Well, we're on to the final battle between Harry and Voldemort, though somehow, despite the six preceding films and a forthcoming Part Two, it feels a little too soon. How can something still seem abrupt when it's been developing for almost ten years? One way, which I consider largely responsible in this case, is to procrastinate about developing the big bad. Voldemort enjoys an appropriately in-depth history in the books, though even there he moves in the shadows and rarely appears in the flesh, but in films he's been almost an afterthought. A victim of the constant trims and clips that have leeched depth from the print editions for years. I always figured they'd get around to him eventually, but now we're in the endgame and named characters are dying and it's quickly become clear that we aren't going to get much more insight than "no nose / killed parents / generally mean guy." Which is odd, considering how much care and effort went into defining and expanding the story's huge, diverse supporting cast.

Another problem is the whole loom, doom and gloom aspect of this climax, a storm which has been gradually gathering for the last several chapters. Where the first year or two were whimsical and colorful, resonant with talking portraits and leaping chocolates, the mood has turned decidedly gray as Harry's class has aged into young adulthood. A tonal shift is to be expected - after all, isn't everyone a little depressed and melodramatic in their teens - but there's no relief in Deathly Hallows 1. It's a hundred fifty minutes of relentlessly dim, trudging melancholy, completely tired and emotionally flat. Night is always darkest before the dawn and all that, but just a little flash of optimism would go a long way in this regard, especially as the original material's been awkwardly split in two so the credits roll at the base of a steep downward slope. Man, does this movie beat you up.

Harry Potter 7's technical work represents a new high water mark for the series, delivering all sorts of crazy, large-scale, wand-based battle scenes and grim, haunting locales, so it's got that going for it. The acting is generally strong, too, with Ralph Fiennes stealing the limelight as the effectively slimy, paranoid antagonist. There's just no getting past the crushing, invasive dullness of it all, nor the odd transposition of a few light-hearted themes and characters into that deep, dark new atmosphere. One scene, in particular, is like watching Jar Jar Binks get the tear-jerking "Bubba in Forrest Gump" farewell treatment. Sorry to say, but for all its promise and fanfare, this just wasn't very good.