A brooding, sloppily paced seventh chapter.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 ventures onto territory completely unique to the wildly popular ($5 billion-plus and counting) series. In this brooding, sometimes violent and often hopeless seventh and final chapter - the first of two parts, no less - Voldemort’s forces finally wrest control of our cherished land of magic and wizards. The Disneyworld-like wonders we’ve grown so accustomed to are now shrouded in darkness, and our returning, fresh-faced protagonists – though not nearly so fresh-faced as they used to be –– find themselves both on the hunt and hunted. Though mostly the latter.
The movie begins where 2009's THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE left off, as companions Harry, Ron and Hermione (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) face this foreboding new world minus their reassuringly wise leader Professor Dumbledore, violently murdered by turncoat Severus Snape. A steady deterioration of law and order ensues, the Ministry of Magic and our beleaguered heroes’ home of Hogwarts are ceded to the Death Eaters, and all those opposing You Know Who must flee or face certain persecution… or death.
HALLOWS leaps into action with a harrowing chase scene that results in the death of one of Harry’s friends, not to mention (another) significant character from the series. So we learn early on that this is no longer strictly family viewing, as spilled blood, terror and death already fill the screen. And the scene’s shocking conclusion establishes for both the good guys and the audience that the Dark Lord and his minions now have the upper hand. Over the next two and half hours those forces embark on an ruthless hunt for Potter and his friends, the action exploding even into the formerly out-of-bounds Muggle world. After all, the old rules no longer apply. Harry and his sidekick duo venture out on their own to spare their friends the danger constantly nipping at their heels. Together they must track down the remaining five Horcruxes, symbolic objects containing Voldemort's immortal defenses. Horcruxes are the ultimate life insurance policy: not only are they a bitch to find, but they’re protected by wickedly powerful charms. (Numbers one (Tom Riddle’s diary) and two (Marvolo Gaunt’s ring) were destroyed in THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS and HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, respectively.) In the midst of this quest, the ancient tale of the Deathly Hallows is unearthed, and a race to secure that legend’s powers is initiated.
What my synopsis leaves out – and trust me, there's plenty -- is a litany of sometimes mind-numbing exposition. Such a storytelling tactic is in itself an easy way of bogging a film down. But set such talking-heads-dialogue against a barren, gray backdrop and depressed mood, and audiences can be overwhelmed with the volume of detail – and a little bummed out. Some of the more arcane details could have been spared: too much explanation isn’t a film, it’s a lesson plan. I also had to wonder how many times we must be shown the bad guys pursuing our beleaguered heroes. We get it! Now move this story along. Cutting out some attempted traps, foils, sabotages and ambushes of the trio, in addition to some percentage of expository dialogue, may have enabled Warner Brothers to condense HP7’s two parts into one… Not that WB wants to do such a thing. (Ka ching.)
HALLOWS: PART 1 also shows extremely uneven pacing. The final scene is anti-climactic - even the audience seemed under-whelmed. (Surprising, given that they seemed to enjoy the movie more than I did.) Yes, it’s predictable, but more undermining to its oomph were its multiple, climactic scenes preceding it. By the time the final, final ending arrived my soul felt so depleted I could have used a Horcrux to hide it in. (Mine would be a Macbook.)
Watson and Grint prove their acting talents and provide one of the few intriguing relationships in the film. But Radcliffe reveals little new about his character, and his increasingly adult looks distract. He often carries a five-o’clock shadow, and he reveals abundant chest hair in more than one shirtless scene. Ralph Fiennes delivers yet again as Voldemort; Helena Bonham Carter camps up V’s insane henchwoman Bellatrix Lestrange to a blackly comedic crescendo. Interestingly, old favorites Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), “Mad Eye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and of course the deceased Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) barely surface; Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall) doesn’t appear as at all due to health problems. And we’re limited to what felt like a mere glimpse of the consistently brilliant Alan Rickman as Snape. But Imelda Staunton’s wonderfully snide and pompous Dolores Umbridge does get face time, and newcomer Bill Nighy absolutely delights in his oh-too-brief turn as the dour Minister of Magic. That man’s facial expressions alone fascinate. Another newcomer, John Hurt, pops up inexplicably for the amount of time it takes to say “Abracadabra.”
I should end on a positive note, for fear that slamming this franchise will earn threats from aspiring real-life Death Eaters. HALLOWS’ special effects are impressive: the elves Dobby (voiced by Toby Jones) and Kreacher (Simon McBurney) could compete with Gollum any day. The smoke missiles of ‘ol Voldy and his Death Eaters searing the sky never tire, as foreboding as they are beautiful. And the illustrated tale of the Hallows delights the eyes with its shadowy representations, although the scene does seem a bit out of place in the movie overall. One use of CGI we could have done without was a ghostly, Horcrux-conjured nude coupling; the two actors revealed in the scene show such an obvious lack of sexual chemistry that I’m sure it’ll inspire many an "Ewww" from audience members. And some scenes will terrify even the most horror-hardened of adults (not referring to the nude scene here), so parents beware of, in particular, a certain slithery thing and, well, an old lady.
Director: David Yates
Writer: Steve Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Tom Felton, Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Jason Isaacs, Helen McCrory, Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Julie Walters, Bonnie Wright
Run Time: 146 minutes
Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality.
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