“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” goes out on a high

One grand finale – It’s hard to believe this is the final chapter for the incredible “Harry Potter” series. But, it has been 10 years and while some might be happy to finally see this series go, others will miss it terribly.  And who could blame them, given its taken seven stories and eight films to get to this final act of what has been one of the greatest series to hit the big screen? At the heart of it all, is of course J.K. Rowling, who clearly is one of the most successful writers our generation has ever seen. Worth an estimated $15 billion, the Harry Potter brand is like no other of its kind, paving the way for the amazing film series that has finally concluded with this final installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.”

Picking up where we left off…we find Harry Potter at the secluded Shell Cottage where Griphook the Goblin was held up. Turns out Griphook is well connected in the Goblin world, so when Harry figures out that one of the Horcruxes is hidden in Bellatrix Lestrage’s personal vault at a local bank, he talks Griphook into helping them. In exchange for his services, Harry agrees to give Griphook his Sword of Gryffindor. After discovering the Horcrux, Griphook takes off with the sword, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione to figure out an exit strategy. Fighting off a series of curses placed on virtually everything within this vault, the three manage to escape on the back of a dragon. It was then Harry connected with Voldemort in his mind, learning there were still two more Horcruxes to be found and destroyed. One was Voldemort’s own snake, Nagini, while the other was said to be hidden somewhere in Hogwarts. So, naturally they return to Hogwarts to begin the search, but when new headmaster Servus Snape hears of Harry’s return, all hell breaks loose leading to a wild web of lies and truths that would change the course of history for everyone involved.    

Three’s company – One of the truly remarkable anecdotes to this series is how we have watched Harry, Ron and Hermione grow up before our eyes. Some may push this aside as just ‘par for the course,’ but I think given the depths of Rowling’s seven books, for these three to make it this far is quite extraordinary. Sure, there are others that have been around the same 10 years, but none have had the jobs of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. These three were the glue that kept all of Rowling’s words in order and it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Harry, Ron and Hermione. Their creativity and continuity with one another kept you engaged with all the chaos that so often surrounded them. And the best part was, you never seemed to get enough of them. Because with so much magic and action going on, it’s easy to lose sight of just how incredible someone like Emma Watson has been in this series, especially during this last chapter. Like in Part 1, I could have had a lot more Watson, but in fairness, this was not her story.  It was Daniel Radcliffe’s own Harry Potter, who even as a living legend was still humble enough to “fight the good fight” when standing face to face with his long time nemesis Lord Voldemort, masterfully played by Ralph Fiennes.

Magical moviemaking – There are some who still have never heard of David Yates, the director of both Part 1 and 2 of this last chapter dubbed, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” There are even some that think the same director has been behind the camera for all eight films. Either way, we all should be glad David Yates was the guy picked to direct these final three chapters, as I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job. And what’s great is Yates got his chops from TV. That’s right; the same director who masterfully finished off this series only did TV before this. Yeah, he directed a couple short films, but never a full major motion picture like “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” Yates first of four “Harry Potter” films. Talk about striking the iron while it’s hot and frankly, who could blame him? When you get this far in a series, one thing you hope for is finding answers to all your questions to this point. Well, Yates and Co. did not disappoint, as you were led into the past and future almost seamlessly at times. Some of that was due to the tremendous CGI and action sequences while some of it was just the pure magic put into words by Rowling. And even though she didn’t adapt the script, don’t think for a minute she wasn’t involved. Her creativity is all over this film and it truly can’t be said enough how crucial that was to its success.

Bottom Line – When it comes to a film like “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” you never feel you have said enough. That’s mostly because of the sheer size of each of the books this series was based from.  But, the best part is, whether you live here or overseas, this series is loved for the same reasons, which at the end of the day is all you want.
A –
For more movie reviews by Marcus, click here