Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Rated M. 130 minutes. Directed by David Yates. Screenplay by Steve Kloves. Based on the novels by J K Rowling.
Harry Potter clearly has history in his sights, and by having been released by Warner Brothers to appear on more Australian cinema screens than any other film before it, has stormed not only the Australian box office, but smashed international box office records in the process.
Fans of the books and the films will not need to be told anything by anyone about this film – suffice to say that this final instalment is masterful film-making and the picture-perfect send-off for the determined young wizard we first met on the big screen in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001).
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) continue their quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes that have ensured Voldemort’s immortality. And while one could certainly be forgiven for thinking that it could all have been dealt with in half the time, the ultimate battle between Harry Potter and the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is never less than totally absorbing – with Radcliffe and Fiennes, in particular, giving it everything they’ve got.
Yates, who has directed the last four films (beginning with 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) brings Kloves’ (responsible for all but one of the cinematic adaptations) screenplay to life in often breathtaking style – with Voldemort’s venegeful attack on Hogwarts just one of many simply dazzling highlights.
Like Star Wars before it, Harry Potter has defined a generation – which is no more humbling than in the glimpses we see of the, then, eleven-year-old Radcliffe as the film briefly (and quite brilliantly) encapsulates how Voldemort’s precious Horcruxes came into being. And while not all of the Harry Potter films have been welcomed with the same unconditional adoration as this one, it is impossible to deny the young wizard his rightful place in both publishing and cinematic history.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
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