Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
3 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Ten years and eight films after the boy wand-twirler’s cinematic adventures began, the saga resolves in ways suspenseful, romantic and thrilling.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 makes a genuine summer blockbuster out of a fantasy franchise that has at times seemed too wedded to the text of J.K. Rowling’s source novels, the seventh and final of which was published in 2007.
Returning director David Yates, screenwriter Steve Kloves and many other creative hands pull out all the stops for the grand finale of the boy wizard’s long battle with evil Lord Voldemort, a snake-faced creep played with masterful menace by Ralph Fiennes.
The action rarely flags in the film, which at 131 minutes is the shortest of the Harry Potter sagas, but also the most exciting.
The long-anticipated siege of Hogwarts school, set to Alexandre Desplat’s urgent score, gets what can only be called the Lord of the Rings treatment, with visual mayhem and character dynamics writ large.
Even people fully versed in the plot will likely find themselves catching their breath as long-simmering developments reach fruition and apparent red herrings are addressed.
Hogwarts schoolmates Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) are once again front and centre, as they frantically search for the missing Horcruxes — mystical soul fragments — they need to vanquish Voldemort, who has long plotted to kill the mild-mannered and bespectacled Harry and gain control of his wizard’s domain.
Voldemort seems to have the upper hand, as Hogwarts falls under his command and the terrible wrath of his legions of Death Eaters and Dementors.
But Harry, Hermione and Ron have many supporters, some unexpected.
Familiar faces return for moments of grace and pathos, and it’s a particular pleasure to see what happens to the inscrutable Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), and also professors McGonagall (Maggie Smith), Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) and Flitwick (Warwick Davis).
It’s also gratifying to witness how Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have developed as actors, beginning the series as children in 2001 and concluding as young adults in 2011.
When it was announced last year that the final book of Rowling’s literary phenomenon would be split into two movies, the decision seemed based on financial rather than artistic criteria. Suspicion grew after Deathly Hallows Part 1 proved to be a bit of a slog. But Part 2 makes an excellent action counterpoint to Part 1’s many chess moves, and the split now seems justified to avoid an epic-length movie that would have worn out both kids and adults.
The only disappointing aspect of this otherwise stellar send-off to Harry Potter is the post-production conversion to 3-D, which adds absolutely nothing to the experience.
But neither does it detract from it. Heroic Harry and his pals confront their many foes and life issues in ways that should satisfy even those who had grown weary of the saga.
The final Harry Potter movie can be summed up by the final three words of the final Harry Potter book, which I present as a teasing acronym to avoid spoilers: “AWW.”
That may also be the sound you make at the conclusion of the film’s romantic epilogue, which will prompt many smiles of satisfaction.
Peter Howell is a syndicated movie critic for The Toronto Star.