Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is the Empire Strikes Back of the series. Not in terms of quality, but with sheer mood and tone. This is the darkest of the series yet, and this bleakness couldn’t be more rewarding. The Harry Potter films are event films that have always delivered on spectacle (possibly excluding the first two) but this is unquestionably the most cinematic of the bunch.

The story picks up not too far off from where Half-Blood Prince left off. Harry and co. are still in search of the Horcruxes. This time around, there’s no Hogwarts, no adults to come in for the saving and no hopeful ending. This installment is oddly similar to the Lord of the Rings series, mostly due to all the traveling involved. This is a road trip film in a world with magic. Many will surely grow restless during the second act, which is where most of the “traveling” takes place, but that’s also where the richer character moments come from.

This time around, there’s no real sense of hope or characters somehow managing to stay upbeat during trauma, as seems to be common in the series. Ever since Azkaban, the Potter series has grown progressively darker, and this is the darkest. Not simply in terms of scares – which there are plenty of – but how the stakes are affecting Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermoine (Emma Watson). This isn’t a kid-friendly easy-to-win battle, but rather a long and treacherous war. These are teens placed in high-stakes situations, and now they’re even more aware of the situation they’re in and the consequences they face. There’s more questioning, more self-doubting and pure moments of horror they have to strive through. No one is here to help save the day for the trio. They’re on their own now.

The best way to look at this installment is as half of a film. Even though it’s left open-ended, as expected, there’s still a sense of closure and a satisfying stand-alone experience. Director David Yates couldn’t have concluded the film any better with exiting out as a pure downer. Most of the Potter films have ended with hopeful speeches about friendship and all that jolly stuff, but not this time. In this battle, Potter loses, Voldemort wins.

As stated earlier, this is the most cinematic installment yet. Yates fills the screen with visual wonder that’s never been seen before in this series. The director’s capable of taking a simple moment or a standard establishing shot and making it into something of pure beauty. There’s a specific lushness throughout the film, which is especially showcased in a tremendous animated sequence, and it all contains a sense of depth to it. Deathly Hallows is a genuine epic in scope.

If there’s any complaint to be made, it’s the unneeded battle scene in the film, which takes place in a cafe. It comes immediately after another attack scene and it feels unnecessary and useless in the grand scheme of things. What’s most irritating about this little moment is that Yates has this redundant action beat, and yet decides to brush over a specific character’s death in a matter of seconds. The character that dies early on is not a hugely prominent character in the series, but he’s also not a throwaway character. This death scene isn’t showed on-screen and it’s quite jarring when a character proclaims his death in a matter of seconds, and then he’s simply forgotten about.

Outside of that quibble, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 is a pure cinematic experience. Very few worlds are as detailed and as engaging as the Potter series, and Deathly Hallows is another reason why it’s one of the best sagas ever to grace the big screen.

Grade: A-

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