And so we come to the beginning of the end. Harry, Hermione and Ron are out there on their own (Hogwarts is lost to them) trying to find the things they have to destroy while avoiding the evil intentions of Voldemort.
Shall I be honest and tell you that I have never before sat through an entire Harry Potter film from start to finish (or if I have, the experience has been wiped from my mind)? So in some ways I came to this film with a relatively open mind. And left it two and a half hours later with my mind not made up. Perhaps Part 2 will make the process more satisfying, since we are left suspended halfway through the novel, with Voldemort having reclaimed Dumbledore's wand and looking all set to dominate the world and finally dispose of Harry. I wonder if that will happen.
The film is certainly too long, given that nothing much happens, but I was never bored, and occasionally I was almost thrilled; my pulse certainly beat a little faster as the trio are pursued by the flying smoky things that are out to kill HP. The problem is that it feels more like polyfilla than interesting narrative. Right at the beginning, a group of all the Bad Guys, chaired by VDM, but after that it's one long chase scene, from which the heroes and heroine escape by holding hands and thinking of somewhere to go - and arriving there. They do this so often, you feel they must soon start suffering from jet lag, but it's the horcrux hanging around their neck(s) that causes a good deal of emotional trouble. At one point we go through an Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot moment just around the time that a sword is found at the bottom of a small lake.
This may be a good time to point out (at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious) that J K Rowling has no problems with borrowing liberally from elsewhere. As well as the Excalibur moment, there is also a lift from the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (think Mr Tumnus as played by Rhys Ifans), but the most obvious source material is Lord Of The Rings. Harry is Frodo, Ron is Sam Gamgee, Dumbledore is Gandalf, Dobby is Gollum and Voldemort is Sauron. True, Hermione has no equivalent, since Rowling had the sense to realise that she needed a strong female character to maximise the demographic appeal. And indeed Hermione is probably the strongest of the three main characters.
The film series has achieved a few admirable goals: it has earned shedloads of money for Warner Brothers. It has provided employment for the cream of British acting talent, and made their names and faces familiar to a younger generation. And in this film we are shown some of the most beautiful and remote parts of the United Kingdom. On top of that, the film has a dark and brooding quality, with some strong set pieces and an unrelenting atmosphere of foreboding. In fact I would suggest that it is not suitable for younger children, especially those of a nervous disposition, although I wouldn't go so far as to say it's suitable for grown ups. I await the second part with mild interest.
