12. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Harry Potter franchise was a landmark achievement for Blockbuster films, not only had multiple directors adapted some of the best selling books in the world into a series stretching eight films, they had done it in a series of only eleven years without making a single movie that could be called anything worse than above average. Rarely has big budget filmmaking allowed more eccentricities and been more exciting and adventurous than in this franchise, which culminated with 2011's Deathly Hallows-Part 2. This final installment delivers all the action hinted at in the previous films, with the final battle being one of the best spectacles offered by any recent film. It also benefits from a completely matured cast who had spent most of their lives preparing for this final entry. The huge battle scenes do not detract from the human side of the story, with some of the series most heartbreaking scenes occurring in the final 45 minutes of the film. The Harry Potter franchise set the precedent for adapting YA novels, but sadly the skill with which it was adapted has not been matched by other filmmakers. In The Deathly Hallows-Part 2, director David Yates managed to deliver an all-time great spectacle but also kept a tightly woven narrative and brought a human touch to a film full of magic and monsters.