Movie Reviews: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2"

[JamesG]

Movie Reviews: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2


Movie reviews simply don’t come more enthusiastic than those being garnered by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Among the major newspaper reviews, there’s not a single clunker in the lot.





Manohla Dargis remarks parenthetically in her review:

“Perhaps the studios should just hand over more blockbusters to the British.”


She goes on: “It isn’t often in the summer that you enjoy the intense pleasure of a certain kind of old-fashioned cinema experience, the sort that sweeps you up in sheer spectacle with bigger-than-life images and yet holds you close with intimately observed characters and the details that keep your eyes and mind busy.

Too often it can be hard to see the human touch amid the industrial machinery, which hasn’t been true here.”





Lou Lumenick writes in the New York Post that it’s:

“everything a summer blockbuster should be but rarely is.”





Claudia Puig in USA Today writes that the franchise:

“has been bolstered by some of the best actors in Britain, who gave the series gravitas and humor.”





Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times argues that:

“such British legends as Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman and Ralph Fiennes steal scenes just by standing there.”


Ebert bestows particular praise on Fiennes, who as the villain Voldemort, dominates the film, “illustrating the old actors’ axiom that it is better to play the villain than the hero.”





But Ty Burr in the Boston Globe distributes his praise beyond the actors and director.

“over time, the series has come to represent the ne plus ultra of intelligent blockbuster filmmaking with contributions from every corner of the lot: music, makeup, costume, sound.”





Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News provides the bottom line:

“All that matters is this: It’s wonderful. Epic and heartbreaking and just as grand as it needs to be.”





Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer sums it all up:

“The movie puts a spell on you.”





And Amy Biancolli in the Houston Chronicle adds:

“Thrilling, thrilling movie.”

-IMDB News

[adultescent]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this, when I get a chance to... Reviews I've read for it in Australia have all been gushing in their praise of its merits, much like the snippets of reviews you posted here... It's currently school holidays here, and there's no way I'm going to see a movie at the cinema (unless it's adult restricted) until they end...

I'm also really looking forward to seeing 'Harry Potter: The Exhibition' when it opens here - http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/harrypotter/ ...

I really enjoyed The Lord of the Rings exhibition I went to years ago, at the same venue... Everything was exhibited behind glass, except for some chainmail, which you could touch... I noticed when I went to touch it, there was a loose chunk of it, which, err... [deleted, so I don't... say too much :| ... lol]... I loved that exhibition, and I'm sure I will the Harry Potter one as well...

I'm seeing reviews for a Cate Blanchett film, called Hanna, on tv here, which is opening later this month, and it definitely looks like something I want to see, so something else to look forward to at the cinema...

[adultescent]

* I meant previews, not "reviews" of Hanna on tv here...