Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) continue their quest of finding and destroying Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes') three remaining Horcruxes, the magical items responsible for his immortality. But as the mystical Deathly Hallows are uncovered, and Voldemort finds out about their mission, the biggest battle begins, and life as they know it will never be the same again.
Mike reviewedOctober 11, 2024
The Harry Potter films remain, after 20+ years and 30+ viewings each, my all-time favorite films
"Lily! After all this time? - Always."
First of all I have to say that the Harry Potter films are my all-time favorite films by far, so this will be more of a love letter than an actual review. I grew up with the Harry Potter films and my massive Harry Potter LEGO collection. I still remember, as a 6 year old, that my dad asked me if I wanted to see a film about a boy that can do magic. My response was “nah, I don’t like that”… 20 years and 30+ viewings have passed and I still love all the films and they are still my favorite films to watch!
The first film introduced me to the wizarding world of Harry Potter and all the characters that live within it. The following films guided me through the beautiful and interesting story about Harry Potter and his friends. Changing the director from Chris Columbus, to Alfonso Cuarón, to Mike Newell and to David Yates provided the films with different cinematography and a tonal change. This personally made it feel like the films grew up simultaneously with me and also made every film feel fresh, although I do understand people don’t like the visual inconsistency. I prefer the more saturated and warmer colour grade from the earlier films, but I also like the more desaturated colour grade from The Order of the Phoenix. The colour grade on The Half-Blood Prince might be a bit too desaturated for my liking, compared to the other films.
After the first 2 films the tone of them became way darker, which I really liked. The darker tone, interesting story and character arcs in; The Order of the Phoenix, The Deadly Hallows Part 2 and The Prisoner of Azkaban worked really well for me, that’s why those are my favorite Harry Potter films out of all 8. I have to admit that my favorites can change everytime I watch the films again, because I really love all of them. I have never watched 1 Harry Potter film at the time, I always watch all 8 of them back to back within 2 days, about twice a year. This way I can be fully transported into the wizarding world.
The Harry Potter films are not the type of films where I pay close attention to the cinematography, because the worldbuilding is so strong and alive that the importance of the cinematography fades to the background. What does enhance the worldbuilding is the magical and mysterious scores by John Williams, Nicholas Hooper, Patrick Doyle and Alexandre Despat. Especially the John William scores have a distinctive sound that is, arguably, one of the best film scores of alltime.
I tried to implement some negative aspects about the films, but I literally can’t come up with one. These films are, for me personally, perfection and as good as it gets.
Read full review at Letterboxd: Mike_v_E