Film Review: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

OUT OF 4

J.K. Rowling’s exhilarating fantasy world comes to a poignant and satisfying end with this thrilling conclusive episode to the most financially rewarding franchise of all time.  For this eighth and final iteration, over a decade in the making, and, a global box office of 6.3 billion dollars, director David Yates working from a script adopted by Steve Kloves has made a film that will satisfy even the most skeptical viewers of this series.

The story picks up with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends, Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Ruppert Grint) becoming powerful adult wizards carrying out their mission to annihilate the rest of the seven mysterious Horcruxes that make up the satanic Medusa-faced and nose less master of evil Lord Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes plays Voldemort pitch perfect, a villain exuding an aura of hatred for Harry, The Boy Who Lived and who Dumbledore proclaimed was a brave boy becoming a wonderful man.

We accompany Harry intimately as he maintains a remarkable coolness in a ride to the Gringotts vaults; a dragon ride back up; wands crackling with lightning like energy.

We gasp in horror as we watch Hogwarts overrun and aflame and the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort, the ultimate showdown between good and evil, the climax the entire series has built toward from the beginning. This is the epic shoot out that determines the fate and future of the human race.

One must marvel at the precision and sophistication of the computer generated imagery in this episode and single out production designer Stuart Craig for outstanding work.  The 3-D,  while not essential,  does create at times an immersive effect that highlights the magical realm and helps captures our imagination. One must not neglect to praise the beautiful scoring of Alexandre Desplat whose work adds so much heightened drama to this grand finale.

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