Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Review: Hunted

Is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 worth watching?

Yes, for anyone following the series. Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is the most intimate and unsettling Harry Potter film, a road movie about three friends on the run that trades the comforts of Hogwarts for fear and isolation. David Yates gives the wizarding world its darkest look yet, and the three leads are at their best. The reservations are a sluggish middle stretch and the simple fact that it is half a story: it ends on a cliffhanger rather than a conclusion.

What is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 about?

In the aftermath of the previous film, Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his Death Eaters are closing their grip on the wizarding world. Rather than return for their final year at Hogwarts, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) set out to find and destroy the Horcruxes, the hidden objects that hold pieces of Voldemort’s soul and protect him from death.

They have few clues, no teachers to guide them and nowhere safe to hide. As the Ministry of Magic falls under darker control and anyone connected to Harry becomes a target, the three friends are left to wander, argue and try to work out a mission they barely understand.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a British-American production in English, directed by Yates from the first half of J.K. Rowling’s final novel, and it runs 146 minutes.

The series grows up and goes on the road

Splitting the final book into two films let Yates do something the series had never done: slow down. With no school year to structure the story, the film becomes a chase and then a vigil, as the trio move between bleak forests, stark hillsides and hostile city streets. Eduardo Serra’s photography drains the colour from the world, and the effect is genuinely unsettling after six films of candlelit castle interiors.

The opening act is a run of superbly staged set pieces, from a desperate night-time escape in the skies to an attack that shatters a family celebration. A mid-film infiltration of the Ministry of Magic, now a place of propaganda and persecution, is the series’ most chilling image of institutional collapse, with Bill Nighy’s minister and Imelda Staunton’s Umbridge embodying two kinds of complicity.

Three friends under strain

What makes this chapter distinctive is its focus on the trio themselves. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson had grown up on screen, and here they carry long scenes with little support from the adult cast. The film is honest about how isolation and fear fray even the strongest friendship, and Grint in particular gives his best performance of the series as Ron’s frustrations rise to the surface.

There are lovely grace notes too. A quiet scene of Harry and Hermione dancing in a tent to Nick Cave’s “O Children” is one of the most tender moments in the franchise, and an animated sequence telling the fable of the Three Brothers is a striking stylistic departure. Alexandre Desplat’s score adds a restless, melancholy edge.

Where the slow burn stalls

The film’s commitment to the characters’ aimlessness has a cost. The middle hour, spent largely in the countryside, can feel as if the story is marking time, and viewers who come for spells and spectacle may grow restless. Because it is only the first half of a single story, the film builds to a turning point rather than a resolution, and it relies heavily on the audience’s memory of earlier films to make sense of its mythology.

Who should watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1?

It is essential for anyone watching the series in order, and it rewards fans who have grown up with the characters. It is not a good starting point: newcomers should begin with the first film. This is the darkest instalment so far, with torture, deaths and a persistent atmosphere of dread, so it is better suited to older children and teenagers than to young fans of the early films. Plan to watch Part 2 soon afterwards.

Where to go next:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the direct continuation and the series’ climax.
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the previous chapter, which sets up the Horcrux hunt.

More titles in this vein can be found in our fantasy section.

The verdict

Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is the bravest film in the Harry Potter series, one that dares to strip away the magic school and leave its heroes frightened and alone. Its slow middle and unfinished story keep it from the top tier, but the performances and atmosphere make it a haunting, necessary chapter.

Rating: 4/5