Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Before anything else, perhaps it is important to say first up that I left Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 feeling a bit flat. I did not like that the final book was split into two movies and felt that part 1 came across as a little tired. I walked out of Part 1 knowing that I would have to go and sit through Part 2 just to have my Harry Potter movie experience complete.

So I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and at the conclusion pretty much felt the same as I did for Part 1. I considered that the plot wasn’t substantial enough to justify a second film and the dialogue was minimal. For the first half an hour of the movie I spent that time trying to remember what happened during Part 1 and also what actually happened in the book. The reason being is that I saw Part 1 a year ago and read book 7 when it was published in paperback.

The acting was good, the visual effects were convincing (except in the pensieve scene where it appeared remarkably different to previous movies) and the thing that saved it for me was the enjoyment of the first 5 movies and the completion of the storyline.

For me, I grew tired of the Voldemort storyline around about the time where Snape killed Dumbledore. From this point on in the books I was drawn to the question of whether Snape was good or bad. To me this was the more important question, rather than how will Voldemort meet his downfall, or wondering whether or not Harry will survive.

The notion that if you give someone a second chance and have them turn on you as it was implied with the Dumbledore and Snape storyline was fascinating. I spent a lot of time willing Snape to be good because I could not fathom how a children’s writer could be sending the message to children that you shouldn’t give people second chance.

Just imagine a world where people did not give second chances?? To me, this would mean that if you made a mistake you would be punished by not being given the opportunity to right a wrong. Personally, I don’t think that would be a great world. When you make a mistake you should be given the chance to use that experience as learning curve.  So, Snape just had to be good.

It is important to remember that the movie was only based on the book and as you have a limited timeframe you can’t cover everything in the movie. Fortunately the saving grace of the movie for me was that they did complete the Snape and Dumbledore story.

My advice would be to rewatch part 1 before seeing part 2 and maybe then you would experience a more complete ending to the Harry Potter movie experience.

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