Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (2011)

The Harry Potter films come to an end with a movie filled with action, death, and 3D effects but curiously devoid of genuine emotion. Those disappointed with the previous film will find much to like and it stays fairly faithful to the book.

The movie starts out with the ending of Part 1, but this time processed into 3D. This means an even murkier and darker experience in the theater, but those who view it in 2D won’t  have much of a brighter experience. Most of it is set at night or indoors with reduced lighting with a bleached out palette.

Following the death of Dobby at the end of the last movie, Harry and company gather some more intel on what Bellatrix Lestrange was up to. Critical information comes into their hands thanks to a kidnapped goblin and so they decide to stage another infiltration of a highly guarded institution. I have to say Helena Bonham Carter did a great job of mimicking Emma Watson’s mannerisms while playing the polyjuiced Hermione masquerading as Bellatrix. Oddly enough, that was one of the highlights of the film for me.

The raid goes disastrously like all their plans do, which is actually mentioned by the characters later in the movie. But it does give us, the audience, some fun with a very well rendered dragon and I always give extra credit for well done dragons. From there things move to infiltrating Hogwarts, which has become something run like a concentration camp or gulag. This is where all the real action takes place and things morph into a war movie, but with magic instead of guns.

The preparations for combat and Voldemort’s assault on Hogwarts are quite well executed. Chaotic battles, heroic sacrifices, and deaths of characters we’ve gotten to know fill the second half. But the deaths failed to have emotional impact for me, unlike the book. I suspect that is due to them being rushed, despite splitting the book into two movies. Some key dramatic moments suffer from it, especially near the end.

With little character development in this half of the book, The Deathly Hallows Part 2 suffers the same problem. Aside from Snape (Alan Richter) and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), only Helena Ravenclaw (Kelly Macdonald) seemed to get anything meaty and she is a new character only briefly seen. Most of the supporting characters get what amounts to cameos despite their importance in the past. Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione get their expected moments, with Ron delivering comic relief.

While I was pleased with how Neville (Matthew Lewis) got his moments to shine, the last one was not handled well. It was played more for laughs than drama and it rang the wrong note. Likewise, Mrs. Weasely’s (Julie Walters) big moment was laughed at in the theater due to a lack of setup and once again being played for laughs. That was just criminal as it should have been something of great intensity. Those who have read the book will understand why I’m complaining.

The big duel was also disappointing and things kind of trail off after that. But the epilogue was nice and the CGI aging looked good. It seemed like a lot of the film was so geared at the 3D effects that they lost sight of effective pacing.

On the topic of the 3D experience, I thought it was a mixed bag. Anything involving spells and magic looked really good, especially the barrier put up around Hogwarts. But crowd scenes appeared jumpy, for a lack of a better word. Something wasn’t working effectively there and it was distracting. From that, I assume the 3D was done in post production rather than filmed with 3D cameras. Another film out this year that was done in post was Thor and it had a better feeling of depth, for comparison.

I didn’t go into seeing The Deathly Hallows Part 2 with any particular expectations or reservations. Though I could have used a reservation to get a better seat. Please forgive me, it is after 3 AM here as I’m writing this and things are getting stupidly amusing. Back on topic, the local small town theater got the movie for a midnight showing with little warning, so of course I had to take advantage of the opportunity to see the end of the Harry Potter film era.

So what is my final take on the flick? It was okay, but something of a disappointment. Most fans will like it better than the last, but I preferred the previous one. It had more heart and this one was strangely flat to me. The crowd at the theater applauded at the end, so that’s good enough. A big box office haul awaits it no matter what.

Speaking of the crowd, they skewed younger with teens predominating. All age groups were represented and I actually had to stand in line for tickets. Amazing for a midnight showing in a small town with a population of 1200 or so. Everyone was in a good mood and generally well behaved.