harry potter and the deathly hallows 1 and 2

The lead actors do things they’ve never done before - Radcliffe and Watson share a topless clinch (no wand-flashing, thankfully), while Grint has to play jealousy and paranoia - but there’s no real sense of weight to the breaking of this fellowship. Much of The Deathly Hallows: Part 1’s swampy middle stretch involves friends wandering through forests, emotionally manipulated by the jewellery they’re carrying (here, said locket) and starting to fall apart.

There’s a further unflattering parallel to be drawn with Peter Jackson’s films. Rowling had the luxury of hundreds of pages to explain it all delivered as movie exposition, it makes you yearn for the chuck-a-ring-in-a-volcano simplicity of The Lord Of The Rings.

The Resurrection Stone, the Elder Wand, Godric Gryffindor's Sword, Salazar Slytherin’s Locket… at times it seems like the characters are outnumbered by the MacGuffins. Then there’s a sub-quest (find and combine three ‘deathly hallows’, objects that give their owner power over death). There’s a main quest (find and destroy several ‘horcruxes’, objects containing fragments of Voldemort’s soul). Yet what should feel fresh and urgent, a cross-country chase flick, is bogged down for long stretches by a curse of Excrucius Overplottio. For the first time, the cosy trimmings of a Harry Potter film - train to school, lessons, quidditch match, Christmas - have all been Avada-Kedavra’ed into oblivion. Even Hogwarts has been overrun, meaning Harry, Hermione and Ron must take to the road as fugitives. Yes, the penultimate Potter quickly leaves us in no doubt that this is The Darkest One Yet, the film in which the phalanxes of evil rally and all looks lost. Bill Nighy intones, “These are dark times, there is no denying.” Good people look anxious and pale.

Harry potter and the deathly hallows 1 and 2