Hearts of Darkness: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 (Zune HD)

The penultimate film in the Harry Potter saga marks the beginning of the end for the decade old movie series, and is less a self-contained film than the first half of one.

Picking up where Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince left off, DH begins with a literal bang as Harry is spirited away from his familiar home with the Death-eaters giving chase.

Spoiler

With Dumbledore having been killed at the end of the last film, the Order of the Phoenix struggles to stay alive and organized while under relentless pursuit from the Deatheaters, wizards organized under Voldermort. Harry Potter remains Voldermort’s singular target, though He who shall be named is also working furiously to dismantled and disorganize the organizations that govern the wizard’s world, replacing or eliminating those in power. With Harry Potter dead, Voldermort seeks to control through fear and intimidation going so far as to create a race war between pure blood wizards/witches and those with human (mudblood) lineage.

Startlingly, DH does not collapse under the weight of neither the entrenched mythology nor its 3 hour running time. While replete with essentially purposeless filler moments, DH revels in the new found onscreen presence of the three leads. 10 years of working together has culminated in a high comfort level between the young actors, and they dig deep to give even the smallest moments clarity and depth.

Director David Yates shows remarkable growth from the previous two films, bringing a visual confidence and style not seen since the third outing “Prisoner of Azkiban”. Having stepped away from the rigid staging of “Order of the Phoenix”, DH has a lightly hand-held look, and is easily the darkest in tone and visuals of any film in the series.

A showcase for a variety of locations in and around the UK, leaves the stagebound auspices of Hogwarts behind with only the Ministry of Magic remaining as a massive example of set piece scale.

Deathly Hallows is less rollicking roller coaster and more introspective character study as the triumvirate of Harry Ron & Hermione struggle to find answers in world without hope as they are tasked with saving the future. Darkness permeates the film, leaving it less satisfying and more glum, even as the ending ramps the stakes up for the final film.