We have come to it at last, the final Harry Potter film. Not only is it the end of the film film franchise but it feels like the end of Harry Potter, at least for me. Harry potter has been a part of my life from the late 1990s all the way up to now. I have read all the books and seen all the films. When I read the final book in 2007 I did not feel as I do now because at the time I still had a few movie adaptions to look forward to, but now there is nothing. All I have is a head full of memories. With that said the The last film will probably go down as a favorite amongst fans. While watching this film it is so difficult to not compare book to film and be objective but I will try to do my best in this review. Book lovers need to look at these films with a non-book point of view or else they will be really disappointed because the books are vastly superior to any of the films.
The stakes have never been higher, the epic scope has never been larger. This film has what the the fans of fantasy love, magic, dragons, epic battles etc. You finally get to see the Wizards and Witches do battle, there is destruction, carnage and death. Gone are the light happy times that we saw in the earlier films. The world is dark, gritty, and extremely dangerous. The wizarding world has been that way now for several movies, but now it has reached its peak in all out war. The ultimate battle of Good vs. Evil and the setting for this epic battle is none other than Hogwarts.
Yes, as already known by long time fans of the books, the majority of the last film takes place at Hogwarts in the midst of a final battle. As expected the action was amped up for this film and it was an awesome spectacle to watch. Normally I would object to such mindless action because I prefer plot and character development, but this is the 8th and final film. It also is essentially the second part of one long film. The first part is where the plot is laid out as well as the character development.
I am not a fan at all of the David Yates Directed films of the Harry Potter franchise, but the one compliment I can pay him is that he really captures the look and atmosphere well. The visual style that he chose to use for his Harry Potter films was good. The same can be said for this film as well. The special effects for this film were on par with the previous Yates films and they did a very good job of depicting the magical world of Harry Potter. The viewer is very much drawn into the film and that world created by JK Rowling. All of that is a credit too Yates' visual direction of his films.
Another thing I also must comment on is the acting. Throughout the entire series we have seen the young cast grow not only physically but professionally. This was a decade long film franchise that was able to maintain the core cast for the entire time. They have improved immensely in their acting ability throughout the franchise. Watching this film and then going back and watching an earlier film and one can see the difference in acting. Daniel Radcliffe especially did a good job in this film and throughout the series. Portraying the most popular literary character in the last 20 years on the screen is no small task. Rupert Grint also did well in this last installment. He has always fit the role well in my opinion. Emma Watson has been the weakest in my opinion throughout the franchise, as Hermione but she too improved for these last few films. Alan Rickman has been the most consistently great actor throughout this franchise and although he is only on the screen for a short time in this film he was still great.
The biggest gripe I have with Yates' Harry Potter films is the pacing is to fast. In my opinion it is because the films are just to short. This film is the shortest of all the films in the franchise with a runtime of 130 minutes. I know this is suppose to be the action part of the 7th film but you need to slow it down. There are also several deaths in this film that are briefly looked at and there is barely any pause to acknowledge the emotional weight of these deaths. I knew it was going to happen, the deaths of Lupin and Tonks was terribly done and if you had not read the books you would really not care at all about these characters. Those characters should have had more screen time in previous films to make the viewer actually care about their death. Also the death of one of the Weasley brothers needed more time as well, The deaths just seemed to rushed and lacked the emotional weight they deserved. The Yates films always seem to lack the extra emotion that the books were able to capture. I am not asking for an extra hour of footage but maybe 20 minutes or slightly more and you would have a film that flowed better.
There was one point in the film where it slowed down and I was so happy when it did. It was the scene when Harry views Snape's memories and the truth about Snape is revealed. Up to that point, I had the film at a 3.7 and that scene was what upped the rating for me. It was one of the non action scene that I liked. The final fight between Harry and Voldemort, while I understand why it needed to be longer than the book, started out well but grew into a bit of a mess. Especially when Harry and Voldemort were flying around Hogwarts.
Although I do have a lot of criticism for this film franchise, I still will re-watch it just because I am a fan. The franchise overall is disappointing because I feel that the later films could have been so much better had they been longer.
Also if you had not read the books you missed out on so much important details that were just ignored. But with all my problems with the series I will miss both the books and the films because I looked forward to their release. Overall I will give this film a 4.1/5 stars. Could have been better had it been longer.
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