Penultimate Harry Potter Flick Is Fun And Earnest But Has Lurching Lacklustre Middle

Rating: 5/10 (30 January 2012)

Apprentice sorcerer Harry Potter is under the protection of his fellow wizards, as his nemesis Voldemort is waging a civil war within the magic realm. Harry is prophesied to defeat this evil tyrant, but how can he fight such a powerful enemy, and what is Voldemort's secret agenda ?
I hate to say it, but I found this Harry Potter film to be a bit of a chore. It starts well, with a big sky battle with the Death-Eaters and then a funny scene where our heroes infiltrate the new evil regime at the Ministry of Magic, but then it bogs down into a forty-minute sequence where Harry, Ron and Hermione just sit about, bicker, and don't know what to do in a succession of bleak beaches and forests. This section is dull, drab and a downer; when did Harry Potter turn into Finnegan's Wake ? The film picks up again for the last half-an-hour, when we finally learn what the Deathly Hallows are (through a lovely piece of calligraphy-style animation) and there's lots more action, but I'd cut out the whole middle-third of the picture (and wouldn't have split the seventh book into two parts either). What I love about these movies is their sense of wonder, the contrast between worlds, the humour and the crazy people, all of which works wonderfully, particularly in the first three films. As the continuing story gets more and more dogmatic a lot of that is lost; this one has no scenes at Hogwarts at all, and many of the most enjoyable characters are either missing entirely or only briefly glimpsed. Despite this it still manages to be fun, thanks to the stalwart efforts of the whole cast and the extremely high production quality. Some scenes are great, like the creepy sequence in Godric's Hollow, or Dobby's heroic return to save his friends, and as ever the visual effects are excellent - I especially like the goading monster in the locket which Ron has to destroy. I guess this was a tough picture to make - a fantasy film full of angst and with no ending - so it's pretty good considering, but for me it just doesn't compare with Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone.