Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

It started beautifully and magically, it ended dramatically and spectacularly... I am satisfied beyond measure with the ending. Compared to the first part, I have nothing to ponder here and I'm giving it full stars right out of the box. I really had the feeling that something important was ending and I must admit that I even shed a tear. In my mind the creators left no stone unturned... the perfect reveal of the truth about Snape, the final fight between Harry and Voldemort, and the final memory of how it all started... once again, 100%. (08/10/2011)

Oh My Granger! What turns the book Relics into a magical finale amplifies the film adaptation to its highest bearable level, turns Neville into a well-deserved stud, gives the best scene of the saga to the Prince's story, and makes David Yates one of the best directors I know. At the moment when this wizarding world closes to all viewers, there remains a hardly controllable desire to see and read it all again. Simply put, it is a heavily euphoric experience after the end of the film, a clear one hundred percent spectacle and probably the best movie installment of the entire Hogwarts series. Some experiences are immortal even at the time they take place. Thank you for letting me be a part of it. (07/21/2011)

The last Potter suffers from being split up. While part 1 of 2 (the intro) works even without a finale, part 2 of 2 (the finale) without an intro doesn’t taste so good anymore (when I watch both parts in a row, this problem will probably vanish). And there’s a lot to fit in, so most things are just said rather than shown, and so for instance Dumbledore’s villainy is cut down to just a couple of sentences. But this is just a problem with the screenplay and Kloves’ pruning that we are already used to from before. Otherwise, Yates handles Harry’s last adventure pretty decently, it’s just a little obvious that he doesn’t have time to focus on those deaths as much as he would like to and important characters fall like flies in battles that we never see. But it’s all about Harry, anyway. Primarily about Harry. That boy has trodden a damn long journey, and we have with him and fundamentally the finale isn’t a disappointment. Excellent actors, Alan Rickman was given some room at last, stealing the best scenes of the movie and even Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort duly enjoys himself (the same way I enjoyed Neville being teased - magic, this was always a missing in the Potter movies). I have to admit that the saga got me in the end. I used to think those books about a boy with glasses were ridiculous before someone persuaded me give the movie a try at the movie theater in Nový Jičín ten years ago. Today in the same theater, but ten years later, I told myself that I had done right to go watch the movie in the end. You've been raising him like a pig for slaughter! (07/18/2011)

About until half way through (somewhere after conjuring up the barrier) I have no objections. However, thereafter, instead of gradually climaxing the eighteen hours spanning ten years, it chops it up into a series of a few dozen moments. Each of them is great, often atmospheric too, and frequently gripping and ingenious, but put all together they don’t give the impression of a unified story heading toward one goal. It chops it up more and more until it turns into something that, despite being impressive and entertaining, is an epically cold popcorn picture. The only emotions are provoked only by (again the genius of) Desplat. And that is a bit too little. (07/17/2011)

It's definitely almost a star better than the first part (but I'm still giving it the same rating since it just doesn't deserve 4 stars). Yes, we've got the conclusion of the grand Harry Potter saga, we get to see a lot of old friends flash by, except that... everyone's barking, nothing is done properly or realistically, and the music isn't that great either – kind of a mousy wallflower (here of all places, when it's supposed to be so epic!). For being 130 minutes long, the film went by very quickly for me – a plus. Unfortunately, a lot of scenes came across as kind of weird, hollow, there was bad continuity (for example the sequence of Hermione – snake – Ron, then in the next shot the snake – Hermione and Ron; I’m wondering how Hermione got past the snake...), even the scene that made me shed a tear, all of the action was so tastelessly interrupted that I couldn't even properly enjoy the feeling of grief, sorrow... what a pity. And then the fight with Voldy. I mean, it was ridiculous; even his death – are we back to the first one again? Despite my dissatisfaction with all the individual flaws, it was a decent film overall, but I wouldn't have had to go see it in theaters (which I did), the DVD would have been enough. For how I expected the film to be a climax, it didn’t quite land. A better 3 stars, just so I’m not being mean. Btw. I am a fan of the saga; I just don't want to watch something all blinded with sentiment. (09/09/2011)