MEXICO CITY - After the pre-opening showing of the eighth and last film in the Harry Potter series, first impression is that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a very impressive, tangible, exciting and heart-touching film that succeeds both at an artistic and visual level having a bizarre balance between dark imagery and fast-moving shots whilst maintaining itself fairly close to the source material.
In Part 2 Harry, Ron and Hermione face the impossible task of finding the remaining horcruxes that allow Lord Voldemort to maintain his immortal status. When the moment comes, the trio must come back to Hogwarts to finish up what they have been waiting for: Finish off Lord Voldemort, once and for all. But the price and the consequences of such impossible task challenge Harry in a way that he never expected before.
It is important to point out that this is the best film directed by former-TV-director David Yates, who offers this as his fourth Harry Potter movie. It has been a long way from his earlier works on the series that, whilst succeeding at creating a darker world and a more mature and visceral tone for the HP movies, it had many problems at a technical level. That being said, this is probably one of the best, if not the best editing work I've had the honor of witnessing in a Harry Potter movie before. Focusing on the essentials, David Yates and Mark Day (the film's editor) create a piece with an accelerated pace that managed to maintain itself interesting and exciting even in its slowest moments. With a rather elegant mixture of slow shots focused on character exposition and rapid action sequences, the result is a piece that feels cohesive and logical, something that HP movies lacked before Deathly Hallows - Part 1.
With the aid of Eduardo Serra's cinematographic grandeur, Director David Yates manages to create a film that is visually stunning and attractive. Its color palette, though somewhat dark and foggy at times, helps to create an atmospheric picture that contributes to the film's darker topics when compared to previous more children-oriented entries. However, unlike Part 1, Part 2 spends less time in impressive CGI-enhanced landscapes and more time in making the scenes of a destroyed Hogwarts and a magical-massacre a far deeper experience for the viewer: the filmmakers manage to humanize all the dark drama and promote a somewhat cathartic war-movie experience that would have been improved had the mood of the score (composed by Alexandre Desplat, repeating from Part 1) been more carefully mixed with the sequences of the film.
Speaking of which, Desplat's musical score improved on many different levels from Part 1. Whilst less iconic than the exemplary Obliviate (the main theme for Part 1), it did manage to incorporate John William's Hedwig's Theme and the opening of Half-Blood Prince in a powerful mix that gave us some of the best stand-alone musical pieces of the entire series: Statues and Lily's theme. As mentioned above, the use of the score to support the imagery could have been better, making some potentially powerful moments feel weaker than what the image originally suggested.
As for the acting, it is with no doubt the best part of the film. If one thing can be said about the Harry Potter films, especially after Half-Blood Prince, is that its highlight are their actors, whose on-screen commitment bring up the real magic, a kind of magic that not even CGI can match. Special mention to Alan Rickman, with his memorable portrayal of Severus Snape in the sequence that illustrated "The Prince's story", which is arguably one of the book's most poignant moments and it shines even more in the film adaptation. The main trio composed by Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe delivers its best performance to date and it serves as a cinematographic testimony of their remarkable improvement in their individual performances. Also worth mentioning are Ralph Fiennes, whit his chilling portrayal of Lord Voldemort in one of the film's most amazing representations. Kudos also to Maggie Smith, who finally gave her character the representation she deserved.
All in all, a very cohesive and impressively made film in both an artistic and a technical level. An outstanding closing chapter for the Harry Potter series that, in my opinion, even outshines the book, whose somewhat slower and expository tone left some fans underwhelmed and even upset. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is one of those rare films that match or even improve the story from their base material and that will leave more then one satisfied about how impressive the shaky plotting of the final sequences of the book look in film.
Grade for Part 2: A+ (The Epilogue gets a solid B+)
Grade for Deathly Hallows (Parts 1 & 2): A- due to some slow sequences and some missed opportunities that were also due to problems with the source material
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film: 97% aproval (100% among Top Critis)
Metacritic assigns: 89 out of 100 or "Universal acclaim"
In comparison, Part 1 gets: A- from me, 79% in Rotten Tomatoes (72% top critics) Metracritic gives it a 67 out of 100 or "Generally Positive reviews".
Who says that people don't save best for last? :D
