The 10-year adventure fantasy story Harry Potter is finally coming to the end, but the ending is really long, split by Warner Brothers in two full-length parts, one that we can watch in the cinema now and the other to be released next summer. It's like one farewell party split over two years: you begin to give vent to your emotions for the parting for good and then are told the final moment is still a long way off.

Nevertheless, if the last installment leaves the audience wanting more, the avaricious movie company might continue to mince the second half on into infinity. But who knows if the central trio, namely Harry, Ron and Hermione, could make that journey? After all, they have all already turned 20 and each taken a different life path.

The latest episode - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - mirrors this kind of growth from childhood to early adulthood. Now without the help of their Hogwarts professors and Dumbledore, the three friends find themselves in a cruel adult world ruthlessly ruled by the noseless Voldemort and must rely on one another more than ever to find all the Horcruxes to defeat evil.

It seems this movie makes a determined and complete separation from the children's movie genre. At some moments you strongly feel that the ultimate battle with Voldemort is too thrilling to be suitable for kids. Human body torturing and bloody killing fill up many frames; the goofy and cute character Ron even shows his jealous side when he takes for granted that Hermione and Harry are in love; the affecting character Dobby, an emancipated and floppy-eared elf, is brutally slain, which never happens in J.K. Rowling's original book.

Unlike most Hollywood sequels that tell a standalone story in one movie, the Deathly Hallow starts with many details from previous episodes and develops fast, assuming that everybody already has a good knowledge of its storyline. If your memory about the last six installments has become blurred, the movie would probably put you in a daze. And if you never read the novel before the movie, the abridged transitional plots make it a more difficult task to totally understand the story.

However, the most satisfying aspect of the movie is still the visual effects, which help to create a vivid and magnificent magic world, though it's a bit too dark and grim.

On my one-to-ten movie scale, I give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One a SIX.

哈利·波特与死亡圣器(上)Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1(2010)

又名:哈利波特7:死神的圣物1(港/台)/哈利·波特与死圣(上)/哈7(上)

上映日期:2010-11-19(中国大陆/英国)片长:146分钟

主演:丹尼尔·雷德克里夫 艾玛·沃森 鲁伯特·格林特 海伦娜·伯翰 

导演:大卫·叶茨 编剧:斯蒂芬·科洛弗 Steve Kloves/J·K·罗琳 J.K. Rowling

哈利·波特与死亡圣器(上)的影评