Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. Invisibilty cloaks. Butterbeer. These are the images most people conjure up in their minds when they think about Harry Potter.
But as Neville Longbottom says in the eighth and final installment of the film series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” Hogwarts has changed.
Before the title appears on the screen, the camera zooms in on Voldemort thrusting his wand into the air and casting the Warner Brothers logo into the sky, letting the audience know from the beginning that the tone of this movie is much more sinister. Most of the film takes place at night or on overcast, gloomy days, and the darkness hangs like a pall over the theater as Harry, Ron and Hermione hunt down Voldemort.
image courtesy of rottentomatoes.com
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson turn in their strongest performances of the series in this film. At one point, Ron and Hermione share a passionate, relief-fueled kiss after a brush with death in the Chamber of Secrets. Grint and Watson’s comedic timing is so spot on, the audience can’t help but smile. And when Harry realizes he’s ready to die if that’s what it takes to save his friends, Daniel Radcliffe looks like he’s aged a decade in three minutes.
But the trio can’t carry this movie alone, and the supporting cast complements them perfectly. Maggie Smith absolutely kills it as Professor Minerva McGonagall, adding some levity to the heavy film with her subtle, knowing smirk. As she works her magic to bring some stone guards to life and they begin leaping over her head, she says, “I’ve always wanted to use that spell,” giggling like a first-year. In this particular showing, that line got one of the first genuine laughs of the night from the audience.
If one member of the cast deserves an Oscar nod, though, it’s Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape. Rickman could read the dictionary and creep you out, but his emotional depth in one of Harry’s flashbacks proves there’s more to him than his authoritative baritone. He shows an extraordinary range of emotions – vulnerable as he watches Lily Evans, the love of his life, fall for James Potter, devastatingly heartbroken as he cradles her dying body in his arms.
The only weak link in the film was the romance between Harry and Ginny Weasley, played by Bonnie Wright. Wright seems like a fine actress, but her character’s screen time was so short that it was difficult to believe she and Harry were in love.
Still, you need to see this film. Just in case you’re still not convinced, the insane battle sequences alone are worth the price of admission. The characters’ wands shoot out everything from fire to light to streams of water, and so many things explode you may think Michael Bay’s directing.
When the final battle is over, Hogwarts looks more like a war zone than a wizardry school. But in the movie’s final scene, several main characters stand at Platform 9 and 3/4 to send their own children away on the Hogwarts Express, reassuring the audience that the school we all dreamed of attending as pre-teens has been restored.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is the perfect conclusion to a world-famous series, and the performances are brilliant across the board. Even if you’ve never been a die-hard, stay up all night waiting for the book or movie release kind of Harry Potter fan, you really shouldn’t miss this movie.
Film GPA: 3.74