Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1

It's hard to believe that Daniel Radcliffe was 12 when he acted in the first ever Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone back in 2001. He has surely grown up fast, now he's of age and legal playing a 17 year old in this latest installment. I wish the movie releases were closer together so that 1) Dan and his gang of friend looks younger, 2) I can still remember the plot of the previous films. Not having read the books, I'm not too familiar with the plot points and I get lost sometimes.

In this final 2-parter, Harry is still on a campaign to destroy the absolute villain Lord Voldemort and during his journey, he lost a lot of his allies, notably Professor Dumbledore. The story is getting gloomier and gloomier to the point that is quite uncharacteristic of a children's novel. How do million of kids handle lost, death and vengeance? How could we expect parents of these kids explain all these issues to them?

The mood of the whole movie is dark and every scene is gloom and doom, the wonder of magic tricks has turned into killing spells with light blood and gore. It's not your "Wingardium Leviosa" anymore. It's kill or be killed. While the connection between Harry and Voldemort is still strong, Harry must find Voldemort's horcruxes and find a way to destroy them. With Voldemort's cohorts getting into power, Harry must evade their pursuit and look for clues left by Professor Dumbledore.

Harry is playing the fugitive this time so there's a lot of outdoor living scene, but since this movie act as a build up for the grand finale, it is quite anti-climatic. I come out of it feeling the general gloominess and a bit unsatisfied. Don't get me wrong, the story-telling is superb, the acting and the special effects are great but nothing much can be expected from a build-up movie.

I heard that the finale is going to be in 3D and I mourn that it'll be the end of a fantastic story but I guess it's time. Only great story seems short and the guys are not getting any younger.