"These are dark times, there is no denying"

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2010)

I've always had a bit of a beef with "Deathly Hallows," the final novel in J.K. Rowling's lucrative franchise. My main issue is that nothing much happened (or, perhaps more accurately, nothing happened that the discerning reader couldn't spot from 100 pages away). Kill off a marginal character here, throw in a Christ allegory there. And don't get me started on that epilogue! Even so, I approached Part 1 of the final cinematic chapter with a mind uncluttered by prejudice or preconception. I've always thought the reins should have been passed onto a new director for each film, but David Yates at least redeemed himself for the rushed 'Order of the Phoenix (2007)' with 'Half Blood Prince (2009),' which chose its tone and then stuck to it.
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)' predictably suffers the pitfalls of its source material: namely, that nothing much happened in the first 400 pages of the novel. Because of this, the film feels more like a prologue than a chapter. Yates does an excellent job at establishing the mood, but then fails to do anything with it. Harry broods for a while, Ron gets angry for no apparent reason, Harry briefly dances to a dubiously out-of-place Nick Cave song, and then returns to his brooding. There's an episodic structure to the narrative, but each episode fails to give any overriding sense of achievement (invariably ending with Death Eaters suddenly bursting onto the scene). And why, for that matter, does Yates insist on constantly trying to surprise us? We know the bloody snake is coming back one more time. I don't like waiting around for obvious shock tactics!
But good news there is: the actors are all terrific. The three leads can now carry a movie pretty much by themselves, the services of such veterans as Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane, Timothy Spall, Brendan Gleeson, John Hurt, and David Thewlis reduced to a mere sidebar. In the absence of Hogwarts, the locations are beautifully chosen, so secluded and serene that it's difficult to believe that the Fourth Reich is breaking out in the wizarding world. So I've been complaining a lot, but overall I enjoyed the film. Aside from a few amateurish flourishes that got my goat, 'The Deathly Hallows: Part 1' is an enjoyable viewing experience, and I await the final installment - without bated breath, but I await it nevertheless.