Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two (2011)

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, and Alan Rickman

Directed by David Yates

All I can say is that I'm happy the Harry Potter saga is over and done with so I can now never have to watch another moment of this boring fantasy series again.  It's not that any of the movies are godawful, but considering these flicks are supposed to be trips to a fantastical world of magic and sorcery there is a severe lack of creativity and joy onscreen in any of these films.

Picking up immediately where the bland Part One left off, Part Two of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a showdown between Mr. Potter and the evil Voldemort.  I'm not going to get into any additional story description because it all boils down to Good vs. Evil and it's likely not going to be a surprise as to who comes out the victor.  

As stated above, the problem with all of these Potter films is that they all simply seem much too cookie cutter and by the book.  Directors (with the exception of Alfonso Cuarón's take on Prisoner of Azkaban, the third flick in the series) all seem to lack the imagination to make this cinematic series successful and David Yates is no exception.  As a director, he's responsible for not only making the film visually appealing (which this isn't), but also making the film flow...and this film doesn't do that either.

Granted, I think Yates certainly would have been helped had the film been released as a single flick rather than be forced to be stretched out into two parts.  As much as I would have hated the experience, I would have rather had a three hour-and-fifteen minute flick as opposed to 2 two hour films.  Presented in the way they were released, I couldn't help but feel like the editor had to leave stuff in just to pad the running time.

I will say that Daniel Radcliffe whom I criticized in my review of Part One proved to be rather good in this final installment of the series.  This second film is purely his with many the other characters including Emma Watson's Hermione and Rupert Grint's Ron pushed more to the outskirts.  Rather surprisingly, Radcliffe proves that he may well have a career now that his decade as Harry Potter is over.

Take my review of this one with a grain of salt.  This series just never worked for me and although I saw all of them in theaters, they never once transported me into the magical, mystical world of J.K. Rowling's best-selling series.  With the exception of a pleasant theme by film composer John Williams, there's really nothing worth remembering about the Harry Potter series in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-