Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 – Grim Victory [Movie Reviews]

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The Good: Continues the trend of the Harry Potter movies increasing in quality, complexity and original material. As a result of the two-part format, doesn’t rush through important segments or thematic moments. Special effects and music blend well into the story to create the most epic fantasy-mission film since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. Doesn’t shy away from the adult themes of the book, including the racial and political messages. And, really, it’s Harry freakin’ Potter. Also, Dobby.

The Bad: Awkward, plot-forced dialogue. The continuing obsession with the dark and cold light filters that have plagued the series since Cuarón’s Azkaban. One wildly out-of-place sexual fantasy. Pacing drags in the middle, mirroring the book’s major flaw. Do not watch before July if you hate cliffhangers.

Bottom Line: Come on, you’re probably going to watch this. And if you’re so much as moderately into Harry Potter, you’re going to enjoy it.

Writing a Harry Potter film review is something of a fruitless exercise. You’re either Potter-crazy, which, in most cases, means you will insist that this movie and its sequel will handily replace Citizen Kane and Casablanca in cinematic history. You could also be so Potter-crazy, that the deviance from the source material will render this an unwatchable blasphemy. Either way, my ramblings won’t convince you much one way or another.

You may also just not understand why people like Harry Potter, in which case, I don’t recommend you go near this movie. While it stands apart from its source material as an exercise in good film-making, it’s definitely made to reward the Potter fans that have paid their dues throughout the past decade-and-change. Luckily for Warner Bros., most of the civilized universe is a fan of the Boy Who Lived.

 

I refuse to be caught off-guard by this movie. Won't have another Narnia pulled on me.

But, for form’s sake, a quick plot summary: Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) aren’t going back to Hogwarts for the final year of magical schooling. For one thing, their least favorite Professor, Snape (Alan Rickman), has been made Headmaster by a Ministry of Magic that has been infiltrated by the tyrannical bigot Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). More importantly, their real mission, as entrusted by the late Albus Dumbledore, is to find and destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes, items that contain the dark wizard’s split soul, so that Harry can fulfill the prophecy and finish him forever. Understandably, Voldemort’s numerous followers, the Death Eaters, are relentlessly hunting Harry down while Voldy seeks a powerful new weapon to finally get the upper hand on the Boy Who Lived.

Now, I have several bones to pick with Deathly Hallows the novel. I didn’t appreciate the concept of new macguffins for the characters to track down or a complete lack of Hogwarts for most of the story. So it’s a testament to the movie that this ranks above all the other film installments in objective quality. The major problems with the movie relate directly the the major problem from the book — namely, Harry and company spend so much time sitting around. It’s almost more frustrating on screen than on paper.

The saving grace is David Yates’ direction and the acting by the main trio, which take otherwise boring, useless scenes and add layers of meaning to make them worthwhile. The major acting moment comes through in Ron and Harry’s simmering conflict brought on by the stress of the mission. While Rowling competently conveys the jealousy and frustration that sets the characters off in the book, Grint and Radcliffe improve on the moment. They never get melodramatic or lapse into the infamous ALL CAPS MODE that made Harry such a mockery in Book 5. They simply have a falling out and this is effectively more distressing than having them chew the scenery and wail on each other.

One place where they could have dialed back on the Academy Award attempts would be a couple of scenes involving Harry and Hermione. In an attempt to comfort his friend, Potter engages her in a spontaneous ritual that I think is supposed to resemble dancing. The way he jerks his arms back and forth like a Rock-Em Sock-Em robot makes me think it would have been less awkward if they had just grinded to modern rap music. But that scene is quickly eclipsed in awkwardness when we finally see the much-reported-on “nude” scene between the two which feels longer than it is. I want you to be as put-off as I was when you see it, so suffice it to say that it crosses a line that didn’t need to be crossed.

 

They're going to make us do what? ... But ... Why?

It’s not the only piece of fanservice thrown to the hormonal teenage fans. We’re also treated to a shot of Bonnie Wright’s unzippered back right before some (tame) Harry-on-Ginny action. But I’m not going to begrudge Harry getting a little something-something when he has so much emotional upheaval to go through later anyway. So I’m going to allow that scene.

Awkward studies of teenage lust aside, it’s worth having that padding in there to extend this final chapter into two parts, because for the first time, things don’t seem rushed in a Harry Potter film. We get a sufficiently action-packed beginning on the British motorways, a tense and unsettling scene in Godric’s Hollow, a captivatingly animated telling of the central Three Brothers myth and, my favorite sequence, a mission to the Ministry of Magic that is alternately hilarious and foreboding. Seeing the precision with which the wizard clerks create their “Dangers of Mudbloods” pamphlets is an effectively Orwellian touch, with just enough levity to make it bearable.

