Harry Potter is Harry Potter

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2011)

Review Score 8.5/10 – You've seen it, you love it, you won't stop now. Lacks some of the magic of previous films, but it's the conclusion so go see it.
HPDHP2 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) is well you know, it's the final Harry Potter film. It picks up where the last one left off, Voldemort has three horcruxes left and Harry, Ron, and Hermione are out to destroy them. The film wastes no time recouping anything except the fact that Voldemort just retrieved the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's Grave. The film largely rests on the final act of the Deathly Hallows, namely the Battle of Hogwarts.
The film has probably the most pure action sequences in these films since ever. If the group isn't fighting or fleeing they're probably just licking their wounds for the next scene. Dialogue is sparse, and explanations are momentary distractions from all the different colored lights running around. And the action is great, its some of the best in any action film, but then again that's what action films are supposed to be about.
But this film has perhaps more negative things that can be said than previous Harry Potter films. All the gooey stuff is over, all the characters have been set on their paths and the film isn't about to remind you what path they've chosen. There is no struggle within the group of friends, how to destroy horcruxes is known, what the deathly hallows are is known, and above all, what's going to happen is known. The film does not spend even one full scene talking about what its doing or where its going, there's action to be filmed.
This is particularly disappointing, because I felt that HPDHP1 was one of the greatest Harry Potter films, but that film remembered one thing that HPDHP2 doesn't remember and that's that among its frenzied and confused action it knew how to slow down and allow for character to bleed out. In this movie Hermione and Ron get hardly any lines. Story is completely side-boarded except for the most climactic part of the film, which is about half an hour before the end of the story. Explanation is so sparse, that unless one were to read the books they'd not know why particular actions were taken and this can mostly be blamed on the fact that someone decided to cut down on the sentimentality and explanation.
BUT I save my rant for more personal moments because despite a few issues that dig at me, HPDHP2 is one of the best action films I've seen recently, and it's the end of a series that everyone has loved, either as books, as films, or as both, and whether or not this is a success should not be measured based one less that shiny part. Therefore I say this movie has something for everyone to love, but it is a movie, and its never felt more like a movie than this one and that is a negative thing.