Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 review

Before I start with my thoughts on this particular film here, I should probably state my thoughts on the Harry Potter film franchise itself. Now, I didn’t grow up with Harry Potter as much as everyone else did, it never interested me and I was into other things as a kid and a teenager. With that being said, I did decided to watch all the Harry Potter films over the summer, not just because of Deathly Hallows Part 2 but also to see it with an older perspective in mind. As a whole the Harry Potter Film franchise is a really good series. While, I did like some more than others I do think the best thing about this series is that it’s been consistent in terms of quality. In other words, none of these movies are bad films on their own which is rare to see in even just a simple trilogy. But before I get to the actual review, I should probably do a quick recap of what I thought of all the films in general.

Sorcerer's Stone: A pretty good start, but is a little dated in terms of some of the acting and the special effects. While it’s ten years old now, it is a little dated to me even with that in mind.

Chamber of Secrets: Pretty much the same thoughts as the first film, good but not great. However, acting did improved quite a bit with this one.

Prisoner of Azkaban: My pick for the best in the series easily. Everything that I thought were problems in the first two definitely improved with this one.

Goblet of Fire: A decent movie, but feels like they took a few steps back compared to the last one in terms of quality. However, it might be one of the few movies with Robert Pattison that is actually decent.

Order of the Phoenix: Not as great as the third one but definitely better than the fourth. Still a great film nonetheless.

Half Blood Prince: Another really good film in the franchise. Even felt a little emotional when..... Well, “You know who” died.

Deathly Hallows Part 1: Has a great beginning and end but lags quite a bit in the middle and I wished it gave me more to offer even as a first part.

Now how does Deathly Hallows Part 2 compared to the whole series. Well, I can safely say, that not only is it better than last movie, but it’s probably my pick for the best in the series along with Azkaban.

What makes Deathly Hallows the best in the series, is the fact that it is a very emotional film and the action in this movie is quite epic as well.  This movie, while probably not quite as epic, feels like a Lord of the Rings movie with the huge battle at Hogwarts being the main focal point. These sequences are shot and filmed excellently however whenever there were major scenes of character development, that felt more emotional and works even better than the battles in Deathly Hallows Part 2.  These scenes work even more than the last few movies did, because you truly see what these characters can do on their own along with having a bigger purpose than they originally seemed. For example, Neville Longbottom, while not a horrible character, was a character that I never truly felt for in the previous movies. However in this film I manage to care and a root for him because he does things that I would have never expected him to do which made him seem more of a bad-ass than he ever was in the previous films.  This does work for a lot of the other characters too, when bad things happened to these characters, I felt and cared so much more for these characters more than I did in any other film from Potter.

There are great scenes of emotion in this film when it comes to these characters and the main three heroes themselves. I would probably say that the character I cared the most about in this movie is Severus Snape. There is an incredible flashback that dealt with his whole back story and why he did some of the things he did in the Harry Potter series and that scene alone was easily the best scene in the entire movie for me. Mainly because you really see why Snape is the way he is which makes you feel sorry for him because he is a character you wished had a better outcome than what he has gotten. That particular scene alone was the most emotion I’ve gotten out of any Harry Potter film, which makes it the best scene in the movie for me along with probably the best scene in any Harry Potter movie, it is that good.

Everything else the film has to offer works great too. The acting is great, the effects and cinematography makes this movie look absolutely beautiful to look at and it ends the series in a great way. While there are minor problems I had with it such as I felt that there were some characters that I felt were a little glanced over in terms of their role in the Potter series, but it’s not a huge complaint and it doesn’t affect how much I was invested in this film emotionally. This movie is a definite must see for Potter fans; however that’s a little bit of a backhanded compliment because if you’re a Potter fan reading this review, you’ve probably already seen it and just wanted to read my thoughts on it. Now, if you are a casual Potter fan like myself, by all means go see it because it’s probably going to be the last time you will see these characters on the big screen. While it makes me feel old that this is the last Harry Potter movie, I am thankful that they manage to save the best Potter movie for last.

RATING: 9/10