If
there were ever a pair of films made to advocate splitting adaptations of a
book in half, it’s probably The Deathly
Hallows. I’ve already sung the praises
of part 1, and part 2 is every bit as excellent. Exciting, emotional, engrossing, and
invigorating, this movie brings the franchise to a fitting close (and, for me,
it does so even better than the book.)
Considering
how little major plot remains, the film fills out surprisingly well. Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s quest to find and
destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes takes them back to Hogwarts. As they race to complete their mission, the
school becomes the backdrop for the final stand against Voldemort and his
followers. Harry is horrified to see
friends fighting and dying for what he feels is his battle, and in the end, it
of course comes down to the Dark Lord and the Boy Who Lived, seeing which will
carry the day.
Much
like part 1 makes the long camping/trekking sequences impressively watchable,
this film does wonderfully with what’s mainly a big fantasy battle. Now, I’m all for a good fantasy battle, but
as The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies shows, you
can’t base an entire film around it. It
just gets to be too much, and the whole thing devolves into sameness. Then, no matter how cool or well-performed
the fighting is, you kind of resent it for giving you such a surfeit. The trick with The Deathly Hallows: Part 2,
I think, is that there’s still quite a bit of story woven in the same time. As the battle rages around the castle, Harry
and his friends are still chasing Horcruxes, solving mysteries, and discovering
hidden truths about themselves. This
provides a lot of variance in the flow of the story, and even if some of these
sequences are action-heavy (like the confrontation in the Room of Requirement,)
it’s a different sort of action to the fight going on outside. In this way, the big fight never flags or feels
repetitive.
The
action also remains grounded in the characters.
There are some gorgeous friendship moments among the trio, lots of
supporting characters get a chance to shine (I like Luna giving Harry what for,
and I love Neville Longbottom his inner badass while still being so completely Neville,) and Harry’s own journey is
gripping to the end. And emotional –
wow! I mentioned it above, but it’s
true. In the last hour, this movie wrecks me. The whole Prince’s Tale sequence is
beautifully, flawlessly executed, and the Resurrection Stone scene is sublime. Everyone’s acting is just crazy on-point, and
the direction is fantastic. Knockout,
all the way.
A few
more fine faces in British acting I should mention. A nigh-unrecognizable Ciarán Hinds (who I’ll
always know best as Capt. Wentworth from the Amanda Root version of Persuasion) turns in a nice performance
as Aberforth Dumbledore, and the terrific Kelly Macdonald (State of Play alum!) is great in her scene as the Grey Lady.
(As
much as I love the movie, though, the epilogue is still ridiculous. That treacle
didn’t work for me in the book, and the only reason it’s any better here is
because there’s less of it. Ayiyi.)
Warnings
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