Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II

My Rating:

  Wait for the Blu-ray

This evening I saw the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II at AMC Cinemas, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong. One of the movies from my Must See Movies list, and the following is my movie review.

This brings the last of the Harry Potter movies franchise to quite a nice ending.

The 7 books in the series they transpose into a 8-movie franchise are: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) and finally Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011).

Unlike Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that feels dragged on, this sequel has the right amount of action, storyline and most importantly final answers to the plot of the franchise. To cut up a novel that J.K. Rowling painstakingly written in 784 pages; the longest of the 7 books, is a difficult and challenging task, but the play writes did a fairly good job.

Over the 10 years that the movies spanned, we see improvements in the three young-teen actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson; who are now in their early 20’s, with Watson improves the most among the three.

Not wanting to give away the plot, I will not tell you who dies or who are reviewed as good guys. I personally did not read book 7 before going to see the movie so I had no expectations. Although having seen all seven previous movies I am very familiar with the Harry Potter story. As a result I was very satisfy with how this latest movie addresses all the open issues in previous movies.

Before going to the movie I have heard a lot of negative feedbacks on the quality and quantity of 3D effects in the movie. So I was trying my best to locate a cinema showing the regular version of the movie. I was even ready to skip this edition of the franchise because I was not able to find a cinema close enough or a show time that is convenient.

In the end I still watched the 3D version, which I recommend movie goers avoid if possible. It just just not worth the extra ticket prices that cinemas charges. The 3D effects and quality were not great or affective, but the movie is filmed very well and it will be a waste to watch it at home on my home theatre.

Rating Legend:

 Must watch before you die
Must watch before you die
 Wait for the Blu-ray
Wait for the Blu-ray
 Buy from iTunes Store
Buy from iTunes Store
 Rent it on iTunes
Rent it on iTunes
 Waste your time elsewhere
Waste your time elsewhere