Not the best Potter film, but worth a watch

Rating: 6/10 (19 February 2015)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1" is the seventh out of eight Harry Potter films. It is the year 2009 already and the kids have considerably grown up, a lot has happened already and Potter and the gang get ready for their final battle with Voldemort. We have more evil characters than ever. Lestrange, Umbridge, Snape, Draco, Wormtail etc. (seem to) have joined the Dark Lord. The film is directed once again by David Yates, just like films 5, 6 and 8. It is written again by Steve Kloves who wrote all the Potter films based on Rowling's books except one. The film scored Academy Award nominations for its visual effects and art direction, but came short as always. Just no luck with the Academy for Potter.
Fans of the franchise will be shocked by the deaths of many (dear) characters such as Mad-Eye, Gobby or Hedwig here. As if it wasn't already enough that they had to deal with Dumbledore's demise. One of my personal highlights is the story of the three brothers in this movie. Apart from that I really liked Luna Lovegood who stole every scene she was in. Great actress Evanna Lynch and I really want to see more from her in the future. Her character of course isn't going to be Potter's girlfriend (that would be Ginny), but she's too cool for him anyway. Also her dad plays a big role this time. One of my favorite quotes from her is when she says that Potter does not want to talk to them right now, but is simply too polite to say. As mysterious as Draco's role is, the same goes for Snape. Or maybe not, as he is downright evil in this film and we won't find out the truth until the final chapter.
Another highlight would be when Ron, Harry and Hermione were in Britain's wilderness on their own. The central characters' tension, conflicts, but also the bonding are the biggest strength of this film and the harmonic dance sequence with Harry and Hermione is truly a thing of beauty with all the horrible messages pouring in through the radio. The maybe toughest scene to watch was Bellatrix torturing Hermione, also a contender for the whole franchise. It's kinda pointless to recommend or not recommend this film as, if you consider watching this, you have liked the earlier films anyway. I personally believe it is a pretty good film and builds up nicely to the 8th and last chapter of the hyper-successful Harry Potter franchise. Of course, it was also once again among the most commercially successful films of the year, but that's a given.