Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Over three years ago, the finale to J.K. Rowling's epic adventure about friendship, magic, the fight between good and evil, and so much more was released on book.  I started reading the Harry Potter books around the time Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had been published.  I had seen each movie that had been released by that point so I was already a fan of the series.  Before I was really a fan, I remember going to see an advanced midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and travelling some distance to do so because midnight screenings were just popularizing at the time.  I waited in line with many who were much bigger fans as was apparent by their costumes, and I was relatively close to the front of the line.  With pride I was happy to find my picture in the local newspaper the next morning even though I was turned when the picture was taken so only the back of my head was visible.  After seeing it, I was immediately a fan.  When I finally decided to start reading the books, I devoured the first four in the series and read Order of the Phoenix a short while after it had been published.  Since then I have continued to see the movies as soon as they opened in theaters.  I have bought the remaining two books opening day and had them read within the first week of their release.

My original impression of Deathly Hallows the book, was that it had not lived up to my expectations.  Admittedly, they were unattainable by that point.  I felt the let down of the book especially because Half-Blood Prince is probably my favorite book of the series.  A few months back, I was acutely aware that part one of the Deathly Hallows movie was to be released in November.  I could not remember a lot from reading the book; I had read the preceding books twice because I reread them before Deathly Hallows came out, but I had still only read it the one time.  It was with those thoughts in mind that I decided to reread the series again.  Surprisingly, I quite liked Deathly Hallows the second time through.  I did not have the expectations and anticipation of finishing the series as I had the first go, and because of that, I was able to enjoy what a good book it really was.  I have been even more excited for part one of this close to the series because of that decision.  David Yates has done a great job with the films since picking up the franchise on Order of the Phoenix, and I was of course excited to see the return of Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy since he spent the whole of Half-Blood Prince in Azkaban and was absent from that film.  A week ago, I listened to an interview with Jason Isaacs on my favorite podcast, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews.  They had just seen the premier and discussed some initial impressions about the movie.  I only grew more excited to see the film, and last night, with my wife, I had my chance.  

As with the book, my expectations were high, and they were higher than is reasonable to be honest.   They were met.  First of all, I am glad that Warner Bros decided to split the book into two films.  After seeing part one last night, I am grateful for the attention to detail the film had.  This would not have been possible without the split.  I don't think the Harry Potter movies have captured as much detail from the books since Chris Columbus was at the helm in Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets.  In contrast to those two films, it was less of a regurgitation of the books and more of a skillfully edited film that captured the essence of the book.  I particularly enjoyed two of the scenes that were not a part of the book.  In the opening minutes of the movie there is a scene with Hermione that the book only mentions, but through the medium of film created a wonderful launching point and set a wonderful dramatic tone for the duration of the movie.  When Harry and Hermione dance really drove home the theme of friendship and the importance of trying to have a little fun even when times are hard and bleak.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione's friendship was the centerpiece of what was a very poignant opening and cliffhanger to what I suspect will be a fantastic swan song to a series that will go down as a classic in children's literature and film.