The Harry Potter franchise began a decade ago, and now with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2, it all comes to an end. This is the film everyone has been waiting for. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 set us up and this one provides a finale that will floor you. To say this film is exciting and entertaining is an understatement. It is the showdown that we have all waited in anticipation for and director David Yates (who has directed the last four Harry Potter films) does not disappoint. This franchise began as a children’s fantasy movie to a story about life, survival, and death. Like the kids themselves, this series has grown-up tremendously, and with every film the acting, storytelling, and overall quality is sensational and keeps getting better and better.
The second part picks right up from where the first one ended. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) continue their journey to find Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) last remaining Horcruxes and destroy them and finally defeat him once and for all. Never before has Hogwarts looked so dark and cold, and the battles that have occurred over the past seven years there seem minimal compared to the war that is unleashed this time around. And Harry knows it will eventually come down to a face-to-face final showdown between him and Voldemort, and there must be a winner.
But before the epic fight happens, there is a lot of bloodshed on both sides. And if you have read the book then you know quite a few popular characters don’t make it out alive. And to watch some of them die on-screen is tragic, but almost weird. You begin to think back when you were first introduced to them and how far everyone has come, and now their time is up and it surprises and is unexpected, especially for those who never finished reading the books like myself. It is certainly an end of an era with this last film, but there is no better way to go out than what Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2 offers and delivers to all of its fans.
Yates does an amazing job with this final installment. The look, tone, and feel of the Harry Potter franchise has completely changed for the better. We have watched Harry, Ron, and Hermione grow up on-screen and each film has slowly gotten darker and more serious. It has been an ongoing process since this whole thing began. And Yates has adjusted to it spectacularly and with such ease. He was definitely the right man for the job to send this iconic franchise riding in to the sunset.
This Harry Potter film had to do something that none of the other films in the past had to and that was to say goodbye. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2 wraps everything up brilliantly and gives you everything you want and expect from it, which is an almost impossible task to achieve. There is nothing left to say about the performances that hasn’t been said in the past ten years. They are amazingly strong and solid actors who truly brought their characters to life and will go down in history for it.
This final HP film is engaging, emotional, and thrilling from beginning to end. There is loss and sadness, but there is also hope and resolution. It is an experience at the movies that we will never get again. Part 2 is a powerful conclusion to a franchise that will live forever. There are these rare times where something actually is worth the wait. This is one of those rare times.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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