You already know whether or not you want to go and see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, the latest in the long line of implicitly generic wizard-centric kids films based on big, papery things called books. This means anything I write here will be as effective as a complaint against something as immutable and ultimately inoffensive as the Moon or Terry Wogan. But that won’t stop me heading out in my scowling swan pedalo of amateur criticism against J. K. Rowling’s armada of alchemic* fantasy fiction.
HPATDHP1 sees Harry, Hermione and Ron all out of their comfort zone and trekking across beautiful, barren landscapes and leaf-strewn forests as they search for the remaining Horcruxes in order to finally finish off nasally-challenged villain Voldemort. Since this final book has been split into two parts for its cinematic release the plot is necessarily inconclusive, but this is not the biggest of its flaws. What ultimately spoils the fact that Potter and chums have been allowed to escape the confines of Hogwarts is that for all the adventuring there is a lack of actual advancement and an overwhelming sense that much of the movement is executed arbitrarily. Clues to the locations of the Horcruxes and the means to destroy them, along with details about the titular Deathly Hallows, are dished out without any cohesive structure behind their discovery. Perhaps this would have been improved had I possessed an underlying knowledge of the source material, but as with all adaptations this should not be a perquisite for enjoying or engaging with the film.
Another of the issues with the film, and one which has plagued the series as a whole, is the inconsistency of the acting talent. The three leads have grown into their roles and have gained enough skill to be believable, and the big name British thespians who have been living off this series are still enjoying their caricatured parts. But the supporting cast has some painfully poor players who bring more wood to some scenes than an aroused lumberjack. This is obviously a problem with all ensemble pieces, but you’d have thought that with all the casting clout behind this franchise the cream of unknown acting talent might have surfaced rather than this curdled group of mouth breathers.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is not all that bad, but it is quite boring. I’m not a fan of the series, as you may have guessed, so I can appreciate that this isn’t really an area in which I can gain full appreciation of plot nuances and character arrivals. As such I’m sure that hardcore Potter lovers will be whinnying with delight by the time the credits roll. Everyone else will wonder what all the fuss is about, give their fanatic friends a carrot, stroke their noses and avoid the gnashing teeth.
*In as much as she managed to turn a pretty plain premise into gold. Lots of gold.
