by Noleen Wyatt-Jones

Created on: July 18, 2011   Last Updated: July 19, 2011

So after ten years and eight films it is finally over, and unsurprisingly Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 has broken box office records worldwide in its opening weekend. In cinemas everywhere the silence was palpable as the familiar figures came into view for what was to be their final outing together. Picking up where part one left off it was almost as if we had been sitting there all the time, holding our breath, as we waited for part 2 to begin. Although it is the shortest of the films, it is by far the most focused as it hurtles towards the inevitable ending, tying up all those loose ends neatly as it goes.

The quest is reaching its climax affording Harry, Ron and Hermione plenty of opportunities to don more disguises, and get themselves into more seemingly impossible situations, as they try to track down and destroy the remaining horcruxes before ‘you know who’ can stop them. It also gave the crew many opportunities to show off their CGI skills with an array of visually breathtaking scenes, and in particular the escape from the vaults of Gringotts Bank on the back of a dragon as well as the scene back at Hogwarts when Professor McGonagall conjures up a vast stone army. But the real story is the culmination of the battle between good and evil, and the final showdown between Harry and Lord Voldemort. There are so many dramatic turns in this film, with Neville Longbottom’s transformation from shy schoolboy to snake decapitating hero being one of the most uplifting, but perhaps it is the unmasking of Snape’s secret that is the most poignant. So Snape wasn’t the baddie after all; Potter fans knew that anyway, but somehow that beautiful moment when we are shown the depth of Snape’s love for Lily Potter it is almost as if we are finding it out for the first time and in a flash he is a hero.

There is a real sense of nostalgia in this film; even being back in Hogwarts is bringing the story full circle and putting the characters firmly back where they started. When the trio escape the fire on broomsticks rescuing Draco and friend en route it brings to mind the earlier Quiddich matches and of course the evocative music is enough to ensure a real sense of déjà vu.

Despite all the darkness there were still elements of humour and a quite a few ‘bloody hell’s’ from Ron, but in this film the best line was reserved for Molly Weasley who attacks Bellatrix Lestange with the words 'not my daughter,

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