Just for the record, I love the books(for a while Philosopher's Stone was a huge favourite of mine) and I personally like the films. None of them are masterpieces, but they are likable, entertaining and I think well made too. I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 with high expectations, there were many friends of mine who said it was brilliant and the best yet. After seeing it with my family last night I have to say Amen! This was a wonderful film in my opinion, and it does a very good job sticking to a mammoth story. I also think they made the right decision splitting it into two parts, if they hadn't the result I think would have been too rushed.
If I do have a criticism here, I do agree that the pacing is rather slow. I think it started and ended brilliantly, it was the middle where it dragged with a lot of admiring the scenery. As beautiful as it was, it didn't admit much to the story.
Criticism aside, I adored the production values. The darker scenes were indeed dark and somewhat bleak, especially the beginning at Malfoy Manor where it looked like a film noir, while the scenery in the middle of the film was gorgeous. The music was another delight, it was sweeping, grandiose, majestic, for me the most complex and most atmospheric of all the Harry Potter movie scores. The script is an improvement too, not that it was terrible in the other movies, but especially I thought the humour was better judged(ie. Moody's comment about the polyjuice potion), while the story despite the slow pacing was never less than engrossing.
There are a few scenes too that I especially liked. One was Dobby's death, I thought it was heart-rending. Dobby was so lovable and funny, and in this instalment cute too I think(loved the trainers), although I knew it was going to happen I couldn't help shedding tears. I think what got me were his last words, they were so poetic and touching. Another was Godric's Hollow, like the former I knew it was coming but it was done in an atmospheric and unnerving way I couldn't help jump. I was also taken with the first "obliviate" scene, the regret in Hermione's face and voice made it incredibly poignant, while the 7 Potters chase was both funny and thrilling. My favourite though was the Three Brothers animated sequence. I was wondering how they were going to do that, and after seeing that scene I have to applaud the writers. It was a clever and beautifully done sequence, with some haunting images especially with death. Harry and Hermione's dance got mixed reactions in the cinema, some thought it was awkward and others like me liked it, at that one I thought they were going to kiss which I don't think would have gone down well.
Yates's direction is also much better than it has been. It wasn't bad in the other two films, but here it looked as though he took real charge, and all the pivotal scenes here were in general wonderfully handled. The acting is mostly very good. Daniel Radcliffe is likable enough, and Rupert Grint has great comic timing. Emma Watson I think gives her best performance of the series so far and she steals every scene she's in, while Alan Rickman while not in much is deliciously suave and dour. The two standouts for me were Helena Bonham Carter, whose Bellatrix was powerful and sometimes even scary and Ralph Fiennes who was really quite creepy sometimes without saying much at all. Bill Nighy's Scrimgeour is good but not as memorable, while I do think they wasted the Dursleys.
Overall, a rock solid film that ended in a perfect place and my personal favourite of the series so far. In fact, it makes me all the more excited for the next. 9/10 Bethany Cox
