Adam R was given no reason to love HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS
rating: 2
I have a confession to make that may cause you to fall off your broomstick; I have not seen Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. Nor have I seen Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix or Goblet of Fire. In fact I have not seen any Potter since I switched off The Chamber of Secrets twenty minutes in after being compelled to do bad things. And Im not referring to bad things related to an as-of-then seriously underage Emma Watson, whom now having turned legal seems to be fair game for the tabloids. Poor thing. But no, the bad things I was compelled to do were born out of frustration at the hammy dialogue, woeful acting and a story filled with more clichés and gloss than a speech by Barrack Obama. I can, however, report that things have improved over the course of the last five movies; I managed to make it through this latest instalment, but that isnt to say it was an entirely pain-free experience. Four Eyes, Ginge and Harmonica return for their darkest and most dangerous adventure yet, with the evil Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes, even more terrifying with make up on!) and his legion of Doom willing to stop at nothing to kill The Chosen One thats Potter for non-Pottheads like myself. The film opens with an amazing gathering of Fiennes and his minions around a giant table its like the gathering of the families from the Godfather. Im actually feeling optimistic. The table is a whos who of the elite of the British film industry with Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Peter Mullan, Jason Isaacs and Timothy Spall all distinguishing themselves with small but great inputs. But even their combined efforts cannot upstage Fiennes who steals the scene just as his character conducts procedures, closing them by killing a Potter sympathetic in a most gruesome and unnerving manner for a PG film. The children around me are petrified. I love it.
And the film continues to impress me with the goodies gathering to assess the growing threat of the baddies remember the scene in Return of the Jedi when the Rebel Alliance gather and discuss the new Death Star? Its kind of like that. Four Eyes, Ginge and Harmonica are joined with more of the best of British, with Brendan Gleeson and Robbie Coltrane doing the talking. The massive group buddy up, with half of them imbibing a potion that sees them take on the form of Potter to deceive the baddies who are on the look out for him. They make a daring flee through the night skies to a safe house but they have been found out and what follows is a spectacular sky battle, only ruined by the wizards blurting out gobbledygook as they cast spells theyre like children screaming Bang! Bang! as they shoot their toy guns. 
Potter escapes, but some of the characters die off screen and with them so too dies the movie. What follows in their wake is a dull and dreary affair with Four Eyes, Ginge and Harmonica wandering around streets and forests, marshes and fields, searching for various MacGuffens, solving riddles whist dealing with the tension of a love triangle and alluding the occasional villain here and there. This would be fine, if between the three of them they had the talent to carry a grain of salt. Although its hard to judge their skills based solely on this work; given the standard of the dialogue they are given and the narrative development of their characters, it would be hard for even distinguished child actors such as Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit McPhee to carve anything out. I never feel the love between the characters or detect any real chemistry between the actors, which is a massive problem given the nature of this film in particular its essentially them against the world. The Lord of the Rings worked for this factor over all others; screw the special effects, the fact I cared about the Hobbits and the Fellowship is what kept me captivated. This film, and I would contend the series, though I have not seen the bulk of the movies, fails for this fundamental reason. And I dont see what is so special about Harry. In this film he tries on several occasions to do something and fails, only to be bailed out by his friend. He is very good at thanking and complimenting them though. Is that his talent? 
There are several good scenes spread throughout the rather unforgiving 146 minute running time. The scene where Peter Mullen chases the trio out of the ministry is intense and terrifying and ends with him wounding but not killing Ginge. Helena Bonham Carter conducts an uncomfortable inquisition of Harmonica that ends on a shocking note with her engraving a tattoo into her arm with her wand. And the film ends of a foreboding note with Fiennes finding the super wand yes thats what its called! setting up a potentially thrilling end to the franchise. Visually this is everything you would expect it to be; its a dazzling visual feast that faithfully sticks to cold colours and tonal blacks and greys with an occasional respite of an autumnal pallet to suite the overriding dark mood and tone of the piece. The special effects are flawless and the sky battle at the beginning is quite spectacular. Plus strong praise should be given to the sound team; the sound design is richly layered and the key factor for causing a number of genuine jump out of your seat moments. While I admit that it is difficult to take on board the opinions of someone who has not seen the entire series and is not completely engrossed in the narrative and journey of the characters, I do submit that this review in itself is an appreciation of this movie The Deathly Hallows and this movie alone, which left me unsatisfied. 
It may well be a case of Hollywood struggling to satisfy the demands of die-hard fans of the novel and producing an overly faithful adaptation that accounts for the lengthy running time and flabby plot. Or it could be the fact I felt they pandered too much to the child audience, who of course account for a great percentage of the box office. The darker elements and performances of the villains had me captivated, and I admit to being intrigued to view the other films, if only to fast forward to the moments involving them. But that is all I would be tempted to watch. So take this as you will; either this is a the ravings of a Potter hater or the review of a lover of film who was willing to love Harry Potter, but wasnt given strong enough reason to do so. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I is released on Friday.