Finally, a Harry Potter movie that isn’t actually boring to non-fans. After dozing off through the last two films (way too much dialogue, way too few surprises), we relished this fitting finale that comes replete with epic battle scenes that last for at least an hour and a race-to-the-finish plot job that manages to tie everything together just nicely, if not all too spectacularly.
Deathly Hallows Part 2 picks up with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) continuing their quest for Horcruxes—objects that hold pieces of Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) soul. Their goal is to destroy them, thus leaving the dark lord mortal and able to be killed. Yep, that’s basically the thrust of the story in this one, considering that Part 1 has basically done the job of establishing the historical connotations and references to the final unraveling of the sequences here. Along the way, several characters are killed while others find love in their darkest moments like in all good, predictable epics, hence the slightly cheesy denouement.
Less cheesy are the huge action sequences, which somehow work in 3D (the version audiences will get to see here). Hogwarts, the school which had been the primary location for the previous stories, was notably absent in Part 1. Here, its many halls, secret passages and dark pasts are brought to the fore, and the film’s clever and subtle use of 3D brings out Hogwarts’ many facets—a perfect foil for the battle sequences with superb usage of Matrix-esque sequences that caught us by surprise (in a good way). This also means that Part 2 is less substantial than Part 1 in terms of storyline and character development. But to be perfectly honest, if we had to see another talky film like the last one, we would have combusted in our seats. The balls to the wall action here is certainly a welcome relief. It’s a wrap, boys and girls.