By Wren Culp
Staff Writer
It’s hard to believe that the “Potter world” was created on the corner of a napkin by author J.K. Rowling. To start on a napkin and end as one of the greatest grossing film series of all time is pretty unbelievable, and the conclusion to the saga will definitely bring sadness to the Potter universe.
Harry and the gang are growing up. The hard times and horrors they faced at Hogwarts when they were first years are nothing compared to what they have overcome, and what still awaits them in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
The film seems to pick up right where the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, leaves off. The audience is thrown into the action right away and the film never looks back.
Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are being heavily followed by Lord Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters, while Harry is desperately trying to find and destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes. If you’ve read the book, then you will have no problem following the film.
But among the action sequences, the film relies heavily on the emotions of the three main characters and the frustration and tension lying between them. There is a lot more personal issues happening between them and it makes things a lot more interesting.
The acting from Radcliffe, Grint and Watson is once again just superb. Some of the best acted scenes are when the three are just talking to each other. And when they are talking to each other, there is such power in their words that it was chilling to watch.
But the three main stars aren’t the only acting phenomenons performing above expected. Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Bellatrix Lestrange had few lines but made herself convincing as a threat to Harry.
Unlike in the previous films where the viewer is left feeling confident about the future of the main characters, this film abruptly cuts off right when the plot really starts to move along.
The film is beautifully directed by David Yates who also took the reigns on the last two films in the saga. The cinematography is fantastic, and perhaps the best in the entire series.
Eduardo Serra was chosen to shoot the film after Bruno Delbonnel, who shot Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, opted out of working on Deathly Hallows with the fear of repeating himself.
The film uses a bunch of hand-held cameras to add effect to the suspenseful parts and it worked brilliantly. The shakiness of the camera while Harry was walking into the forest just made the suspense and scare factor build.
The score to the film was composed by Alexander Desplat after Nicholas Hopper, who composed the scores for Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, dropped out due to unknown reasons. The score is once again superb, enhancing the film in ways that some of the acting could not.
What I did notice and thoroughly enjoyed about the film is it’s pacing. The book is one of the slowest of the series due to having to cover so much information but when you watch the film everything just keeps escalating until it gets out of control. It is nice to sit on the edge of my seat while watching Harry and Ron talk to each other.
Overall, the film looks elegant, is enjoyable to watch and definitely will impress Potter fans. But if you haven’t seen any of the previous films, you will be completely in the dark.
