Excellent

Rating: 9/10 (7 December 2010)

Deathly Hallows part 1 is arguably the best Harry Potter film to date, right up there with the first film. I was slightly disappointed at first, but upon my second viewing I fell in love with it.
Hogwarts is completely absent from this film. It now focuses on Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaving their previous lives behind and going into hiding and on the run from the ministry of magic which has been infiltrated by Voldemort's minions. Much of the film takes place out in the wilderness.
We see the trio's friendship strained and repeatedly tested, living in close quarters and struggling to track down the remaining "Horcruxes"-objects in which Lord Voldemort has contained a fragment of his soul. In order to put an end to Voldemort once and for all, they need to locate these Horcruxes and destroy them. Their journey takes them all over the countryside of Britain.
The highlight of the film was a scene in which our heroes disguise themselves as Ministry Of Magic employees using Polyjuice Potion and infiltrate the ministry, which has now become very Nazi-like in their efforts to detain and interrogate witches and wizards who aren't "pure-blood", and those working against Voldemort. BRILLIANTLY done, and while this film has much less light-hearted humor than the last, there are a few chuckles to be had in this scene.
The actors are at the top of their game, I can think of no one here who turned in a lackluster performance. And as always, the film is chock full of highly respected British actors such as Rhys Ifans, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, etc.
The film does have some emotional moments where I could feel myself struggling to keep from getting a little misty eyed. It's unfortunate that the saddest scene is at the end, which does leave a not-so-happy ending, but what can you expect seeing as this is only part 1.
The film isn't for small children, but if they have seen the other films, they will be fine. There's no cursing here beyond "piss" or "damn". There is a scene that suggests passionate nude kissing, of course without showing parts. There is one scene with a decent amount of blood when a character nearly looses an arm, and also a somewhat brief torture scene (by magic) that is mostly heard rather than seen.
The soundtrack is amazing and moving, very well done. I particularly like "The Oblivation" and "Decoy Detonators".
Overall, this is a fantastic film. Don't attempt to really understand what's going on if you're not familiar with the past films, you'll be pretty lost.