You, dear readers, have heard of this phenom called Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 opens this weekend in this and other dimensions. At over two hours it is a wonder that Warner Brothers isn’t releasing both parts as one movie. After all, if the art house crowd will see the 319 minute Carlos in its entirety why wouldn’t the mainstream crowds want to spend five hours plus watching the exciting conclusion of this franchise?

Harry Potter 7.1 (to use a phrase) offers solid direction, photography, set design and a sense of purpose not readily apparent in the previous movies. The biggest difference between Harry Potter 7.1 and the previous films in the series is that this penultimate film doesn’t take part at Hogwarts School.

Instead we find our trio of protags on the run from the same evil force that knocked off Professor Dumbledore in the last installment. There’s a couple of action sequences at the beginning and end, while the middle is a bunch of drawn out dialogue-heavy exposition scenes that develop adult character in the three leads. This is a review proof movie and it pretty much blows the Twilight franchise out of the water as far as aesthetics go. As far as that genre goes, it was a pleasant time. Fans who actually read the books will be in heaven.

- Michael Bergeron