The darkest Harry Potter yet: bring on part 2!

Rating: 9/10 (19 November 2010)

Opening with a rusty looking version of the Warner Bros. logo, an ominous warning, Harry and Ron look to the distance with worry and Hermione erases her parents memories of her. It is clear that we are getting a very different type of Harry Potter. Director David Yates sets out to show a gloomy, bleak world where war and repression are about to inflict the Wizard world.
Picking up where "The Half-Blood Prince" left off, Dumbledore has been murdered and there is no one left to stop Voldermort. The new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour (Bill Nighy), states the gravity of the situation. Harry was given a mission by Dumbledore to find Voldermort's remaining Horcruxes (pieces of his soul), but has no idea what they are hiding in, how to find them and how to destroy them. When Voldermort launches a successful coup against the Ministry of Magic, Harry, Ron and Hermione have to go on the run when they are declared public enemies.
Yates had already shown that he could make a dark "Harry Potter" film when he made "Order of the Phoenix," but with "The Deathly Hallows" he takes it to another level. Like with "Order of the Phoenix" and "The Half-Blood Prince," he was able to change his style of direction yet again. The repression of the new Ministry of Magic was brought to life, looking and feeling very much like the Ministry of Truth in 1984, with a little bit of Brazil for good measure. There are wonderful little details to windowless environment, the costumes of the wizard enforcers and the 1940s-style propaganda posters. The animated short of "The Tale of the Three Brothers" (whose director was given free reign by Yates) was very Tim Burton like: so dark, visually stunning and flowing beautifully with the rest of the film.
Yates delivers on the action front yet again, excellent chases from when the Death Eaters chase the Order of the Phoenix in the skies above London and seeing that real people get hurt, the chase in the Ministry and the scenes in the woods. Helena Bonham Carter was finally allowed to let loose and Bellatrix Lestrange is turned into a truly scary character -- we get to see some of the horrors she is able to inflict.
Because of the dark, slow and sombre direction at times there are some effective horror moments and there is a permanent sense of tension and terror. Yates slows the film down long enough to unveil the mystery and quest and show how the characters we know handle their mission. The House Elf Kreacher (Simon McBurney) was made into a nastier little creature with bitterness in his voice who had been taught a hateful ideology. A great of example of all this bleakness is that John Williams' soft signature tune is no longer used in the film.
Senses that were only mentioned in the book are actually shown in the film, following the old screen writing maxim "show don't tell" and having much more of an impact for the audience. Yates and Steve Kloves attempt to show the wider picture of the conflict and the ideology of the wizardening world, showing the Death Eaters as being akin to Nazis and Stalinists. But it is not all doom and gloom and there is still plenty of humour and lighter moments, most of it being visual and some funny lines via Dobby and various Weasleys This time round the main three actors have to stand alone with little support from the adults. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have all grown as actors over the years. All three give fine performances, Watson giving her strongest performance in the series and Grint showing more range then just as the comical sidekick. Radcliffe has already proved himself the best actor of the trio and his performance was natural as in the previous films. There is a large number of cameos in the film from actors who have been in the previous films and its great to see the previous film referenced like this. Imelda Staunton returns, being deliciously evil and sickly-sweet as Dolores Umbridge, and Rhys Ifans gives a surprisingly understated performances as Xenophilius Lovegood.
"The Deathly Hallows Part 1" is one of the strongest entries in the Harry Potter series but there are some faults preventing it from topping the list. When the main three characters are on the road, it is sometimes too slow and some scenes could have been cut or shortened: the film itself is about 10 to 15 minutes too long. Also a problem from the book is that the Horcrux is pretty much lifted from The Lord of the Rings, acting as a corrupt force on anyone who touches it. But all this is minor as the film will satisfy and delight fans of both the books and the films.
I personally really looking forward to the concluding part to the series with what should be an epic finale.