Harry Potter and the grateful it's all over

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2012)

As the franchise closes, Radcliffe finally becomes quite a fine actor. He carries the burden of the film and never fumbles the performance like in so many of this film's predecessors.
The story is still a bit of a jumbled mess from the point of view of someone who has not read the books but at least all the recognizable characters are back for the pretty impressive at times Battle of Hogwarts.
Voldemort, despite a fine performance from Fiennes is still just not scary or evil enough to match the truly great villains of fantasy cinema. He looks the part but the character fails to have the full impact he should.
It's great to see actors of Rickman and Fiennes' calibre sharing the screen but now the franchise is finished, I only hope that all this talent can be put to better use.
I don't wish for all the hours I spent watching these back but I do wish the money lavished on the budgets could have been spent on more interesting and better-written projects. Potter fans will no doubt love the climax, the showdowns, the romance, the deaths but the rest of us will probably just remain a little baffled by the mind-blowing popularity of it all.