Film Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – part 1 (2010)

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SYNOPSIS:

As Harry races against time and evil to destroy the Horcruxes, he uncovers the existence of three most powerful objects in the wizarding world: the Deathly Hallows. 

REVIEW:

Harry Potter and the gang are at it again! This round is a rather lengthy round 1 to a 2 part finale starting with the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” continuing epic.

Hogwart’s school is no where in sight and the gang has moved on to bigger things. In this life-lesson film things have certainly taken a turn for the worst in the world. The dark legions who are heralded by Lord Voldemort, have joined forces in a collected attempt to kill off Harry.

The stakes have been raised as the need to eliminate Harry Potter who is being protected by his friends and colleagues, has become the primary focus of the entire dark legion. Muggles have been getting murdered more often and the team of Harry (Harry Potter), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) are still on their quest to collect the Horcruxes items that are supposed to help them defeat the darkside.

Harry’s mentor Dumbledore is long gone buried in a stone catacomb and somehow reminding us of the days when Ben kenobi took a hit for the good of the force. We almost expect him to pop up like a windup toy spouting…aha! Though in his absence, a puzzle begins to unravel that extends way beyond the grave. A few choice gifts are willed to the Potter 3 which also come in handy as they make their way portal jumping all over the place. Deathly Hallows surely feels like the darkest Harry Potter film yet with all the nasty magicians joining now to support their leader. I did get a hint from the expressions that even his dark minions were starting to disapprove of his tactics a bit. But none-the-less- we get the sense that they are still sticking around by fear alone rather than enrage his powers against them.

From the get go , we got all types of soul eater entities flying around looking for Harry Potters to kill (you’ll know what I mean from the first act). We learn of the relationship between the wands and that Lord Voldemort is really fearing something that Harry potter hasn’t realized yet. The now grown up magic kids are fully delving and experiencing relationship issues with Harry at the center of attention again. At some point you want to say tot to the magic unions….Harry doesn’t get what you all seem “too” get, just leave the kid alone already.

My biggest complaint with this film was a heavy use of English accents, that just were indecipherable at times. I don’t like to see films ina theater that I know I’m going to have to watch again with subtitles to pickup what key plot moments I missed.

Now while, this film has plenty of the usual cool factor stuff going on with some exciting visual effects work, there is instantly a feeling of deja vu that I like to refer to as…”begin with all kinds of cool visuals and then peter out” approach. This film mirrored it’s last few films in that sense, with some great pull-you-in content while leveling off too much…. later. Clocking in at about 2 and 1/2 hours, I just felt that there was too much hiding and waiting that could have been left on the cutting room floor. Really if this movie was cut down to 90 minutes with the best stuff played forward it would have been a great film. When the drama lagged on from situation to situation I really started to lose my focus a bit. It still outranks the last Harry Potter film which in my opinion was the worst of the series, though in the interest of making money and milking the story line we are uneedingly trolled thru too much of “this” and not enough of “that”. Helena Bonham Carter though really makes a stand out performance as a lethal conniving witch of a woman per Bellatrix Lestrange

With the next movie being planned out and finishing up the series, I think we all are ready to close this franchise and maybe even go back and watch the first one to experience the original charm and inventiveness it offered. Lord Voldemort is the 21st Century Darth Vader who you would think would magic up himself a decent nose job already and tone down the evil intentions a bit. Directed by David Yates, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – part 1” is still a high production FX woven fantasy piece that has alot to offer. There are some really standout moments and alot of use of smokey stuff flying around that keep things alive. You should prepare yourself though for a long sitting that has some definite lag moments through out.