Review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) by Deardear — 19 Nov 2010

This film comes as a tremendous disappointment after Half-Blood Prince, which succeeded in turning the least action-oriented Potter book into a compelling film by combining great pacing with the perfect balance of wit, poignancy, and suspense. The pacing of Deathly Hallows: Part I drags due to its slavish faithfulness to the source material. I'm an avid fan of the books, but, realistically, not everything J. K. Rowling wrote can be translated well to the silver screen. There's so many scenes in this film that could have stood to be reduced in length or cut entirely: Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry and Hermione's visit to Godric's Hollow, the camping, Dobby's death and burial. None of these scenes are integral to the story, and it honestly seems as if the only reason they were included was to pad the film's running time, thereby justifying the split into two parts. We could have had a single tightly-paced three-hour epic, but instead we are being given two halves that can't stand on their own. The combined viewing experience will always be equal to the sum of its parts.

In addition, some of the performances seem phoned-in, particularly Nighy and Ifans. The whole film is pervaded with a sense of let's-get-this-over-and-done-with. It's a sad conclusion to a series that went nearly a decade without producing a dud.