by Shannon Lintott

The epic story continues as Harry, Hermione and Ron begin the search for the Horcruxes. In a race against Voldermort’s rapidly increasing army, Harry and all wizards must begin to make sacrifices, take life or death chances and in some cases walk away from those they love. The discovery of an old legend of the Deathly Hallows, the most powerful artifacts in the wizarding world, may change the outcome for both sides.

I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I’ve grown up with these characters so I feel an extra intense connection to everyone and everything they go through. I am one of those people who was glad when they announced it would be in two parts. The book covered so much, not only action and plot wise, but so much character development and interaction takes place, especially within the first half of the novel. Therefore, I knew this wasn’t going to be a fast action and rapid paced film and going in knowing that made the conversations and little character developments all the more delicious.

All actors involved have been absorbed into this world completely and you can see how intense their connections to their characters are. The most beautiful scenes were ones filled with behind-the-back faces and quick looks to one another. The built-up tension and a truly believable past between all characters made this film so personal and amazing.

An interesting note, at least for me, was I found myself paying more attention to Rupert (Ron) a lot more than in any other of the movies. I’m not sure why but he seems to really be blossoming as an actor these days and I look forward to seeing what he does next.

Dan (Harry) continues to give 100% and watching him change and grow as the character only strengthens this already strong and dark story. I could tell he dove a little deeper in each film but this one he seemed to let himself go which made it all the more enjoyable of an experience watching him on the screen.

And actually Emma (Hermione) was the least amount of annoying since the beginning of time so that was good for me too. Definite plus! No offense to her, maybe it was just the way she played Hermione, but it’s taken me awhile to warm up to her but I have no complaints this time.

Ralph Fiennes continues to amaze me as Voldermort. I never have and never will have a single bad thing to say about his performance. He blows me away every single time.

The movie had a pretty constant, moderate pace throughout but when the action started to happen, I was on the edge of my seat or bunched into a seat ball of anxiety. It was all really well done. The directing, script and score were all so amazing. There was a perfect balance between the story and the characters.

The only down side was that some of the scenes dragged on a little too long. They weren’t boring.  No, no, not at all. But they did need to have a more even pace when it came to scene changes and flow from a personal scene to an action shot. It was so minor though that it didn’t even matter.

Needless to say I loved this movie. I cannot wait for the next one! It is going to rock me to the core. I liked where they ended it. I was worried about that, but they picked the perfect spot. Hat tip for that!

Most memorable scenes: the dance scene, when the Horcrux opens, the story telling animation of the Deathly Hallows tale and, of course, Dobby and the end.

Sit back. Enjoy the characters. Get to know them even more and love the interactions that take place. Don’t mistake carefully thought out and planned dialogue/conversations for bad edits. You could easily allow yourself to get bored if you don’t understand the importance of every scene. Just listen and you’ll get how every word spoken is important.

Loved it!! See it. Even if you aren’t a Harry Potter fan you will appreciate this movie.

Rating: 4.5/5

Shannon Lintott works in production at a professional theatre company in Toronto. A recent graduate of the Ryerson Performance Production BFA program, she spends her free time exploring the internet, taking photographs, reading or writing on one of her numerous and addictive websites. The majority of her time is spent watching movies and reviewing them on her movie review blog I Like (good) Movies. Follow Shannon on Twitter.