Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

We've finally gotten here. The beginning of the end. As can be expected, this is a pretty crazy movie, but it is still quite enjoyable.

The story focuses on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, as they go off to search for horcruxes, special items that hold pieces of Voldemort's soul in them. If they are all destroyed, Voldemort is able to be killed. However, things aren't easy for them as they are constantly on the run from Death Eaters and Snatchers who want to capture them and take them to Voldemort.

I feel that this movie is definitely a mixed bag, because it has some pretty strong scenes, like Ron destroying one of the horcruxes, the opening scene where Harry and his friends escape to a safe house while being pursued by Death Eaters, and the ending sequences are fantastic. At the same time, this is the first part of a two part story and so it does tend to feel like setup more often than not, and, although it leaves you wanting more, it definitely takes its time getting to its various plot points.

Unfortunately, because of this mostly being a setup movie, we don't get to see too much in the way of character development this time. You can definitely feel the intensity of the forces chasing our heroes, but at the same time, there are a lot of scenes where they are just kind of sitting around and not doing much. Even at the end, they haven't really accomplished all that much, and so it kind of begs the question as to why they split this story in half in the first place.

Overall, I definitely liked this movie in the places it was strong, but unfortunately for it, those places are fewer and further between. Compared to the film that came right before it, this one felt a lot more unfocused and, although it had a direction, it went about getting to that point very slowly, and, as I said previously, there was a lot of sitting around in this one. It's essential viewing to the film series, but it's one of the weaker entries.

Next time, we journey one more time back to the mystical land of Narnia for an adventure on the open ocean with a new quest and new characters to meet. Look out for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

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