Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (B)

The reason why this review is coming so late is because I've been debating with myself whether it's even necessary to review this film. If you're a Harry Potter fan, of course you'll see it anyway (if you haven't seen it twice by now), and besides, I'm a completely biased critic. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was one of the first movies I ever saw in a movie theater, and I've seen them all in the theater since. However, after much thought, I figured why not? Maybe I can add something new to the Potter conversation that hasn't been said by the thousands of other critics who wrote a review for this film. Unlike these other critics, I will not wax poetically about how everyone in the series has grown over the last 11 years. I also won't describe the plot of the film. Besides the fact that you already know it, you can read any other review for that. Now enough of my ramble, lets begin the review.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 is not really a Harry Potter movie. The Harry Potter movies circle around Harry learning magic and going on slightly scary adventures with Ron and Hermione. Obviously HPDH2 is not like this. Rather, it is a WWII war film which happens to contain vast amounts of sorcery. When spells crash into the mighty grounds of Hogwarts, it is more akin to the Nazi blitz on London than anything found previously in the Harry Potter universe. I do not mean to imply that this is a bad thing. Actually, in nearly every case but one, it is a great thing. However, that one case is that this style affects the "emotional end" of the series.

HPDH2 could have easily taken an extremely melodramatic style to give every character their own special goodbye, and it would've been horrible. No one but the die hard Potter fans want to see that. But because there's so much action going on in this film, many characters are just thrown to the side in favor of action. Characters like Fred and Lupin die without any real significance. For the casual fan, this might be unnoticeable, but if you wait 11 years for this moment it's a bit disappointing. Actually, it's very disappointing.

One thing which isn't disappointing is Alan Rickman's farewell performance as the dark and brooding Professor Snape. I've always noticed that his performances in this series have gone sadly unnoticed, and hopefully this will be the film where he is finally acknowledged for his fine work. Maybe an Oscar nomination (but not win. He's not that good) wouldn't hurt.

HPDH2 is a slightly disappointed way to end the multi-billion dollar 11 year franchise, but by blockbuster standards it's pretty good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the theater to see it again.

Grade: B