If you’ve heard someone ask the question, ‘have you seen it yet?’ or ‘wasn’t it soo good?’ lately, chances are they’re referring to the recent release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The final instalment (part one) of what is considered the most famous book-and-movie franchise in history has had fans across the world re-reading the entire series and searching for suitable round glasses and black cloaks in anticipation of November the 18th for the past few months. And the fans’ excitement and enthusiasm for the premiere showed. The film raked in $330.1 million worldwide in its opening weekend, ranking fifth on the all-time chart and a little more than a week later has earned more than $363,532,000 across the world. Grossing $24 million for its midnight showing only.
For those few out there who haven’t read the book or seen the latest adaptation, the film continues to follow Harry Potter and his two best friends Ron and Hermione as they begin their treacherous quest to destroy the dark wizard Lord Voldemort once and for all. This time, however, the three friends leave Hogwarts behind and embark on a hunt for Voldemort’s horcruxes, which need to be destroyed in order for him to be able to die, something which becomes increasingly urgent with the escalating power of the dark wizard and his followers. The film depicts a new stage in the characters’ lives and the absence of the famous and comforting school and the more prominent inclusion of issues such as love, death and violence give the film a more dark and adult tone. As the characters dodge death eaters and make numerous narrow escapes, new information on the myth of the Deathly Hallows, the three legendary objects that unite to become the master of death, is woven into the story and more is slowly revealed about Voldemort’s intentions and his, Dumbledore and Harry’s past.
Although the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sparks the usual protests and mourning over moments from the book that did not make it to the big screen, the two part structure of the tale enables it to follow the book much more closely than previous films and is much more successful in capturing the complexity of the story than the last few chapters of the Harry Potter movie franchise. The fact that this film is only the first half of the story also means that loose ends are not tied, the audience is left desperate to know how things end and the story never reaches the climax. Luckily, we only have until July to wait and although the end to the story that our generation has grown up reading, watching and loving will no doubt bring tears, it doesn’t take magic to predict that the tale of Harry Potter will live forever.
