The concluding episode of the long-running and phenomenally successful series is a triumph for J.K. Rowling and her collaborators: screenwriter Steve Kloves, producer David Heyman and most of all, director David Yates.
This is blockbuster filmmaking with heart and soul, as well as grand spectacle, excitement and that typically British line in wry self-effacement. It's been a long time -- well, at least since "Toy Story 3" -- that a summer tentpole picture has so thoroughly exceeded expectations.
Of course the eighth film builds on the achievements of the previous seven, and especially on the reservoir of emotional connections fans have built up with the series' youthful but maturing stars.
We have followed Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson for 10 years now, since they were 11, and amidst all the CGI wizardry and fantasy the films also stand as the most expensive home movies ever made, a documentary record of these children transforming into young adults.
The series' other great strength (along with the digital effects team's vivid rendering of Rowling's most imaginative fancies) has been as a showcase for a vast gallery of terrific character acting.
Personal favorites include Helena Bonham-Carter's banshee-like Bellatrix LeStrange, Gary Oldman's stalwart Sirius Black and Maggie Smith's dotty but redoubtable Minerva McGonagall. But that is to sleight the contributions of Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent and so many others.
Rickman (Severus Snape) is delicious, here, reduced to just a handful of lines but savoring each and every syllable. And Fiennes' theatrical Voldemort is electrifying in the final scenes.
Rowling probably doesn't get compared to Charles Dickens in any other respect, but when it comes to creating larger-than-life characters, she has taken his lessons to heart, and actors must love her for it.
If the last several films have been hampered by Rowling's reluctance to get on with the story -- it has been two steps forward and one step back for a while now -- that doesn't apply to the climax.
But Yates, who shepherded the previous three movies dutifully without ever showing much passion before now, knows better than to rush things. There's a striking composure and conviction about the early dialogue scenes.
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