Unsatisfied

Rating: 5/10 (8 December 2011)

If you're a fan of the Harry Potter books, you may understand director Yates' reasons for many of the scenes in the film but an adaptation of a book should still be its own entity, emphasizing and taking advantage of the strength of film as a visual medium. Staying too true to the book, in my humble opinion, really left me unsatisfied for a number of key scenes.
Yates has done a terrific job in the past Harry Potter films and Deathly Hallows Part 1 was no exception. Extremely well done and well paced, leaving us feeling hopeless and alone. However, in Part 2, many beloved and detested characters alike were too briefly passed over including the Dark Lord himself.
Due to this, the film's final battle seems rushed and anticlimactic. The outcome of poor Remus and Nymphadora are relegated to a 4 second shot of their lifeless bodies. Bellatrix, the most blood-thirsty of all the Death Eaters, was taken out without much fanfare and near comic ease. And Lord Voldemort exchanged, what felt like, no more than 3 clashes with Harry Potter before being reduced to ashes by an altogether different battle.
As one reviewer stated, the final ending at the station gave the film a solid sense of closure and was done splendidly. However, I still walked away feeling truly cheated. A good end to the series but not as great as I would have expected from Yates. I really hope they release an extended version. Five wands out of ten.