Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review

Before you say anything, I know, I know, "Previews, News and Video Game Reviews by Catalyst" doesn't have anything about movies. Frankly, though, its my blog, I'll review what I want, and this movie was seriously too good not to write about. Going into the movie, at midnight of course, I was overcome with anticipation and excitement. Even as I'm writing this, I'm still getting tingly chills for seemingly no reason, except for the fact that David Yates ended the most enveloping story I've ever read with the most extravagant and phenomenal film I've seen out of the series, and one of the best period. Personally, I don't think there was a better way to end something that's been a part of well over half of my waking life than watching an extremely well-done movie with so many fans of the series at midnight. From here on, SPOILER ALERT.

The movie starts right where the last one ended, with Lord Voldemort stealing the Elder Wand from the tomb of Albus Dumbledore. This scene was very ominous and foreshadowing at the very end of Part 1, and its a very nice transition. If you haven't already seen Part 1, you very well should have, and its great to see that the producers believe the same exact thing. The break in the movies was very frustrating, to say the least, but they've done a fantastic job of where to start, and it almost feels like a natural break in the movie.

The movie tells the story in such an easy to understand way, which appeals to both the fans of the series, and allows the movie-watchers to keep up as well. The characters clearly state what needs to be accomplished many times throughout the movie, which would seem bothersome, but really does a really nice job in explaining the story. It follows the book very, very closely and doesn't leave out quite too much pertaining to the grand scheme of the Harry Potter Saga. They also kept the most crucial line from the book, at least to me, in which Mrs. Weasley defends her family and says to Belatrix Lestrange "Not my daughter, you bitch!" A huge cheer went through the audience at this point in the movie, as did many laughs and tears. The movie had a great balance of humor, romance, action, suspense, and drama.

The performances by the actors in this movie is definitely the absolute strongest out of the entire saga, and provides such a needed bit of warranted acclaim to the series. There were a few changes to minor details from the book to the movie, but overall, this really didn't ruin anything. A couple scenes were kind of strange to follow, but for the most part, they worked well as a translation from the book to the big screen. The most impressive visuals really lent to the movie working as a whole, with dragons, thousands of wizards fighting, and much more. The detail in everything that they did was apparent, and really ends the saga in the best possible way, with most fans walking away completely satisfied, yet saddened at the loss of their childhood Saga.

Since this isn't a game, I'm going to review this on a letter grading scale, for a difference. Aside from the small differences from the book, and the few changes that happened, the movie was fantastic, but not 100% perfect. Therefore,

Overall Rating: A