I had a lot of trouble with the last Harry Potter movie. I thought it was just outright bad. The six book is one that gets lost in the shuffle a little bit even though it's the book where Dumbledore dies at the end. (Spoiler Alert!) I thought the movie was really clumsy and boring. So while I'm always ready to watch a new Harry Potter movie, I wasn't as excited as I could have been for this one.
Perhaps that's why I enjoyed it so much. The first half of The Deathly Hallows book contains some of JK Rowlings best writing. I didn't remember a whole lot of the plot details while watching the movie but I do remember thinking that she had started to be able to really capture the nuance and relationship dynamic of the three lead characters. The director, David Yates, handles this part of the book really well I think and the actors are definitely up to the challenge. I couldn't decide which of the three was the better actor, I think they all have the opportunity to do some really fine work. Perhaps Daniel Radcliffe is at a slight disadvantage but it looks like he is picking roles in direct contrast to these in order to shake our idea of him as Harry Potter. Emma Watson will probably have the easiest time of it. Rupert Grint might be screwed, though I think in some ways he has been the better actor throughout this series of films.
This film marks the first time that you can really feel the weight that is placed on Harry and his friends to succeed. The stakes finally feel legit enough to actually be scared for the characters. In previous films, the atmosphere as been a little too light hearted I think. The initial books were more light hearted as well, perhaps because all three were under the protective eye of Dumbledore and therefore there was an element of safety to them. But in this film you can grasp the enormity of what Harry, Hermoine and Ron have to do to defeat Voldemort.
I suppose a lot of people might take issue with this film as it may seem a little boring and full of exposition. But what do they want? From reading other reviews online it seems like critics forget this is only half a story and it is supposed to make you immediately want to see the next movie. That's how Lauren and I felt immediately after seeing it. I consider it one of the most successful entires into the series.
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