

There's just too much of it - too much returning to the woods, too much introspection, too many tears. Yates oddly blunders.Īt the center, the actors continue to improve with age, but this time the script lets them down. The one true action sequence is an early, airborne mess of a battle with the Death Eaters which Mr. Like the book, there is a ton of exposition - told with as much inventiveness as possible (including a fine animated sequence defining the "Hallows").

So, the film is a lot of searching, regrouping, and, frankly, moping about. Ron, for his part, just feels like a third wheel. Hermione, ever the plucky heroine, is loyal to her friend, but feels her burgeoning relationship with Ron in jeopardy. Harry is, understandably, very upset he feels too many people have died for his safety. Meanwhile, Voldemort is searching for a special wand that might help him destroy Harry. They are on the trail of the third Horcrux, the locket from the end of the sixth film. The film, like the book, finds Harry, Ron and Hermione in hiding, holed up in various wooded glens, fleeing the "Death Eaters" (Voldemort's evil minions). It ends, more or less, with a " To Be Continued." After the blackout, I all but expected to hear, " On the next Harry Potter.". Like the second installment of "Back to the Future" or "The Matrix", "Hallows Part 1" doesn't stand as its own film. He has done masterful work the films are reverent without being precious - and play well on their own terms. Once "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" is released, Mr. Unthinkably, the writer behind all but "Phoenix" has been the same, Steve Kloves.
#Harry potter deathly hallows part 1 rating series
The succession of directors has led to David Yates, who has helmed the series since the fifth entry, 2007's " Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". But from the third film (2004's " Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban") onward, the series - like the books - has become ever more mature, serious and downright dark. Appropriately, they were directed by Chris Columbus. The first two, like the books upon which they are based, are children's fare. The Harry Potter films, up until this point, have been a miraculous franchise. Likewise the film adaptation, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1", which tackles only the first half of the finale, suffers from similar obstacles. But, ten? Sure enough, that final book - while a worthy and appropriately dark finale to the series - gets bogged down in piles of exposition around the titular trio of "Hallows", not to mention the seven Horcruxes (Horcruci?) containing pieces of Voldemort's soul. Rowling to complete the story of everyone's favorite boy wizard. Yes, I know, there was a lot of pressure on Ms. Rowling's final Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", has no fewer than ten of them.

You know, like the Maltese Falcon or the lost Ark or the mysterious suitcase in "Pulp Fiction". Most films have only one "MacGuffin" (the thing the characters are after).
