Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

The world of magic has truly entered the darkest of times, but despite what random critical outbursts might suggest, it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the film adaptation. David Yates and Steve Kloves had a challenging task of transforming the "slower and more talkative" part of the Deathly Hallows into separate explosive blockbusters. The director stood out with incredible bravura, and whether the Trio is leaving home, the Tale of the Three Brothers is being told, or the horcrux is being destroyed, the magical atmosphere literally shines from the screen. However, Kloves' screenplay occasionally takes shortcuts, and if I didn't know the source material backwards and forwards, I would be quite lost. But even though Bill and Fleur become members of the Order from one minute to the next, when they never appeared in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Minister Scrimgeour steps onto the scene only to quickly depart from it, the criticisms are hard to find in the outcome. The overall impression for me screams that from four hundred pages full of expectations of great things and the fulfillment of smaller ongoing goals, an epic fantasy has been created full of intoxicating moments and such sincere private drama that it takes your breath away. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince have now gained a successful companion, and if David Yates was the king after the previous installment, he is slowly running out of room to climb. (27/11/2010)

The seventh book is unnecessarily, although readably, drawn-out in the first half; and the second half has a fateful finale as we like them best. It’s movie adaptation has only got half way so far (somewhere around page four hundred of about six hundred), but it’s already better than the book at least in that Yates succeeded in approaching it in a way that doesn’t come across like unnecessarily watered down porridge. And if so, certainly less than the book is. Thanks to the convincing (!) emotions, the finally acting well central trio, the great atmosphere and Desplat, it works wonderfully. It’s true that there are a few scenes that stand out in quality above the others, but even so, the movie works primarily and mainly as a whole. But still, it is evident that where the creators dared to let their fantasy loose and not to stick word for word to the book, the movie is clearly at its best. Now all I can wish for is for Yates to manage to deal with the special effects-full, epic second part, while not forgetting those emotions and characters. If he manages that, we’ll have something to look forward to. But if he doesn’t, we will really have something to “look forward to". (18/11/2010)

Watching teenagers run around in the woods for 140 minutes is borderline torture. David Yates rips off Nolan's Batman themes at every turn, but doesn't understand that that alone doesn’t make a good movie. Because when the actors don't have anything to work with, and there is not a single memorable scene that will make it worthwhile, the result is more than trivial. An unfinished, poorly made film with no drama, where they drown in lavish camera panoramas and robust music, forgetting everything else that made the Harry Potter franchise a success. (22/07/2023)

The first half of the great Potter finale is unexpectedly quiet and conversational, but it certainly doesn't hurt, because it is without exception superbly acted. The establishing part, which makes you realize how far not only the characters, but also their representatives have come since 2001, is probably the best of all. The tension is almost palpable for the whole 140 minutes, the gloomy atmosphere as well, but the screenwriter and director still know when they can afford something to lighten things up and the viewer doesn't get bored. The action start was top notch, while the ending with Bellatrix and Dobby is one of the most impressive moments of the whole series. And Alexandre Desplat got to compose the music, which was a safe bet. (11/09/2015)

I don't know if this is a fantasy tribute to Satantango, but the fact is that, if all the shots were thrown out where the characters were mindlessly stumbling or looking soulfully into nothingness, there would be about 30 minutes of film left and I would have a hard time defending its purpose. The entire Harry Potter series has since become an unbearably stretched and non-inventive spectacle on the silver screen, which includes purposeful piling of meaningless branches and the creation of soap opera odor. Yet even in terms of character rendering, it is poor and dead tired, without sparkle and anything that would keep a person’s attention who does not look at it as an overpriced illustration of a book. Utterly useless, boring, and I dare say even a stupid half-part. (10/07/2011)