Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1: The Wait is FINALLY Over


It's here! The most anticipated movie of the year has finally arrived in theaters all over the world. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 tells the continuing story of Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ronald Weasley, (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) as they leave the safety of Hogwarts and venture into a changed world. Their aim is to continue the recently-deceased Dumbledore's (Michael Gambon) quest to destroy the Horcruxes that keep Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) alive. Only one problem: where are Voldemort's valued Horcruxes? As they venture through Britain into beautiful countrysides, emotional tensions rise.

This movie was very well done and combines so many genres together, such as action, adventure, drama, and even a little bit of comedy and horror. In the book, J.K. Rowling dragged the main characters out of the safety of Hogwarts and put them in the real world. And the world she created was dark. And cold. And lonely. And this movie captures all of those aspects perfectly.

This was a lot scarier than all of the other movies. This is mainly because of Ralph Fiennes' portrayal of the villain, Voldemort. In the other pictures, the characters were sheltered from Voldemort, so he wasn't commonly featured in the movies. However, in this film, he is seen much more often, and Fiennes does an amazing job of terrifying the audience with his passive-aggressive act. Nagini, Voldemort's snake, is another terrifying character in the movie. She appears twice, and both times, she is terrifying.

The three main characters have slowly grown up over the course of seven movies, and so have the three lead actors over ten years. They've finally reached their absolute high with this movie. Emma Watson really steals the show with this movie as the girl caught in between Ron and Harry. Daniel Radcliffe is still good, but nothing Oscar-worthy. Rupert Grint maintains comic relief during the beginning, but creates emotional tension during the middle and the end. The supporting cast is great, as per usual. However, since the movie focuses on the journey Harry, Ron, and Hermione take, there is little room for the supporting cast to show off. Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter are great in the five to ten minutes they are on screen. All in all, the cast is great, but there is little room for the supporting cast made up of the most famous British actors of our time.

Overall, there was one major problem with this movie, and this was the length. I have seen this movie twice so far. The first time, since I didn't know what to expect, I thought it was great. The second time, however, the blinders were chewed off my eyes and I saw that, although the movie itself was great, I was so long! I fully understand that there is a lot of information that needed to be conveyed, but two and a half hours is not a legitimate runtime for half of a movie. The way they could have eliminated this was by cutting out useless bits and pieces in the middle, where it lags the most. The beginning is perfect, and the end is fine, but the middle was very dreary.

I would recommend this movie to anyone over the age of ten, because of the horror element. Don't go in there expecting a fast-paced thrill ride throughout the entire movie, because that isn't what it is. Potter fans will be ecstatic about this movie, and even people who haven't read the books will enjoy themselves. Go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.