For better or for worse, “levity” is a rare feeling in Hallows. Most families with young children should leave the kids at home or at least mentally prepare them for the traumatizing assault on their innocence. It’s not just the acts of murder, bloodied bodies, corpses both lifeless and animated, tortured screams, or out-of-left-field naked-sexual-nightmares that might make younger audiences uncomfortable. It’s the pervasive feeling of hopelessness that accompanies the Horcrux mission.

This is a movie where Voldemort has won. The forces of evil are in control and our heroes are using all their energy to survive, let alone fight back. So if your kids are into this for the scenes of whimsy and mirth that Chris Columbus so innocently infused in the early films, keep them away form DH until they’ve been to their first funeral. It’s heavy.

 

UNCLE! UNCLE! YOU'RE A GROWN-UP FRANCHISE, I ADMIT IT! STOP WITH THE SAD!

To convey that sense of omnipresent doom, the film series trades in composer Nicholas Hooper for the brooding themes of Alexandre Desplat. While Hooper was no slouch when it came to creepy, atmospheric music, Desplat’s score is made to weave around the darkness of the plot. From the ominous buildup of the opening scenes to the heart-wrenching funeral at the end, the viewer is kept emotionally vulnerable throughout. Though I miss Hooper’s penchants for big, sweeping themes and offbeat humor pieces, Desplat’s more consistent approach fits this film like a wand fits its master.

But, of course, it wouldn’t be an edgy Harry Potter flick without the Dementor-effect of the cold, dark light filters that have plagued the film series for years. In this movie, Emma Watson’s hotness is severely muted by the palor cast by the unflattering tent lights. Several scenes seem to happen at night because the cinematographers have no idea how to convey danger in broad daylight. And it’s hard to understand what Dobby means by “such a beautiful place to be with friends,” when all I see is gray sand lit by an unnatural light-blue hue.

I understand that this is a darker Potter, but making it literally dark and drab for the majority of the movie isn’t that necessary given the existing plethora of moodiness. It’s a cheap concept that they’ve been using since Prisoner of Azkaban, ostensibly because viewers are too stupid to know whether they should be sad even if a beloved character is suffering on screen. To be fair, Hallows literally lightens up every now and then — a couple of forest scenes come to mind — but I’ve given up on seeing the lush color palette of the first two films ever again.

In the same vein, the intensity of the endgame has seemed to suck a bit of the humor out of the Harry Potter films. Audiences used to look forward to the witty one-liners dropped to break the tension or simply punctuate an already light-hearted scene. Veteran Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves has unfortunately decided to do away with the tongue-in-cheek and play it straight in most scenes — even those that badly need comic relief. In contrast, Rowling’s original prose maintains the mischievous and sometimes morbid humor that’s been present since the beginning.

 

Psst. Guys. It's sad-time. The color says so.

The movie does have a lot of fun with the Ron-Hermione relationship, though, albeit in the form of the well-worn nagging-girlfriend cliché.

Ultimately, however, the movie’s unique touches are what make it well worth watching no matter how familiar you are with the novel. Scenes shot on location in London and in the British country create a rich, visual experience specific to the screen. In terms of writing, the screenplay does away with a lot of the details that bogged down the original plot and proceeds in a streamlined fashion. Not to knock J.K. Rowling’s sense of completion in bringing back characters like Viktor Krum, but sometimes you just want to get at the meat of a scene and Hallows does this well, so far.

While it’s undeniably part of a larger whole, Part 1 definitely has a robust arc, albeit a ruthlessly depressing one. I have no shame in admitting that I let a couple tears roll down my cheek in the emotional ending and the final shot of Voldemort victorious in his latest achievement is an apt and chilling way to break for an intermission.

Given how much ground we covered in this half, Part 2 should be full of Hogwarts action scenes and it’ll certainly have us fans ready to jump in. So bravo to the filmmakers for following through on an idea that isn’t just profitable to the studios — it serves the final story of the series well and sets us up for an epic goodbye that is only fitting for a franchise which saw so many of my generation through maturity.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 gets NINE out of TEN Elder Wands.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1
Rated PG-13 for crippling emotional abuse
Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling
Directed by David Yates
Screenplay by Steve Kloves
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography by Eduardo Serra
Editing by Mark Day
Production Studio: Heyday Films
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Running time: 146 minutes

Reviews at:
RottenTomatoes (76)
MRQE (71)
Metacritic (69)

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