Harry, Hermione, and Ron continue to hunt down the horocruxes that continue fragments of Voldemort's soul.  Voldemort finds out about it and it sets the stage for an assault on HogwartsWizarding School that leads to a climatic battle between Harry Potter and the evil wizard that murdered his parents.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS Part 2 is a satisfying conclusion to THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS adaptation which some could argue ran for a  little long in the first part.  Part 2 is more action and delivers on  a few things while a few characters do get shorted (and others get more time like Neville and the old lady wizard teacher played by Maggie Smith).    The Harry Potter films improved as they went on.   The first two were a little mechanical while the other films are more alive.   The real trick will be to see how this film serves as a conclusion to the whole film series when the viewer watches the series from start to finish.  

On the downside, some moments do feel a  little rushed and deserve a few bits instead of the usual "oh, gee- they have to kiss in the moment of battle to show their love" moments (which happen twice).   I wonder if the conclusion would have been grand if they allowed every character to breathe more despite Part 2 being epic.    The battles are intense and Harry's final battle against Voldemort is satisfying (even though Harry seemingly sacrificing himself could have been played better).  Snapes' final threads to his arc prove a couple of things I already guessed from previous films.   Alan Rickman played a very tragic and conflicted character in what is some of his best acting in his whole career (and I would love to see a Harry Potter film from the POV of Snapes).

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The bonus DVD has no extras.  Buy the singles disc DVD or two disc DVD (Walmart exclusive) if you want DVD extras.  The UltraViolet Digital Copy can be redeemed through Flixster (the chance to get it will expire after 11-11-2013).

The two Blu-ray discs have all the extras:

Disc 1 (the movie disc) has the Maximum Movie Mode  which has in-depth featurettes which can be accessed as individual Focus Points featurettes features separate from the movie,  and farewells from cast and crew.

Disc 2's real extras highlight is the 53 minute interview with star Daniel Radcliffe and author J.K. Rowling as they have a conversation about the books and movies.  I like the bit about the Daniel's favorite rumors (SAS dog walkers and Belgian Monks brewing him special beer).   J.K. Rowling reveals what characters were originally going to live and which major character was going to die.

The eight deleted scenes don't amount to much extra material.  Just stuff cut for pacing reasons.  Trailers for POTTERMORE and the Spring 2011 Warner Bros. UK tour of the Harry Potter sets are included.

Also two additional featurettes are on the disc:

THE GOBLINS OF GRINGOTTS-   casting of 60 dwarfs and putting them in make-up in addition to focusing on Warwick Davis who plays the Goblin that Harry Potter makes a deal with to get into Gringotts

THE WOMEN OF HARRY POTTER-  Author J.K. Rowling talks about the strong women characters in the Harry Potter series in addition to interviews with the actresses who play the female characters.

FINAL ANALYSIS:  HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS Part 2 is a great ending to the eight film HARRY POTTER series.   The conversation between Daniel Radcliffe and J.K. Rowling is the best extra.

this review is (c)11-21-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com