The Harry Potter film series continues with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. The film is directed by David Yates. The film’s stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, the same three actors from all the previous Harry Potter films. The film was released in 2010, and is an epic fantasy film. The film takes place in modern times and in many places such as Ron’s house, London, random forests, the Ministry of Magic, and Luna’s house.
Lord Voldemort is ever on the prowl to kill Harry Potter. Harry is moved from his muggle home to Ron’s house to keep him safe. While at Ron’s house, a wedding is held for Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, but the Death Eaters ruin it resulting in Harry, Ron, and Hermione fleeing to London. They stay in Sirius Black’s house, until they find out from Kreacher where one of the Horcrux lockets is. They go to the Ministry of Magic, steal the locket, and spend a good deal of the film traveling through forests attempting to figure out how to destroy the locket. Along their journey, they find out what the Deathly Hollows are.
As always, the special effects were amazing. For example, there is a scene where Voldemort is flying towards Harry as a smoky mass. The compositing of the smoky mass following Harry is seamlessly composited, which makes the scene very realistic looking, even though we know this could never happen in real life. The blending of Voldermort’s body emerging from the smoke was also seamless and realistic. Another example is a scene at the beginning of the film where the people who are helping to transport Harry to Ron’s house, The Order of the Phoenix, drink Polyjuice potion to make themselves turn into Harry look-alikes. During this scene, we get to see all of the characters transform into Harry, and the fake Harry’s keep the voice of the original character. The transformations are delightful to watch because the effects are done so well that it really seems like the actors are changing into Daniel Radcliffe; moreover, watching the girl characters transform and then have their same voice even though they look as though Harry is talking is really funny to watch.
The setting and story were a bit dull. For example, most of the film takes place in forests, which makes it seem like a really long film about camping. Each film prior to this one took place in Hogwarts, so the lack of that setting seems off for a Harry Potter film; however, a series cannot always take place in the same setting, so for most viewers, hopefully the lack of having Hogwarts as a setting will not be a major distraction. The story was dull in that there is action, but it does not really seem to lead to a major conflict. This makes the viewer wonder why we care about what we are watching or why does the pacing of the film seem so slow. Of course, as the title says, this is part one of the Deathly Hallows book, so the viewer cannot expect the film to have a complete story.
Overall, I give the film 3 out of 5 stars. It was weird that the story did not take place in Hogwarts. Also, the story did not seem to go anywhere, though this is probably perfectly fine since it is only part one of the Deathly Hallows book. The special effects were just as good as always, and the compositing for it, such as the smoky Voldermort, was mended seamlessly into the film.
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