Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Warning: Spoilers

My experience with this movie was unforgettable and I would like to start with that as part of why I believe this movie will go down as my favorite movie of all time. It is because of this movie that all my problems seemed to have disappeared and that I have had an unforgettable senior year in high school. This is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Now I went to see this movie during the midnight premier, not just any midnight premier, the midnight double feature. In El Paso, where I reside, my theater had a couple of options available when picking the movie, you could spend two days watching the whole series, watch it by itself, by itself in 3D, and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 back to back, I saw the latter. I had shown up at eight in the morning to get to the front of the line only to see that some people were already there, it shocked me, but I got to save my friends some spots in line. My friends had arrived hours later and we just had the time of our lives for the next twelve hours or so. At nine we were allowed in for Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows: Part 1, it was still an amazing movie, I still wept at the end, but what made it great was seeing my friend weep like a little girl, the whole theater was staring at him. We then got ourselves ready for the last movie, we all sat down and prepared for what was coming, the end of our childhoods.

Why would i start a review like that? Well it's because I wanted to share the impact that this movie left in my life. Harry Potter made me many friends, most of which I consider my best friends, and it got me into reading. Now, the movie how was it? Was I disappointed or was it the ultimate ending? I think you already know the answer to that.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 starts off as soon as the first part leaves off. Voldemort got his hands on the Elder Wand and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were at the Bill's place. One of the first things you see is "Here lies Dobby: A free Elf" that alone got me tearing up, emotional in the first two minutes, way to go. It starts off slow, with Harry talking to Griphook about the horcrux in Gringotts, he strikes a deal with him: get Harry and company into Gringotts in exchange for Godric Gryffindor's sword. The movie then skips to Ron and Hermione under Polyjuice potion, making this one of Helena Bonham Carter's greatest performance, and Harry under the Invisibility Cloak. They sneak into Gringotts and it only takes about three minutes for the action to explode off the screen. Crazy cart rides, multiplying treasure, and a blind dragon make this incredible. After this Harry knows where the last horcrux is: Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione make their way to Hogsmade where they meet Abeforth, Dumbledore's brother, as he helps them make their way into Hogwarts. Harry again meets up with Neville, Luna, Ginny, Seamus, Dean, Cho, and the rest of his friends, which made me feel great. Harry is back in Hogwarts and Voldemort knows it, let the Battle of Hogwarts commence.

Now if this movie was definitely the action portion of the film, which was amazing. It made me realize why they split it into two parts: there was no way they were going to make the story really breathe and show the action in just two or three hours. All the character and plot development happened in the first part of the movie leaving the second part free for pure action. Now this movie was amazing but there were a couple of things that bugged me, but let's talk about the good first. First and foremost the acting in the film is simply amazing, some of the best acting I've ever seen on screen. Daniel, Emma, and Rupert really gave it their all, but the ones who shined the most in my opinion were Matthew Lewis and Maggie Smith as Neville Longbottom and Professor Minerva McGonagall respectively. This was Matthew's time to shine and seeing Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick set up protection for the castle gave me goosebumps. Everyone else also did an amazing job even though screen time for them was minimal.

The other good thing about the movie was the special effects. Everything from the dragon at Gringotts to the final battle at Hogwarts, everything looked amazing and beautiful. Watching wizards, witches, and giants going at it in a battle is simply breath-taking. The cinematography in the movie also helped it give off a magical feeling. Every shot in the movie could have been made into a poster or a painting, it was beautiful to watch. Another great thing was the fact that it stuck to the book very well, everything that you wanted to be there is there and it all looks great. As amazing as this movie was that doesn't mean i don't have my gripes with it, there is bad to the movie.

Having read the book I already knew what was going to happen. I anticipated every scene that would come in the movie, as soon as one would end I would be like "Oooh, I can't wait for this to happen!" and it would and move on to the next scene. That's what bugged me, the movie seemed to have a pacing problem, it moved too fast. I couldn't enjoy many scenes or let the emotional effect of the scene sink in because the movie would then go on the next scene. The scene when Harry was examining the wreckage of the battle and seeing the bodies of the fallen should have been more emotional, don't get me wrong, I cried like a baby, but that was because I read the books, for someone just watching the movie it wouldn't have had the same effect. Other than that pacing problem the movie did perfect.

Lastly I just want to mention how much this movie made me cry. The movie made me tear up at the beginning, stare in awe during the dragon scene, made me laugh when you see Neville, made me cheer when McGonagall attacked Snape, and made me cry at the loss of some of the greatest characters in fictional history. Seeing the bodies of Tonks and Lupin, holding hands, was the first thing to get to me, that's when I started crying. They soon went to show Fred's lifeless body and it just made me cry even more, and after a couple of seconds I kind of got myself back together, until Snape met Voldemort. As soon as they showed Snape meet up with Voldemort in the boathouse I already knew what was going to happen. My tears had dried already and I prepared myself as to not cry, and then it happened. Snape died, he died a brutal and horrible death, but he gets to talk to Harry, what he said I didn't see coming. With his last breath he whispered to Harry, "You have your mother's eyes," and a single tear drops down his cheek, I couldn't take it, I lost it, I cried and cried. Harry took Snape's memories to the Pensieve and saw what went on in his head, and I was not prepared for it: Snape crying over the dead body of Lily Potter, crying over his only love, at that point it was too much for me and I cried again. The scene then moved on to Harry going into the forest and the whole scene with Voldemort, King's Cross Station, and the final battle got all pumped again. The movie ended with the nineteen years later epilogue which looked surprisingly good, the CGI looked pretty natural to portray the actors as their older selves.

This movie was amazing, simply amazing. The movie made me cry, cheer, applaud, scream, cry again, laugh, watch in awe, cry once more, and finally cheer as the credits scrolled by. I love this movie, not just because of how great it is but because of what it actually means to me as it takes a special place in my heart. My friends and I loved it and we stayed in that theater until the credits finished rolling, letting it sink in that Harry Potter was over and that that feeling we always got when a new Harry Potter movie would release was gone forever. The acting was perfect, the CGI was perfect, the action was perfect, the cinematography was perfect, everything polished to perfection. Even though the movie had a bit of a pacing problem, it definitely felt too short, I'm still going to give this movie a 10/10, yes I am biased, so what? I loved this series and I loved the memories these movies will bring twenty, thirty, even sixty years from now. I am a Harry Potter fan until I die, now go watch this movie if you still can, it will release on DVD and Blu-Ray on November, buy it when it comes out, there is a reason it is the most successful movie of all time. Now that I have shared my thoughts I will sit and wait patiently for my owl to arrive with my letter from Hogwarts, yes I'm waiting for Pottermore to open to the public later this month.