Review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) by Garrett ! — 07 Apr 2014

It's half a movie. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I truly is the first half of an epic film, the likes of which are rarely matched by any movie, let alone a book-to-film adaptation, but it really is the first part. I can't wait to see the second half so that the true scope of the movie can be laid bear for us all. But, in the long six months to come as we all await the final touch on a movie series a decade in the making, we are left with only the initial piece. But I'm happy to say: it's good. Very good. But it's not perfect, not by any means.

The first compliment I'd like to give this movie is this: the cinematographer is absolutely brilliant. The Harry Potter movies have always had excellent cinematography, from the warm, magical visual tone of the first movies, to the grim and grimy darkness of the latest movies, the visual skill is evident. I absolutely love the camera-work in this series, and I think that that's one of the most important parts in any movie.

Additional praise must go to the fact that the plot has improved from the previous two efforts. Hanging plot points and dialouge are less obvious and pervasive than they have been in Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince. The process is still a little wince-worthy at times, but at least non-Potterphiles can understand ninety percent of what's being said.

Another point of interest and quality in this movie: as has been pointed out many times, HP7:PI looks and feels like a road movie that channels the bleak tone of such recent films as The Road. That's not to say that HP7:PI is a completely hopeless movie, but it's close. The solitary nature of the film is immediately obvious, as the usually everpresent eclectic ensemble of magical characters is absent in this movie. Much of the lengthy running time is the main trio of Potter, Granger and Weasly, with a few enemies present. There's no Hogwarts teachers and students, no limiting boundries of Hogwarts castle. It's just them and the sweeping vistas of modern England. Aided by the subdued score, which is often a quiet solo or a few instruments at a time, the solitude of being on the run is conveyed with skill, but it can't help but feel a little strange after six movies straight of a huge cast of characters always there, all the time.

Lastly in my long list of breathless praise for this film, I adore the acting. It's all top-notch, especially the masterful work of Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint, who have come so far and have done so well. The spotlights shine brightly on these three, and they don't let us down. Bravo, I say, bravo.

But now we reach the painful point of any review: what went wrong and why. My first qualm is, as with the last two movies, Yates. Yates is good at the technical side of film-making. He weaves a skillful film, but he lacks the dramatic sense I had come to expect from Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire. He's good, different, but he's just not my preffered style of director, which I know is my problem, but still, I can't say that I get very excited as often as I did in some of the other films in the series.

Next, there is one point in the film that is rather jarring upon a first viewing, a scene so out of place in the Potter film mythos that it left me confused at the inclusion of the piece. The scene of which I speak is a stylized interpretation of Hermione's telling of the Deathly Hallows story. The art is beautiful, but completely out of place in the usual style of the Potter films, which have attempted to trend towards the realistic in the last few films. It looks like a cutscene from a video game, not something you'd see in a Harry Potter movie.

Regardless, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is a very good film. Now I'm only left anxiously awaiting the finale that will satisfy and finish the series I have loved and have grown up with.