Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Easily the best of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint) as they prepare for their final showdown with Ralph Fiennes’ villainous Voldemort. Filmmaker David Yates, working from Steve Kloves’ screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced endeavor that’s been jam-packed with exciting, engrossing interludes and sequences, including a fantastic early scene detailing the central trio’s efforts at breaking an item out of a subterranean vault, and it’s clear, certainly, that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, unlike all of the installments preceding it, benefits from a streamlined narrative that doesn’t contain much in the way of needless, padded-out digressions – with the increasingly stirring atmosphere ensuring that the movie’s second hour packs a far more enthralling punch than one might’ve anticipated. There’s little doubt, as well, that the uniformly compelling performances go a long way towards cementing the picture’s above-average vibe, with Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint’s series-best efforts undoubtedly matched by a predictably stellar roster of such periphery players as John Hurt, Maggie Smith, and Alan Rickman. (The latter is nothing short of heartbreaking in his final appearance as Severus Snape.) By the time the completely satisfying conclusion rolls around, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has confirmed its place as an ideal capper to a franchise that, while consistently entertaining, remains rather hit-and-miss from start to finish.

***1/2 out of ****

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