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)

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)

I saw the first four Harry Potter films and stopped there, as I’m not a fan of the series. I went to see Deathly Hollows: Part I only because of its attractive billboards. And I was bored to death. The beginning of the series introduced us to the characters and the story’s lovely environment and, in the case of Alfonso Cuarón’s contribution to the series, brought us a unique, wonderfully dark film adventure that showed a lot of inventiveness on the director’s part. The films had their own stories and always took the audience somewhere. In comparison to them, Deathly Hollows: Part I is only a protracted masturbatory porridge, slavishly and without any creative input following the original book, the qualities of which I don’t know, but if they’re anything like this film, I’ll gladly pass. (18/11/2010)

The weakest Harry Potter instalment split into two parts? Oh dear, we're raking in the dough, we're raking in the dough. And unfortunately it phoned it in – the first part is boring. A fairy tale with thriller elements and coincidentally uncovered graves. It's sad, but as a fan, I'm disappointed. The music, the actors, the effects – nothing new, lackluster and drawn out. A brick on you. The second part might finally make you cry; so far it's been nothing but smirking. I had fun making fun of it. Otherwise, I was yawning. Sorry, Harry, you were acting like Frodo, and I won't forgive you for that. A weaker 3 stars. (02/12/2010)

I feel like this doesn't have much to do with good old Harry Potter anymore. It's all a bit too dark and the Hogwarts atmosphere is sorely lacking. I still respect Harry as a fan though. I'm just of the opinion that a "new" viewer won't be impressed by this installment (at least the first part). At times I feel like I'm watching a Canadian thriller. I give it 4 stars, but on a completely different scale than the previous installments. But I'm looking forward to Part 2 anyway. (12/05/2011)