Akting Out

The Ending We’ve All Been Waiting For

No more lessons to be learned. Students are now soldiers. Hogwarts is briefly a fortress before becoming a battleground. Voldemort is thrust from menacing presence to visible antagonist. It really does all end here.

Deathly Hallows 2, the epic conclusion to J.K. Rowling’s world-renowned Harry Potter franchise, picks up immediately following the conclusion of the first Deathly Hallows. Time runs out on Harry, Ron, and Hermoine in their quest to locate and destroy the legendary horcruxes of Lord Voldemort, thus rendering him mortal. Seems old Snakeface has felt the burn of his soul being destroyed and chooses to take the fight to Harry Potter and company, setting the stage for an awesome final confrontation between characters we’ve grown to love (or hate) over the past ten years.

There is little doubt that fans of the book series will take umbrage with David Yates dark, dramatic direction of the film. Some details are glossed over while others are omitted entirely, giving the production a rushed feeling, like homework done on the bus. Still, this is the darkest, most action-oriented incarnation of the series, and a lot of blood is left on the floor. To keep the film accessible to all fans (this did begin as a children’s series, after all), more brutal scenes from the film have been left out, although we do get to see the aftermath. Mr. Yates spends a good portion of time ramping up to the inevitable battle and a little too much time on one character’s introspective, but this is hardly enough to take away from how good the movie is.

For fans of the film alone (and I am) this is what we’ve been waiting for. Virtually every character reaches a satisfying conclusion (although I still would’ve liked to see one get what was coming to him) and almost every open plotline is sealed up nicely. Watching Harry and Voldemort finally go toe-to-toe, after years of building up to it, is the film’s highlight in my opinion. Their final battle is everything we’ve been waiting for, and David Yates directs it masterfully. It’s a battle between good and evil fought on all levels. They throw spells at each other, and they even get their hands dirty in a brief, physical confrontation.

This is a very fitting, satisfying conclusion to a stellar series, worth seeing twice for those of us who have waited forever for it to get to this point. Great film, worthy conclusion.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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