So I am going to start this off by saying two things **SPOILER ALERT** and I did not read a single page of any Harry Potter book. I have only seen the movies and all of my opinions/experiences with this movie are based as such. So with that, let us dive right in.
The Harry Potter(HP) series has been beloved to many, and known to pretty much all who have lived in the last decade. The movies themselves seemed to have as much fanfare as the people who waited in line for the books. Each one expanding the HP world more and more and getting darker every step along the way. Personally, I did not really like any of the HP movies until the fourth installment Goblet of Fire. The story finally got dark, instead of just pretending to be, and you start to see what Harry is truly up against and really what the whole series is leading towards. Fifth and sixth movies lose me a little bit, mainly because I did not read the books, and I know the big event from the both of them combined is Dumbledore dying.
I did not re-watch any of the previous films before watching Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2. I saw part one about a month and half ago, and of course saw part 2 yesterday afternoon. There are a lot of things happen in this last installment that I had completely forgotten or needed refreshers from my wife to really understand what was going on. Obviously that is as much my own fault as it is the movies skipping or compacting so much information into its films.
This is the best installment of the franchise. There really is not question about that. Aside from maybe one awkward kiss, every performance from the actors feels natural and polished. The young stars are complimented very well by the large cast of very seasoned and talented actors, and I do not really ever feel the need to say "why did they chose this guy?". The first part of The Deathly Hallows did not really make me very interested in seeing this film. I thought it was very distant, the action was forced, and it was fairly boring and slow paced. Not the case here. Pacing was very good. Transitions between characters led well into what was happening next, and as usual everything from an effects standpoint were stellar, sound, visuals, animation, all top notch.
I have a few reservations from a storytelling standpoint, and yes I do realize that the movies are still more of a service to those who read the books, but I do not have the extensive background knowledge. I am going to give you one more **SPOILER ALERT** although in all fairness if you really care about the series you probably have read the books, unlike myself. The thing that made me happiest in this movie was finally learning about Snape. From the early parts of the series I just wanted to know who the hells side he was on. Now just doing a 15 minutes dump on his whole history, which was not even really ever eluded to in the other movies was kind of a cop out in my opinion. I like twists in movies, and most great thriller or action movies have them. This story twist though was bordering on a little too far fetched for me. It made sense in the end of course, but I prefer when the story teller shows me something from the past story that may have tipped you in some way. The ties with the plague/black hand thing that Dumbledore had, which I did not even remember, I had to have explained to me later. Again it makes sense, but after so long it was something that felt like a stretch.
Now the final sequences. I was thinking from about the halfway point on, where is the other Deathly Hallow, the resurrection stone? Cool its in the snitch, of course Dumbledore had everything planned from the first movie, apparently so did Megatron. I would not have shown him finding the stone until after he was dead and talking to Dumbledore. I know it was not written that way, but it is a better surprise for the viewers, and those who did not read the book. Also you could have saved the "heavens gates" scene for right when Neville challenges Voldemort and he comes to right there. Also having V just disintegrate after the fight was a letdown. Blast him Harry, come on. You have spent your whole childhood knowing that this guy was out to kill you, and you let him die by some curse instead of killing him yourself? Sure that may not be the way Harry would do things, but it would have felt more like closure.
The epilogue felt forced to me as well. Yes I am stealing that idea from a friend who brought it up on facebook, but why is he not teaching? He never seemed very desperate to live a normal muggle life, and I really expected to end up in Hogwarts when they started that segment.
Overall the movie was better than I was expecting and made a heck of a lot more sense that some of the previous films. It actually has made me more of a HP fan than I ever was, and maybe I will make my way around to reading the books. There are a few things that like i mentioned could have made for better cinema for those who had not read the book, but it was well executed none the less.
Score: 8.4 I think it probably deserves a spot in the top 100. Not near the top, like the current unweighted 8.7 on IMBD would put it, but in there. Needless to say must see, after you have read/seen all the other installments.
