Magical Ending to a Magical Series

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 2011)

****MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS******* The finale that we've all been waiting for is finally here and surprisingly, we get the best HP film to date. It is like a final spell that concludes the entire efforts of a decade to perfection.
There are several reasons for this being probably the best movie in the series but the greatest one is undoubtedly, the elevation I have seen in Harry's character. From a teenager struggling against the odds, he has risen above the masses of his Hogwarts co-students, to the level of a great wizard who can look into the eye of the most terrible dark wizard of all time and challenge him for combat to death. This change of tone in Harry's character was displayed right from the moment he spoke to Ollivander that he is gonna get Voldemort anyhow and this made the movie so much better than any that preceded it. It was at this moment that one realizes that Harry has changed into an action hero who is not going to give up at any cost. That is why the entire movie is worked in a direction so different from Rowling's presentation in the books that I end up feeling that I'm watching an altogether original movie and found it equally enjoyable as the book. And what's more--we get a tremendous dose of Voldemort's character (superbly done by Ralph Fiennes) which makes the movie very focused. This movie is all about the two most important characters in the book (Harry and Voldemort) and their battle to death.
Many people have grievances against this direction. Some of the other characters have been left behind and not much has been shown about what happened to them. However, I found it perfect for this movie. For 10 years we have waited for the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. Everything that had happened had led to this moment and Yates ensured that we get uninterrupted supply of that throughout the movie.
Daniel Radcliffe was stunning as HP. And for the first time i felt that no one could have carried the role better (even if you consider the brief prologue--he looked perfect as the guy who beat the greatest dark wizard of all time). He was running up and down the castle spurring the proceedings and the people into action and the atmospheric build up before the Battle of Hogwarts was filmed with great detail.
Voldemort gets his best role in the series and he shines perfectly. I find this villain very convincing--more than even Rowling's portrayal. Taking nothing away from the books, I found that Rowling, somehow, ended up making Voldemort look like a fool in the final part. She was not able to grow Harry's character into an adult and it felt like the mighty Voldemort couldn't even handle a bunch of kids properly and neither protect his horcruxes. However, in the movie, Yates chose an intelligent path. With each horcrux getting destroyed, we see Voldemort struggling and feeling the pain. It was like he was getting stabbed repeatedly and this made him look more and more vulnerable. Also, he was feeling frustrated because nothing was going according to his plan-- his wand was not doing well and Harry was becoming stronger by the minute. And hence it became completely believable when Harry became alive again and we see the despair in Voldemort's eyes and then we see him kicking and punching Harry rather than using magic. This defeated Voldemort mentally and this makes us believe that he can now finally die. This was not evident in the books and there we see a clever and completely powerful Voldemort getting foxed by a kid who doesn't even know magic. Whether you would like this move or not would all depend on which interpretation you like.
This movie had several touchy moments which made me swell emotionally within (specially Snape's memories which were portrayed quite perfectly). Not everything from book can be translated on reel but most things were pretty good. It was no nonsense and a lean but efficient direction by Yates who was able to condense the vast number of pages into a gripping tale that doesn't deviate from its motive which was to beat Voldemort once and for all.
The ending was also quite different from what I had expected and again I felt that it was better suited to the overall tone of the film. I have found people who have complained thatin the book everybody cheered when Voldemort died. Here, everything was rather quite as we see Harry roaming among the injured people who were silently happy (as if after a storm had passed). Almost every person had lost something in the battle and even though they are happy but they don't feel the energy or the emotion to celebrate. This felt more natural somehow.
Although it was a near perfect movie but there were a few things that could have been better. On the level of story, the final fight sequence could have been 5 minutes longer just to expand on the epic feel of the whole Harry vs Voldemort thing. Some more screen time should have been given to Harry and Ginny's relationship. After all, in later life Ginny would be the most important person for Harry and in fact, the first true family Harry would come to have. This being the story of Harry Potter, Ginny automatically becomes important as the love interest of the central character.
However, in the end, this takes nothing away from the movie on the whole. The only bad part is that things have finally ended and it was too sad a moment for me and i'm sure for many other fans because we won't get any more Harry Potter--the boy who lived and defined our childhood in many ways.