just the boy who lived, he's grown into a man on a mission, now equipped with a sense of authority and no one really questions him anymore, it's best to let him do what needs to be done. The negotiation scene with the goblin and with Mr. Ollivander was just so intense and delicately captured on screen showcasing a different side to Mr. Radcliffe. He was given a lot of dramatic and emotionally-heavy scenes and he really delivered, this was his movie along with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who have been in their roles for 10 years now, their casting really made the movie what it is. And let's not forget the most impressive supporting cast ever assembled with a slew of great British actors, you know who they are. Ralph Fiennes is menacing as the immortal Lord Voldermort but every time a Horcrux is destroyed he gets progressively weaker and Mr Fiennes' performance is very delicate showing the Dark Lord's vulnerability. Then there was the half-blood prince's revelatory piece which almost reduced me to tears. That was a heart-breaking montage of Snape's agendas and his sacrifices. Alan Rickman was outstanding showing the deeper, more emotional side of Severus Snape, give the man an Oscar already. For those that have been following ever since the first movie, the reward here is extremely gratifying. The epilogue of the movie which was set 19 years later was very bittersweet, did'tt want it to end. The final few moments before the screen faded to black, and before the sun sets on the best franchise ever made I also felt that the sun was setting on my childhood, saw the first movie when I was 10 years old, and it ended with the end of my teen years. I grew up with the movies. What a ride it has been, goodbye Harry Potter..