A Statement before we begin –
tytdreviews.com/2026/01/03/a-word-on-j-k-rowling/

Chalk this one up to just not really being my cup of tea. Im still ultimately kind of bewildered as to why they split the final Harry Potter book into a two part movie, as it effectively creates a very unfortunate scenario where the first half is all set up and no pay off, OFF THE BACK of ‘Half Blood Prince’ which was another film that was basically all set up and minimal pay off. The second half of this story gets to reap the rewards of nearly 4 hours worth of set up and planning…while this 2.5 hour entry is almost pathalogical in its attempt to put the audience to sleep.

The plot of this film revolves around our trio picking up almost immediately after ‘Half Blood Prince’ setting up to head out and travel the globe looking for the Horcruxes that will ultimately put an end to Voldemort. And while I will admit there are a couple of decent set piece moments here such as the time spent in the Ministry of Magic, and the final 15 minutes or so. the remaining 2 hours mainly consists of Harry, Ron and Hermione arguing, walking endlessly and occasionally warping to a new location. Its like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ but not as well written, with twice as much walking…and sad.

I need to be clear here, even at this point, I dont actively HATE this movie, but this is about as close as i’ll get to hating a film in this series. Its essentially left me feeling largely ambivolent towards it. I dont dislike it, but I sure as hell am unhappy it wasted so much of my time.

The pacing is glacial for the most part as, what the film makers intended to be character building/lore developing set pieces, wind up feeling like endless arguments, bickering and collective grieving over everybody being dead. Oh yeah, thats the other side of this, everyone in this series that made it even remotely fun or entertaining is now either dead, absent or gets a 2 minute cameo and is then never seen again.

Instead, we spend the entire time more or less with our trio, as they have brief moments of interacting with new characters who are just kind of dull, or they’re arguing with each other, which feels hollow when you know that they all pretty much HAVE to sort out their differences before the end, or the second films going to be mercifully short.

The dialogues rough, the performances are lumpy and uneven, while it isnt quite as awkward as the other films in this series, the cast here, at this point in time are positively itching to get away from this franchise, and it shows in their performances. which feel half hearted and not at all focussed on sincerity or genuiness to the audience.

While on a technical level I cant EXPLICITLY fault the direction and cine. It all feels quite tired by this point, as what began in ‘Goblet of Fire’ and was mastered in ‘Order of the Pheonix’ has now eaten itself to the point that it feels bland, beige and incredibly unoriginal. This is just murky, brownish/blackish/blueish sludge cinema, a colour grade that plagued this era of film and video games, taking all vibrance and uniqueness out of the picture. and here its done especially poorly.

While technically, its playing all the right notes, it absolutely isnt playing them in the right order.

Add to this an uninspiring soundtrack, the aforementioned struggling performances and CG that, somehow isnt holding up as well as the previous films…and you end up feeling like you’ve been served up half a meal where every foodstuff has been unceremoniously filled with stuffing.

I sincerely feel for cinema goers back in 2010, who had to watch this for WELL over 2 hours. Get to the end, and then wait 12 months to ACTUALLY see something happen. Because, in my opinion at least? this film was an absolute slog to get through for the most part, with even the interesting bits somehow ending up being twisted into inanities.

Even the posters bloody running…Bring on Part 2…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-1/