The Black Sheep of the Franchise

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2015)

The first time I watched this film, I was bored out of my skull. I left the film with the impression that it was the most pointless film in the franchise. Granted, I was eleven years old. But even as I matured and provided the franchise with a ridiculous amount of day-long marathons, I always skipped over this film, thinking that I was avoiding a useless addition to the series that was universally disliked for its meandering slowness. But recently, I gave it an honest effort, and boy, was I surprised. As a summer blockbuster, it falls flat on its face. But as a brooding and powerful film that depicts the characters that I know and love being forced to mature in the real world, it excels beyond any other of the films in the franchise.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 begins with Harry, Ron, and Hermione preparing to hunt Voldemort's Horcruxes, or pieces of his soul, in order to finally defeat him. But they are forced to undertake this task on their own. Dumbledore, having died, is no longer there to guide their quest. Thus, the trio now faces their most difficult challenge yet. They have barely anything to go off of in the search, and don't even have a weapon with which they can kill the Horcruxes.
They are forced to wander the land aimlessly, slowly piecing things together, dodging Snatchers and spending many a day trekking across vast landscapes wonderfully captured with stunning cinematography. Even the action scenes, which are very sparse in this film, are subtly spectacular, director David Yates taking an often minimalistic, yet effective approach to every frantic shot. The scene in which the trio runs away from the Snatchers is definitely one of my favourite scenes in the whole franchise.
But it is in this film that we see these characters as actual human beings, capable of sadness, anger, and loneliness. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all have their little bouts with each other as their emerging personalities clash. Ron is no longer the comic relief. He becomes the one who actually has something to lose. Harry is no longer the proud little boy. He is driven by the guilt he feels towards his mistakes and perhaps even his existence. Hermione is no longer the nerdy little girl. She becomes instead the lonely woman, attempting to keep her friends together after removing herself from her own family. This added depth of humanity is what drives the film, much unlike the previous films which were driven by action and an overall sense of wonder. It is surprisingly mature coming from a franchise about witchcraft and wizardry.
This film understands its roots, and pays them tribute by adding humanity to them. In the first scene of the film, Harry waits in Number Four, Privet Drive for Order of the Phoenix to arrive. As he walks through the empty house, he expresses a certain fondness for it, despite the hardships that he endured there. In a way, he forgives it.