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- Running time:
- 131 minutes
- Rated:
- PG-13
- Cast:
- Daniel Radcliffe -
- Harry Potter
- Rupert Grint -
- Ron Weasley
- Emma Watson -
- Hermione Granger
- Ralph Fiennes -
- Voldemort
- Alan Rickman -
- Severus Snape
(1 rating)
It’s time for heroic teen wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) to face his ultimate destiny in a battle with the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). But he won’t be alone. Harry’s loyal friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) back him all the way. As does most of the wizarding world, including Harry’s classmates and teachers at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The buzz: “It all ends.” That’s the short and simple tagline for “Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final installment in the multi-billion dollar grossing movie franchise launched with 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” As with every film in the series since 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” David Yates is directing. And Steve Kloves—who has adapted every one of author J.K. Rowling’s Potter adventures except “Phoenix”—handles script duty.
The verdict: Giving a remarkable franchise the thrilling conclusion it deserves, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” represents big budget filmmaking at its finest and long-form storytelling at its most emotionally rewarding. It’s a testament not only to the imagination of Rowling’s source material but also the rich alternate universe the filmmakers spent a decade constructing on screen. While previous directors Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell each played a key role, it’s Yates who did more than anyone to make the world his own over the course of four films. The artistic success of “Hallows” isn’t about the sentiment of an era coming to end. It comes from the passionate visual poetry the director brings to the tale on screen. Kloves’ script discards massive chunks of the novel’s expositional dialogue—at the risk of leaving casual fans and non-readers in the lurch (sorry, too late for handholding now)—while Yates embraces the challenge of finding cinematic equivalents to Rowling’s purely literary pleasures. Whether it’s gargantuan action set pieces, quiet moments of reflection, or the final glimpses of beloved characters (and the actors who play them), “Hallows” is scene for scene—and nearly shot for shot—the kind of visual wonder only someone proficient in both blockbuster entertainment and soulful artistry can conceive. It’s also, of course, an emotional roller-coaster of tear-jerking tragedy, rousing heroics and long-awaited closure. If you’ve made any investment at all in these characters over the years, it’s impossible not to be hugely moved by their final acts of courage and love in the face of an ultimate evil. Yes, it all ends for the Harry Potter franchise. But the widespread appetite for tales of fantasy, adventure, mystery and bravery isn’t going anywhere. Good thing we’ll always have Harry to help us out.
Did you know? The final days of shooting on “Deathly Hallows” were reshoots of the post-action epilogue at Leavesden Film Studios in late December 2010. That was just over 10 years after “Sorcerer’s Stone” began filming in the same studios in October 2000.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is also playing in 2D. Find local showtimes here.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is also playing in select IMAX theaters. Find local showtimes here.
Follow Metromix's Geoff Berkshire on Twitter: @geoffberkshire
SHOWTIME LISTINGS
Movie theaters and showtimes for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: 3D in Washington D.C..
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