Harry Potter bids farewell from the screen

And so the end comes.

It’s not like we hadn’t been warned. Ten years and eight movies ago it was very clear this moment — the moment Harry Potter bid farewell to us from a movie screen — would come with a swift thrust, but it always seemed so far away. “Oh, there’s still so many more movies,” fans told themselves. And now there are no more movies left and the curtains are rapidly closing.

I must admit, in my review of the first Harry Potter film I doubted that children would still care about the boy wizard by the time the final film rolled around. Children have hyperactive attention spans, and with so many franchises vying for their little eyeballs (Twilight, for example), it seemed unlikely Harry and his friends would last. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The world loves Harry Potter. And it’ll only love him more after his final adventure in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2.

Few franchises this side of Lord of the Rings end on such a grand scale. All the pieces that have floated around in J.K. Rowling’s sprawling saga are united here in this glorious finale, which is suddenly very coherent and fluid compared to other adventures in the franchise. Each new film had grown more dense, more complex and more bewildering, but this one has a simplicity to it: villain Voldemort has risen to power, the armies of good and bad have assembled, and the battle begins. Smack dab in the middle is Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), the boy who has been prophesied to destroy Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and return peace to the magical kingdom. He must find objects called Horcruxes, common items into which Voldemort has downloaded his twisted soul. The plot is simple so we can watch, listen and experience the enormity of the war’s last battle.

Soaking it all in, though, that’s part of the fun. These are Harry’s last adventures and director David Yates — the skilled helmsman of Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince — does not waste the opportunity to show all the elements that made the franchise popular, be it the boyish heroism of Harry, the sparking love connection between Ron and Hermione, that splendid magical castle called Hogwarts, the gothic intrigue of Snape, or the perplexing strategies of the late Albus Dumbledore. Oh, and the magic, there’s more than enough to go around, which is appropriate since Harry and his friends have been going to school for seven years to learn these tricks. I especially liked the wand effects that looked like bioluminescent lava spewing from those little wooden sticks.

The action is spread out all around the film’s universe, including a dragon fight in an underground vault with multiplying Tupperware, but is mostly contained at Hogwart’s where the final battle is waged with lots of high-flying broom rides, explosive wand artillery, magical spells and death, death, death. Yes, characters die in the Deathly Hallows, so many that parents might want to reconsider taking their tiniest Potter fans. The action is for grown-ups simply because the youngsters who lined up for the first film in 2001 are now old enough to vote, or buy themselves a drink. Naturally, the violence has progressed, which is obvious when Voldemort slays a law firm, or lays waste to Hogwarts’ vaulted spaces, or sends his snake to nibble on poor Alan Rickman.

Deathly Hallows 2’s finest quality is that it understands the immensity of what is happening. The franchise has spent an agonizing amount of time building to these points: Harry returns to Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione’s kiss, the big reveal of Snape’s motivations, and the heroic last moments. The film recognizes the occasion with all the appropriate fanfare, from the swelling musical score, careful editing, precise dialogue and Yates, who removes all the clutter on the periphery so we can witness these last chapters play out without interruption. Notice the scenes when Harry returns proudly to Hogwarts. He knows he might die, but there he is walking the hallways and greeting his admirers as they prepare for what is sure to be a bloodbath. It was a moving sequence, one that drew audience members around the theater to tears.

Of course, there are some finer points that could have been cleared up, like why Voldemort’s wand’s previous owners were so important, or why Hagrid spent the entire movie as a prisoner of an army that doesn’t take prisoners. And what about that business with the disappearing/reappearing sword? Maybe the books cleared this up, but the films can be a vacuum when it comes to such information. I still don’t understand why, if Voldemort was so powerful, he wouldn’t keep the Horcruxes on him. Apparently his robes don’t have pockets.

I hold a major grudge against the franchise for turning the final installment into a 3-D extravaganza, which is what critics were forced to watch. As always the picture was dark, too dark at times to even see what was going on. Please, see the movie in 2-D so you can witness all of Harry Potter’s conclusion without having to wear those dopey 3-D sunglasses.

Aside from that, though, I have nothing but nice things to say about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2. I’m tempted to talk more about the last 25 minutes — they are perfect moments — but I fear that it will spoil your experience, which would be a Class 1 felony to a movie this wonderful. I will say this, though: it is my sincere hope that the Harry-Ron-Hermione trio —Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson — go on to have long and splendid careers in entertainment. They have done these three characters great justice. And they anchored the whole franchise. They should be proud of these films.

No doubt the world is proud of them and their contributions to Harry Potter, the boy wizard who now has a new title — retired movie star.