FANTASY; 2hr 10min
STARRING: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Hogwarts’ finest: from left, Watson, Radcliffe and Grint
At long last, after a wizardly imagined decade, the Potter juggernaut is shutting up shop. Assuming audience familiarity — and let’s face it, if you don’t know which way is up in the Potterverse by now, chances are you never will — director David Yates dives back in. Harry (Radcliffe), Hermione (Watson) and Ron (Grint) are still on the hunt for the vile Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) soul-storing Horcruxes...
...And since the course of Potter lore never runs smooth, the destruction of the snaky embodiment of evil is a superhuman task, kicking off with a stealth entry into a vault of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, which of course is guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. The otherworldly action then moves right along to a funereal Hogwarts School, leached of warmth under the headmastership of waxy Severus Snape (Alan Rickman).
For everyone’s sake, especially his, Harry must prevail — and it’s no secret that he does. Inky, turbulent, mythic and fabulously mad, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is a monumental and emotional farewell to the kids we’ve watched grow up, and whose focus and assurance as adult actors bears no trace of the novices they once were. Farewelling them in the final scene is like waving goodbye to family.
