Review: 'The Deathly Hallows' is deep and engaging

Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Bill
Nighy, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane,
Imelda Staunton
Director: David Yates
Rating:  * * * ½

This film is, by far, the most adult of the Harry Potter series and, perforce, mature, deeper and far more engaging than the ones that came before it.

Unlike the earlier installments of the franchise, The Deathly Hallows directed by David Yates with screenplay by Steve Kloves based on the novel by JK Rowling, is consciously targeted at a teen and above audience.

The series is finally nearing  an end and this film is one half of the planned finale. This is the film that comes the closest to achieving the celebrated aesthetics that The Lord of the Rings, it’s country cousin in terms of thematic content, achieved.

The exposition appears a bit long drawn. The film opens with a thrilling (heavy on CGI) broomstick battle which takes place in a raging thunderstorm, as Harry and several Harry lookalikes (transformed by Polyjuice Potion) get ambushed by dive-bombing Death-Eaters.

The central trio, Harry, Hermione and Ron,  then infiltrate the ministry of magic, now overrun  by overzealous fascists.

David Yates plotting takes on a distinctive Fellowship of the Rings flavour thereafter as they, move around from place to place tracking elusive leads, decoding arcane symbols and researching historic wizard personalities in an effort to find the missing Horcruxes (accursed objects containing fragments of Voldemort's soul). And interspersed into all this adventure and thrill are some very adult themes like jealousy, rebellion, rise of fascism and ethnic cleansing.

An inspired shadow puppet animation sequence detailing the deathly hallows back story lends even greater depth to the enthralling whole.

The tone is held steady at a relatively grim while humour and suspense intrude in fitful measure. The mood is generally somber, contemplative and despairing.

Kloves does a great job pruning Rowling’s novel to fit it into a nicely rounded 150 minutes runtime.

The  newcomers introduced in this edition—Bill Nighy, as the strident new minister of magic; Peter Mullan as an especially vicious Death-Eater; and Rhys Ifans as the kooky, father of Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) add greater depth to this darkening enterprise that seems to now be going Voldermort’s (Ralph Fiennes) evil way.

Alexandre Desplat's subtly evocative score and Eduardo Serra’s stunning cinematographic compositions (including some terrific landscapes of Blighty’s Burnham Beeches) add deep-seated momentousness to the overall experience!