15 Best British Films Of The Decade (So Far)

By Jack Pooley /

9. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part II

After seven prior Harry Potter movies, everything had built to this, the final showdown between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), after which only one would surely be left standing. After the relatively inert filler rest-stop that was Deathly Hallows Part 1, director David Yates totally made up for it with Part 2, delivering 130 minutes of pure pay-off, rolling with immense momentum from first minute to last. The action is spectacular, there's a pleasant amount of closure for most characters, and simply, it adapts the second half of the beloved book in a befitting manner which went down well with most fans. Yes, it's not perfect: there's a metric ton of exposition and the epilogue scene suffers from infamously bad aging make-up effects, but all of the crucial scenes (the Snape twist, Voldemort's demise) are superbly handled, bringing this huge cinematic undertaking to an end in suitably epic, emotional fashion. Even if you're not a particularly big fan of these movies, it's tough not to respect the series for ending on an absolute high with this visceral, grown-up fantasy flick.