Review By: Dan Geer

After I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was taken back by how dark it was and wondered just how cheerless Harry Potter’s journey has to go before things get bright again. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, we approach the beginning of the end of this decade-long journey we’ve taken with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) – and, thus far, there is no happy ending in sight (well, there’s really no ending at all, but I’ll get to that later).

At the end of the previous film, Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) was killed by Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) and our three heroes vowed to finish Dumbledore’s work and find the remaining horcruxes containing pieces of Lord Voldemort’s soul. Once all of these horcruxes are found and destroyed, Voldemort (once again played with great presence by Ralph Fiennes) and his newly found reign over Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic will cease to exist and everything will be better than it has ever been for our beloved characters.

This is the primary focus of the first part (and presumably the second) in the Deathly Hallows 2-film epic. To accomplish this task, Harry, Ron and Hermione must leave behind all that they hold dear in order to protect themselves as well as those they love. For the first time, we are forced out of warm and familiar settings such as the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which we have visited in every film prior to this one. While we do have the familiarity of many of our favorite characters from past films, the movie will mostly feel very desolate and foreign to those who have become fans of these pictures over the years, which ends up serving the film well since our heroes are venturing into uncharted and unsettling territory as well. In a sense, we are feeling exactly what they are feeling.

The three little kids studying magic at Hogwarts are all but grown up now, facing a darkness more bleak than it has ever been for them – not just in searching out the means to destroy Voldemort, but also in their relationships with each other. In a sense, they have been forced to graduate early and utilize their skills in the real world before they are mature enough to handle it all, which makes the task at hand all the more difficult and creates friction between them. The bond they share with each other has never been more difficult to maintain than in this film, and it really makes for some great character moments.

The movie is very, very much centered around these three characters, as we spend the majority of the time with them in isolation unraveling the mystery of the horcruxes. It sounds boring, and perhaps it might seem a bit slow at times. But Radcliffe, Grint and Watson carry the film well enough to keep us interested. They have proven here that they can hold their own amongst an all-star cast and can even get on just fine without them. It probably was their biggest challenge they faced as actors in this franchise, and, in my opinion, they succeeded with flying colors. They really have come a long way as actors since 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and it has never been more apparent than now.

Having said all that, since this film is actually the first of two parts (Part 2 will be released next July), it does not quite hold up as an individual story like the previous films. While it will benefit in the long run from being split in two, in that more of the book that it is based on can be translated to the big screen, it does sometimes feel like it is dragging its feet, and it struggles to have an actual climax or ending (although it has a decent stopping point). When the movie was over, it was as if I were reading the book and someone just took it from me midway through and promised to give it back next summer.

As of right now, the film is quite entertaining and interesting – with a decent balance of comedy and drama as well as a few noteworthy creep-out moments – but the story cannot really stand on its own without the second part since there is no immediate payoff for how much time the film takes to get anywhere. This is truly only half of a movie here.

Does that ruin it? No. In fact, it makes me all the more anxious for when I can pop in the blu-rays of both films and experience one completed story. On that level, it works. It is simply a matter of it falling victim to being only the first half of a larger story. While this really isn’t the film’s fault, it unfortunately lessens its ability to exist effectively as a single-film entity.

Rating: (out of four)