Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Now, I'm imagining that most people reading this will have read the book (otherwise why are you searching for blogs on Harry Potter), so my synopsis of the plot can be mercifully brief.

Harry has now come of age, and will no longer be protected from Voldemort at his muggle home. He flees this home with the help of Order of the Phoenix members, and arrives at Ron's house: The Burrow. While at The Burrow, one of the elder Weasley brothers, Bill, marries Fleur Delacour, but the wedding is plunged into chaos as a Patronus arrives from the Ministry announcing that the Death Eaters have taken over. Harry, Ron and Hermione immediately disapparate to escape.

Essentially the rest of the story involves the threesome moving around the country, camping in out of the way places to stay away from the Death Eaters, while trying to figure out a way of destroying the Horcruxes, which Dumbledore had informed them would destroy Voldemort. That doesn't sound especially interesting, but the story doesn't drag. Amidst this escaping around a damp countryside (though there are some lovely location shots) are the main exciting set pieces, ie The visit to Godric's Hollow, Breaking into the Minsitry, and being captured by "Snatchers" and the escape from Malfoy Mansion.

Being an HP fan, I did enjoy the film; I knew enough background to know what was going on, so if things were not clearly explained I wouldn't have noticed. Of course this is also a curse, because I end up fixating on the things that are left out; though I don't think this happened too much in this film. I thought David Yates did an abominable job of Order of the Phoenix, was much improved for Half-blood Prince, and also did well for this number. As well as getting a lot of the interpretation right (though of course that's completely subjective) he managed to get very mature performances out of the main cast. Particularly the scene where Harry dances with Hermione in the tent after Ron has run off. I think it could easily have been laughable/creepy or a will they/wont they moment, but I thought it was played perfectly; a very tender emotional moment between two friends. Hey, even Fred and George Weasley were alright in the few scenes they were in, and they've been really shite in the past!

I think there was only a couple of things, well maybe only one thing that I felt was missed out that was crucial. When escaping Privet drive on Hagrid's motorbike, Voldemort is alerted to the "real" Harry by the fact that he uses "Expelliarmus!". This becomes very relevant at the end of the book I thought, so to miss out this point in the film was odd. Otherwise, I was disappointed not to see Fenrir Greyback, I was sure he was one of the Snatchers who takes them to Malfoy Mansion. But overall I really enjoyed the film, very dark and moody, and I'm looking forward to the finale, whenever that is!

                                                          Isn't that on a Led Zeppelin Album?