First, from our Guest Reviewer, Adam.
Overall, this was an excellent movie. Most of the action scenes were well done, and the whole thing is certainly worth watching at least once. Seeing the stone knights battling Death Eaters and giants was amazing, as was McGonagall's fiery duel with Snape. The only action that lacked something was the duel between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix LaStrange, which consisted of about ten seconds of wand waving and special effects, and ended just as it was getting good. (However, at least they included the most epic line of the book, “not my daughter, you b****!”) Perhaps unexpectedly for such a serious action movie, the humor sprinkled throughout was also well done.
If you judge the movies based on how closely they followed the book, it did rather well. It must be admitted, however, that a few scenes, and very many conversations, were cut. Particular among these were the ones referring to Dumbledore's early life, and his friendship with Grindelwald.
It was not the departures from the book that irked me, however. There were four aspects of the movie that pulled it down from “great and amazing” to just “good”.
First, the entire story seemed to be entirely about the Elder Wand, the first of the Deathly Hallows. In fact, the movie should have been called “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 2”. In virtually every scene, I mentally shouted for the Invisibility Cloak, but it was mentioned very little, and used only once (when they entered Gringotts).
At least the Resurrection Stone got its own scene, although it should have gotten more time than it did. Wasn't the point of the Hallows to contrast the fearful power of the Elder Wand with the quiet humility of the Invisibility Cloak? Yet we saw much of the former, and none of the latter.
Additionally, the final scenes between Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville against Nagini and Voldemort contained too much action, action which should have been in the main battle for Hogwarts. The biggest disappointment here was when Neville pulled out the Sword of Gryffindor and then was suddenly (and anticlimactically) thrown backwards by Voldemort into the ruins of the school. It took another ten minutes of Nagini chasing Harry and Ron and Hermione before Neville finally got to cut off her head. The book had a much more epic conclusion for the snake.
Harry's speech to Voldemort was the climax of the book. The entires book series culminated in that one scene. But not in the movie. Instead, Voldemort chases Harry to the astronomy tower, then the pair of them run (or fly) around Hogwarts, fighting and merging (which was really interesting to see, until I remembered that it shouldn't have been happening, since the horcrux in Harry had been killed, and Harry's link to him had been severed), then finally they return to the courtyard where they attempt the priori incantatem line again, which is only supposed to happen between shared-core wands (but seems to happen in every major duel in the movie series. Oh well.) The priori incantatem line is not the main issue; the problem is that the entire point of the duel is lost. Harry triumphs over Voldemort not because he is more skilled in dueling - which is what the movie seems to be trying to emphasize - but because he can love, and Voldemort cannot.
This fundamental shift results in a loss of emphasis on the intangibles. The duel between Harry and Voldemort was just one place where the emphasis was lost. Another occurred in the King's Cross Station “Dream”, where instead of talking about how Harry has become “Master of Death” and how love conquers all, there is instead a mere re-coining of a phrase from The Chamber of Secrets episode: “Help at Hogwarts will always be given to those who deserve it.” What on earth is that supposed to mean? How is it even relevant? The only possible connection is when Neville pulls the sword out of the hat. But that has nothing to do with Harry’s journey; that only deals with the destruction of the final horcrux.
The final issue is a personal one. If the epilogue for the book was bad - and I'm not convinced it is - then the epilogue in the movie was worse. It was well done, but none of the characters looked a day older than they had in any other portion of the film (except perhaps Ginny) although the scene was supposed to take place nineteen years after the final battle. This made the whole scene awkward. However, as I said, this is just personal.
I would definitely recommend this movie, but more for the fact that it is the last in the Harry Potter series than because of its substance. At its worst, it is a mediocre visual representation of a fantastic novel. At its best, it is just a fun action flick.
Score: 7.5/10
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