Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Hoo boy have I been lax in keeping up writing reviews. So the long process of getting up to date begins with a big one: Harry Potter. But before getting to the actual movie review I feel I need to expound upon some things leading up to it.

In prep for seeing it, as many others did I'm sure, I not only read all the books once again but went back and watched all the other movies too (over a course of several weeks) to get a better sense on what the movies had missed, how the movies themselves had developed between directors, and what could be expected from this first step towards the final movie. I remember in watching Half Blood Prince the first time how wonderfully surprised I had been at how good it was, though I realized that there had been several plot lines left out that would pose a problem going into Deathly Hallows. Then I reread the book...and watched the movie again. It was then I realized...they fucked themselves over royally.

So how were they going to fix it? How could they possibly talk about horcruxes without any mention of Voldemort's past? What were they going to do about the Burrow being burned down? What about Dumbledore's funeral and his casket? The answer? A combination of ignoring what has come before/pretending it never happened and assuming that if you're watching the Deathly Hallows, you've read the book. Unfortunately, along with this comes several important pieces (namely the mirror shard) that were missing in previous movies and for some reason are never explained in this one. Basically, more than any of the other movies if you haven't read the book, you're going to be lost. And if you haven't read the book in a long time, you still might get lost. However, despite this, it was probably the best thing they could've done. Because then instead of spending valuable time trying to explain the things they messed up, they just move past it as a way of saying "sorry", and then proceed to follow the book more closely than any previous installment.

And that's why Deathly Hallows shines above the rest. Reading through the book, I was actually kinda sad because I realized that out of all of them, Deathly Hallows is really one of the only ones that doesn't need two movies. There are very few big set pieces, with most of it being the trio roaming the countryside trying to figure out what in the hell to do. That being said, I am glad they decided to split it up, mostly for the director and screenwriters' sake, who you can tell were finally allowed to breathe and take some time telling this story instead of hurrying through and trying to choose what should be important. With this breathing room, not only did they get to really get the most out of the big moments like the first battle but they also got to focus on the relationship of the trio and how they've grown up and matured after all these years together.

Yet despite all the good, there are still some awkward moments (Ginny is bland as always, poor Daniel Radcliffe is awkward kissing anyone), and despite following the book so closely, they have still somehow managed to avoid the number one most important thing about the horcruxes, namely why Voldemort chose them, which helps the trio figure out where to find them. The movie also ends rather abruptly, which is expected given it's only technically half a movie. It feels like the intermission between discs 1 and 2 of a Lord of the Rings movie. The first part ends at a good/important stopping point, we switch discs, and then keep going. Only problem is we have to wait 8 months before we can move on. Oh well.

All in all it's a wonderful start to the end, and I can't wait to see how they do choose to finally bring things to a close.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 gets a 9/10.