Moview Review

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a great movie. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" is the epic and impassioned close that the saga deserves, a sweeping Wagnerian finish that's taut with suspense and wet with emotion. Ten years ago, the Potter lad was a flop-topped 11-year-old starting his first year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; now he's an earnest young hero who squares off against the evil-nosed Voldemort with humility and grit.

Followers of J.K. Rowling's seven-book magnum opus already know how it ends. Followers of the movies probably have a good idea, too, but knowing what happens in this, the eighth and last film adaptation - the fourth straight directed by David Yates - doesn't lessen the wallop. And the 3-D conversion job is the finest I've ever seen.

"Deathly Hallows 2" is the first Potter installment to expand beyond two dimensions. At two hours and 10 minutes, it's the shortest. It's the swiftest. It's also the simplest, offering a straightforward, thrill-a-minute capper to one of the fantasy realm's longest and most convoluted plots.

Adapted briskly and faithfully by Steve Kloves (who wrote all but the fifth Potter screenplay), the movie jumps right in where the last one ended - with Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) acquisition of the all-powerful Elder Wand. It then catches up with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and best buds Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) on their quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, which, for the uninitiated, are receptacles that hide fragments of Voldemort's soul. If Harry destroys the Horcruxes, he can kill Voldemort, too - unless Voldemort kills him first.

Pretty basic stuff. But the richness of this final "Potter" has less to do with its central plotline than the conclusive heft of the thing, the accumulated dramatic weight of beloved characters finally and forcefully realizing their long-promised destinies. Our heroes behave as heroes should when facing likely death: with courage, resignation, quiet grief. Yates handles these important and intimate scenes with the same breathless urgency he gives the apocalyptic blitzkrieg at Hogwarts Castle.

From the very beginning, the Boy Who Lived wore the jagged mark of an anointed one on his forehead. What adds to that, now, is the artistic maturation of everyone involved, not the least of which are the young leads themselves.

As a genre, fantasy has always showcased innocence in its mythic, meandering journey to confront the forces of evil. Harry - like Frodo, or Luke, or Arthur before him - loses that innocence along the way. But he never loses heart. He stays true to himself through the end, whatever that may bring.

2. Ender's Game

Ender's Game winds up as a very good movie that just barely misses on being a great one. Perhaps the films biggest strength is its production design, the technical team did an outstanding job of bringing the environments of the battle school to life, the zero gravity combat scenes being some of the films biggest highlights. It's not all perfect however, there is a little problem with some of the heavy exposition dumps in the film. Plus a couple of the actors (most notably Viola Davis) seem lost and don't know what kind of movie they're supposed to be doing. 

The biggest problem with Ender's Game is the incredibly fast pace, which isn't an immediate issue, but a lot of story and character development suffers. Overall though, this film was worth the long gestation period. It delivers more than we had a right to expect. Orson Scott Card may be homophobic but the powerful message at the heart of this film says much more than the average Hollywood film is capable of delivering. The Earth was ravaged by the Formics, an alien race seemingly determined to destroy humanity. Seventy years later, the people of Earth remain banded together to prevent their own annihilation from this technologically superior alien species. 

Ender Wiggin, a quiet but brilliant boy, may become the savior of the human race. He is separated from his beloved sister and his terrifying brother and brought to battle school in orbit around earth. He will be tested and honed into an empathetic killer who begins to despise what he does as he learns to fight in hopes of saving Earth and his family.