Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) (David Yates, 2010)

Many people have praised the latest Harry Potter film as one of the best in the series and I agree. It is quite different from the earlier films, particularly the first. We see less Hogwarts students (and hardly any Hogwarts itself) and more of the wider magical community. Harry, Ron and Hermoine are out in the real world (well, ‘real’ magical world) and on the quest to defeat the darkest wizard, Lord Voldemort.

Another way this film differs is its darkness and violence − there are fewer light-hearted moments and more dramatic, intense, life and death situations. It definitely seems like the Harry Potter series is growing along with its audience. Those early fans of the books and first films are now older and this film caters to the evolving audience.

So most of this film we see the three friends try and track down the Horcruxes in order to destroy Lord Voldemort (actually it’s mainly Harry and Hermoine, as Ron is a bit more temperamental). This group of young wizards has grown and now they’re taking on huge responsibilities. While they pretty much have the future of the wizarding world relying on them to help defeat the Dark Lord, they are quite alone in this film, both physically, as they stay in quite isolated environments, and emotionally, as now with Dumbledore dead, they don’t really have any powerful adults they can trust and who understand their “mission”.

So all these elements combined into a quite entertainment film. Though I was a fan of the books and thus, would have slightly different expectations than someone unfamiliar with them, I found that I had actually forgotten of the details in the later books. So I roughly knew the story but all the same I was surprised and engaged in the story. Definitely one of the best films in the Harry Potter series − looking forward to the final one.

4.5/5