Dark, low on story - and excellent

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2010)

While I don't intend to spoiler plot, I daresay I may spoiler a number of bits and pieces. So beware.
The final HP book becomes a two-part movie, the first part of which is notable for the fact that not a single bit of it takes part at Hogwarts. The overall tone is full of foreboding, and rightly so - Voldemort is winning, well and truly, and Harry, the only hope for the forces of good, is forced on the run. This sense of foreboding is cemented right at the start by a short scene where Hermione wipes every trace of her own existence from her parents' life for their protection - a moment of such desperate sadness that it tells you how high the stakes are before anything else happens (just in case you had forgotten Dumbledore's death at the end of Half-Blood Prince).
There is a lot of action in this film, but not much story actually happens, and it doesn't have much of a plot of its own. This was one of the joys of the earlier books/films - each had a solid story and it wasn't until several volumes in that you came to appreciate that you were seeing episodes in a much larger story. Well, that larger story is approaching its climax, but rather slowly.
Having said that, the film always holds your attention, perhaps because there is some long overdue depth offered to the developing relationships between the three principals. Given that the three are thrown together for an extended sequence simply staying out of sight of Voldemort's faction, this perhaps inevitable. This sequence, which dragged quite badly in the novel, actually works well on screen, and Radcliffe, Watson and Grint all acquit themselves well. Again, one can hardly take one's eyes off Watson, and it is good to see Grint given a bit more to do than his usual comedy double takes while looking gormless.
In among the general darkness there are some genuinely creepy and upsetting moments, as well as a couple of moments which make you realise that these kids are now young adults.
Almost all previous surviving character cast members (with the notable exception of Maggie Smith) put in appearances, and I was struck by how perfectly cast these movies have been.
For a film which has, probably, less story than any of its predecessors, I enjoyed it more than most of them.