Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a fantasy movie directed by David Yates, and is based on the novel by the same title by J.K Rowling. 

This is part one of the 7th movie about Harry Potter and his fight against Voldemort – the Dark Lord. In the previous movies we watched Harry working towards this, finding out things about his present and also things about Voldemort. And now he’s back, and he finally knows how to kill the dark Lord – by destroying the horcruxes. But there’s yet another problem: finding those damn items. Living in different places from night to night, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermoine fights to keep the morale and spirit up as everything they know and love seem to fall apart – every night they hear about families killed or disappeared on a radio and every day brings new sorrows. 

Hagrid and Harry on a flying motorcycle.

 One of the things that have bothered me with the earlier movies was that the films missed too many vital points and twisted my picture of the whole Harry-universe so badly that I in fact tried to avoid seeing this one. Reading the book before I saw the movie backfired at me. But this time it felt really right, things in the movie was similar to how I imagined them while reading the book. The movie is divided in two parts to paint a more detailed picture, and that was a smart move. On the other hand it pretty much sucks as the novel this film is based on is scattered – one part where there’s little action and much seeking and arguing, and one part with much action and thrilling scenes. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is about the seeking and arguing. 

What I really love about the Harry Potter movies is the special effects. Weird items and creatures looks brilliant and watching Hagrid and Harry driving a giant motorbike through a tunnel followed by two Death Eaters on flying broomsticks looks awesome. They also make the different places, such as The Burrow (where the Weasley’s live), the Lovegood’s resident etc look very adventure-ish. Special effects such as things exploding when a deadly spell is tossed at it makes the fights with the Death Eaters even more exciting, and one of the scenes where Harry and Hermoine tries to escape Death Eaters uses a very shaky camera and switches angles and perspectives so often that the entire scene feels so intense that it confused me more than it entertained. 

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint play the magical trio that wanders in the woods. They all fit their roles very good, even though the acting is a little shaky now and then. They’ve always fit the books description of them (except from Hermoine. She never had the hair or teeth the books talk about). Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) also looks as repugnant as the books describe him, and Yates manages to do his changes with the story so swift and elegant that it doesn’t matter that some parts of the movie don’t always reflect the book’s twists and turns, but rather change them to fit his cinematic interpretation. Great, Yates! 

Lord Voldemort and his henchmen.

This movie is probably the best Harry Potter film so far. As the 7th book is parted up into 2 pieces it is more detailed than the previous films. July 2011 will bring us the end of this story when Part 2 is ready to be shown. If you’ve read the books you already know what will happen, and those who have seen the previous movies also has a clue of how this one will be. I recommend it especially for those who liked the book series and also to the one who have seen the previous movies. But if you haven’t read the books nor seen the movies, then you won’t get what’s going on (but who haven’t seen or read about Harry Potter?). Good movie, and the next part is longed for!

- LB