Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

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It's not often you get to see the end of the biggest franchise in cinema history. Who would have guessed that there would be 8 movies in a single series that millions would flock to every year? Even Star Wars didn't get this many films in a row. But like every good thing, even Potter has to come to an end. Childhoods across America ended on July 15th, but they ended with the best entry in the series and the fulfilled dreams of everyone who read the books.

Spoiler alert: This review is intended for those who have read the books. If you have not, the movie might be ruined for you. But you should have read the books first so that's your fault.

At the end of HPatDHP1, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) had just buried Dobby and was looking wistfully over the ocean wondering how he was going to kill Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Meanwhile Voldemort was exhuming Dumbledore's body to claim the wizarding version of the Holy Grail: the Elder Wand. A wand so powerful that...that people use it. You never actually see its power, even in the books it seems woefully underutilized. Anyways Harry, Ron and Hermione (Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) have just 3 horcruxes left to destroy (I am excluding Harry). They head out to do all the exciting things in the better part of the book: break into Gringotts, ride a dragon, have an awesome wizard battle in Hogwarts and not go camping for 500 pages.

HPatDHP2 is almost entirely payoff. The first half is all build up, but as we all know not much happens. Except Hermione gets naked in Ron's horcrux dream, which goes down as my weirdest interpretation of the book in the movies. In the second film the audience gets sent off on a magical (sorry) thrill ride from start to finish.

And oh boy is the end battle fantastic. Wizards be shooting spells like they have machine guns. Hogwarts gets blown to bits and by the time everything is done, one or two main characters end up dying. It was sad in the book but it really is even sadder in the movie watching Ron cry over the body of Fred. Everything that was worth it on the pages comes alive in the movie.

But what brings a movie alive the most? The actors. There are only four characters in this film: Harry, Voldemort, Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis), and Severus Snape (Alan Rickman). Daniel does his best as Harry but I still don't appreciate him as much as others do. Ralph Fiennes is still a brilliant choice for Voldemort. The only other man I could see doing it would be Bill Nighy. Matthew Lewis is great as Neville and it has been fun watching him grow. Everyone knows that the final book gives the readers what they finally wanted to know, what is Snape's true allegiance? Alan Rickman has been the best actor by far in the entire series. Brilliant casting choice. The montage detailing his love of Harry's mother was done tastefully and much less creepily than in the book. Watching Snape cry over the dead body of Harry's mom had me welling up. Rickman brought Severus to life, making his death that much more tragic and horrifying.

Part 2 is not a film for kiddos. It is violent, deals with darker themes and there's a scene of Severus Snap getting brutally mauled by a snake. I may get nightmares. But this movie is the satisfying conclusion to the series. With almost everything done right (except maybe the epilogue), fans can rest easy knowing that they have 8 watchable films in a row that never lose the magic. I know that I will be seeing it again and so will my future kids. After they read the books of course.

3 and a 1/2 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

P.S. Neville should have been revealed as the real chosen one in the end. That would have made the whole series even better.