Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1
Without Hogwarts, the story of Harry Potter loses its sense of the fantastic. There aren’t many things that captivate you in child-like astonishment - no teachers to learn from, no headmaster to ensure us that, despite the dangers that lurk about, a happy ending is just minutes away. The story of Harry, Ron and Hermoine in search of Voldermort’s seven horcrux has quite certainly grown-up. The story has matured as the three have.
This segment gives us more of the feeling we felt with the Fellowship’s journey in “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King,” albeit a fellowship of three. But three’s definitely better than one, which reminds me of something King Solomon once wrote: “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” There’s more at stake and nothing is too sacred to be profaned.
It goes to show how much of an art and rocket science it is to adapt a novel into a screenplay, and Steve Klove did so ingeniously. What took pages in the book, he managed to tell in the opening sequence… and you get it. You get it without the exposition. It was just well done. To see how he separates important and unimportant makes absolute sense to me.
The winter, the overcast, the snow, the darkness… they all work well with the isolation of the characters. And with it, we visually feel what the best friends feel inside. But Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), on a lateral note, is the scene-stealer in my opinion.
I can’t give this movie four stars, though, ‘coz it’s not complete. It’s only part one. And honestly speaking, Prisoner of Azkaban is still my favorite in the series. But Hallows is definitely up there. Let’s just see if it gets any Oscar nods besides the usual affects and music and sound.
★★★1/2
