Overall Rating: 63.3
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1" begins the final chapter in the Harry Potter universe. Being the final chances for Warner Bros. to get some extra Harry Potter revenue, the decision to split the final film into two parts comes across as unnecessary and forced. The entire "Part 1" just feels like a filler-lead-in to the ultimate climax, but never delivers anything of major substance.
"Part 1"'s real plot involves the kids of Hogwarts dealing with the *SPOILER* death of the school headmaster, Dumbledore. As the evil Voldemort continues his quest to find and kill Harry Potter, Harry and the gang attempt to remain hidden, while also tracking down and destroying the "Horcruxes" to weaken Voldemort.
The pace of the film is unabashedly slow. Without being able to trust anyone, we're left primary 3 characters (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) traveling on their own, plotting their next move. The only real action occurs when Voldemort's minions finally do corner the kids, only to have them slip away by the skin of their teeth over and over again. The worst offense of just poor film-making occurs towards the end of the film when the kids are captured by a group of Snatchers and taken to Beatrix (Helena Bonham Carter) and the Malfoys. Not being sure if the disfigured face is actually Harry, the last 30 minutes of the film is essentially the bad guys trying to figure out if it really is him. Don't worry about the fact that this "unknown person" was travelling with the only 2 friends Harry has, or the fact that these baddies have shown no remorse for killing innocent people before but are now suddenly needing to be sure it's Harry before handing over to Voldemort.
The one area where the movie does shine is where the Potter series struggled early on: the visuals. While early on, all of the visual effects seemed childish and out of place (mostly because they were forcing child actors to work with CGI/greenscreen effects), the later films in the series including "Part 1" have really refined how and when they rely on the CGI. Everything feels much more realistic and blended in with the story, not forcing "cool" images just to have them in the film.
Not personally being a big Harry Potter fan, I can understand the attraction of the film for the die-hards out there waiting to see how their beloved Harry's story plays out. But as someone watching the film as a standalone piece (although watching all Potter films in chronological order), "Part 1" just doesn't deliver. Had they combined Parts 1 and 2 into one 3 hour film, it could have been an amazing experience, but the decision to split "The Deathly Hallows" into 2 parts hurts the integrity of Part 1 more-so.
Individual Ratings
Enjoyment Factor: 5
Dialogue: 6
Acting: 6
Direction: 8
Audio/Visual: 7
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