Spectacular end to the franchise!

Rating: 9/10 (26 August 2012)

So, yes, this movie does waver from the book, and yes, they did get a bunch of things wrong, and yes, many parts of it could've been better, however, everything else was so incredible all this mistakes are soon overlooked. This movie is simply epic, and while the spaces for the most part are confined, it is on a grand scale. Unlike the last movie, by like all the others previous, most of the action takes place at Hogwarts, which for some reason they changed the architecture to. I don't get why they did that, but the sets are still amazing, especially Gringotts, which was much darker this time, the sequence on the bridge, which I thought was a good addition, and all of the destroyed courtyards.
David Yates does a good job at capturing all the emotion that goes into a battle like this. Most people just relate war with action and violence, but it's also extremely emotional, something that J. K. Rowling did a great job at portraying, and something that Yates carried through with the movie. However (only a spoiler if for some reason your haven't read the book or seen the movie yet), with the exception of Snape's, he sweeps through all the death scene rather quickly, sometimes giving character only mere seconds of screen time. The hardship and loss still definitely gets across, but it could've made more of an impact if more time was spent on it.
Speaking about Snape, I think Snape's memories is one of the greatest sequences ever filmed in cinematic history. I'm not joking--they couldn't fit all of it in there, and they added some stuff for the movie's purposes, but it is just so powerful, it's impossible not to feel affected by it. It is a spectacularly and masterfully done montage with many different layers and footage from almost all the film, which really brings back some great memories. It was definitely the closest I've ever come to shedding a tear in a movie theater, and trust me, that doesn't happen. Alan Rickman also does in absolutely breathtaking final portrayal of Severus Snape-- if the Academy wasn't so afraid of Harry Potter movies, and fantasy in general, he would've gotten an Oscar nomination, which definitely would've been deserved.
In fact, all the acting is top-notch, especially Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, Jason Isaacs, Michael Gambon, Warwick Davis, and Julie Walters, as well as Helena Bonham Carter, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, and Gary Oldman. The kids, too, although they're not really kids anymore, were all very good, namely Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, who have really grown and turned into some fine young actors throughout the course of this series. Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, Devon Murray, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, and Alfred Enoch also did great jobs.
Not everything was perfect, though. (Mild spoilers again, if somehow you don't know the plot.) The sequence with the Grey Lady was not at all like in the book--it didn't have the same feel to it, and she seemed angry instead of upset. They also changed how the ghosts look for the last movie, which I didn't like and thought was a little pointless. Also, towards the end, Voldemort sort of beats up Harry while Harry is taunting him, and Voldemort does some weird thing with his cloak and picks Harry up with it, and then they both jump off the bridge and fly around to their final battle. This whole sequence doesn't really fit in, and Harry never Voldemort the whole story behind the Elder Wand, but instead tells it to Hermione and Ron afterward, which I also didn't like. He then proceeds to dispose of it without fixing his own wand, which was broken in the previous movie, which was a terrible thing to leave out.
Looking past all the small errors, though, this movie is absolutely spectacular in every sense of the word, and it is accompanied by and equally-as-impressive score by Alexandre Despalt. Everything comes together in an incredible way, and, if you look past some of the minor deviations from the book and embrace some of the larger ones, you won't be disappointed.