Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

It's been almost ten years since the world of Harry Potter was first introduced to the silver screen and since then it has transformed into a world-wide phenomena. Author J.K. Rowling's epic masterpiece, which already had a massive fan-base before the films, has produced what will be eight films, musicals, a new music genre, award-winning YouTube videos, a college sport, its own theme park, and so much more. "Harry Potter", the highest grossing film franchise of all time, has accomplished things that no other film could ever accompilsh and now the series is ending with a bang in it's two part finale, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."



First off, whatever happiness, hope, and cheer that one can find in previous installments of this series is now totally absent. Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is quickly taking over not just the wizarding world but the rest of the world as well. Wizards and muggles (the term for a non-wizard) are being murdered in large numbers every day, the Ministry is now corrupt, and there is no one that Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his two faithful friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) can trust. With no one to help them, the trio must search for the five remaining fragments of Voldemort's soul, called Horcruxes, so that Harry can kill the dark lord once and for all. During this journey, the three must survive countless attacks, evade numerous scouts under Voldemort's control, and even infiltrate the Ministry of Magic (the government of the wizarding world) for Harry to achieve his goal, "For neither can live while the other survives."



Like I said before, what really sets this film apart from it's others is the amount of darkness and seriousness that none of the other "Potter" films have had. First off, the film does live up to its name, "Deathly Hallows." Several big supporting characters meet there doom in the film and if that isn't enough, one scene in the film shows the trio listening to the radio listening to names of people that have been killed. The radio spits out about 20-30 names and also states that, "The list is short today." We hear many others names listed in other snippets of the film. Also, several key places like the Ministry of Magic and Diagon Alley aren't the happy magical places that we have scene in previous films either. The Ministry itself strongly resembles Nazi Germany. When the trio enters the Ministry, the come across a statue depicting muggles and half-bloods in their "proper place" both being crushed and holding up wizards. To Voldemort, only the "pure-bloods" deserve to live and all others are hunted down and persecuted by his Death-Eaters.



The world has changed for the worse since Harry was a young boy but amongst the dark nature of the film, "Deathly Hallows" still maintains a fair amount of comedy, primarily at the start of the film, which the series is always known for having. Though at times I thought comedy was something the film could have used less off, its was still good to lighten the mood now and then.



The three big bright spots for "Deathly Hallows Part 1" are the cinematography, acting, and music. Never before has the camera work been so beautiful in a Harry Potter film. In "Deathly Hallows" the trio travel all over the country in numerous locations and environments and we are provided with truly breathtaking views of the various country sides and other angles and shots turn out great in the film. It is truly Oscar worthy camera work. Next is the acting which was key for this film as most of it is just the three young actors alone. Thankfully, the three proved that they are capable of very good acting and can carry on the film by themselves. My only regret is that other big names in this film like Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs, and Helena Bonham Carter, had little screen time. Finally, is the music. This is the first "Potter" film for composer Alexandre Desplat and he has brought the best music to the series since John Williams. His music fit perfectly with all parts of the film. When the movie was happy, the music was happy, when the movie was sad, the music was sad and so on. I can't wait to hear what he has in store for part 2 of "Deathly Hallows," most of which will center around the massive final battle which the score will without a doubt be epic.



The single problem with "Deathly Hallows" is the pacing. The middle of the film suffers from being slow and drawn out but as a fan of the books, I know that the book is actually the same way, in that the middle is also slow, so really this was not a major problem for me. Thankfully, the film picks up in it's last hour and ends with a bang.



Lastly we come to the issue of the split. Did I like the split? Did I not like the split? The answer is...yes and yes. I absolutely love that Warner Brothers decided to make the final installment into two films. The best thing about this is that it allows for much more of the book to be included in the film and as it turns out "Deathly Hallows" is without a doubt the most faithful book-to-film adaption yet. The downside to the split is simply the fact that waiting until next July seems impossible for thanks to the most dramatic cliff-hanger I've ever seen.



Not to be too dramatic but seriously, no series has so brilliantly spelled out EPIC since "The Lord of the Rings" and after seeing "Deathly Hallows Part 1" (so good I saw it twice in 48 hours) I can't wait to see the conclusion of what Warner Brothers has correctly described as the most epic motion picture event of the generation! I give it three and a half stars out of 4.



"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" has a running time of 146 minutes and is rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality.

Skyline

Within the first ten minutes of the new alien/sci-fi film "Skyline" I knew it was going to be a train wreck. Sadly this new action hodge-podge of ideas from other films started off weak, got weaker, and ended very weak. Because of this, this review will be short and not so sweet.

At the start of the film we are introduced to four characters named Jarrod (Eric Balfour), Elaine (Scottie Thompson), Candice (Brittany Daniel), and Terry (Donald Faison). Jarrod and Terry are meeting together in Los Angels to celebrate over a business deal. What business are they involved in? Beats me. In fact I was rather confused at what was happening at the beginning of "Skyline" due to the poor job the filmmakers do of explaining the story. Anyway, shortly after the party the aliens hit and everything goes down the drain. Hundreds of people are being abducted into the numerous space ships. The aliens achieve this by shining a bright blue light that, if looked at, will take control of the humans and pull them into their ships. Well the four characters begin a fight to survive and try to make it out of Los Angeles alive and remember...don't look at the light!

The biggest problem with "Skyline" is the plot. Like I said before, the film does not properly set up its characters and the story well enough before jumping into the action. Because of this I was utterly confused throughout the film. Also, the movie leaves many questions unanswered. The biggest question unanswered is, "Where are the aliens from?" The aliens appear from nowhere and, though the film is marketed as a alien film, come across as random, totally interrupting events going on at the start of the film. The final problem with the plot is that I felt like "Skyline" was simply a mash-up of other sci-fi films. Elements from films like "Independence Day," "Cloverfeild," and "District 9" were all over this movie...branding it totally unoriginal.

The few other things to say about the film include the fact that it had sub-par acting from a practically unknown cast, the dialogue was forgettable, and the ending was very disappointing. That is truly all I can find to say about "Skyline," a film that has nothing pleasing about it. I give it half a star out of four.

"Skyline" has a running time of 1 hour and 40 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action violence, some language, and brief sexual content.