The latest Harry Potter installment is one of the biggest movies of the summer. Anyone who has read the books or is just familiar with the film versions knows that the series is soon coming to an end, and the tension and anticipation is really starting to ramp up at this point.  I’ve never read any of the books, but I have seen each movie up to this point, therefore my background is a bit limited.  With the exception of the last movie, The Order of the Phoenix, I felt that each film got progressively better with the introductions of more interesting characters and the insurmountable threat posed by Voldemort and his followers.

Let me start by saying that the trailers for this film are a bit misleading. I know there are still two more movies after this one, but I thought that this movie would end in some type of epic magic battle. Sadly, the movie ended with a bit of a whimper. There are quite a few cool sequences throughout the film, but the whole time I was expecting the action to really get crazy.  Maybe it is because I haven’t read the books and so I can’t appreciate the details and events in this flick as much as a reader of the series, but I just felt a bit starved for action throughout the film.

The focus in this film is mainly on the three main characters and their foray into early adult hood. While I have no idea how old the characters are supposed to be in the novel, from the looks and vibe of the film I would say they are roughly around the equivalent of seniors in high school.  Seeing as how we have grown with the same cast since they were children, the fact that they are finally starting to outgrow their roles isn’t quite as distracting as you would think.  I can also accept the fact that most of the occurences in the film revolve around hormones, which also seems natural at this point in the characters lives.

The action in the film is minimal, which is somewhat understandable given that the focus is on how the characters and the dynamics of their relationships with one another have evolved. However, I couldn’t help but feel that we’ve seen ALL of this before to some degree in the other films. Hermione’s simultaneous attraction and disgust with Ron Weasley. Weasley’s goofy comic relief.  Harry modestly wrestling with his celebrity status. These are all issues that have been addressed before, yet they seem to dominate a lot of the movie. This is all fine, but could they at least have thrown in some more Wizard on Wizard action towards the end?

I know this film has received some great reviews, with many people stating that this is the best movie so far. I guess for me, I felt this one was a bit anti climatic. Some people already know about the event in the ending, however even with the inclusion of such a significant occurrence, I just wasn’t feeling it as I thought I should have.

The acting in this film is all top notch. The young cast has really grown into their roles over the years and have become the physical embodiments of their respective characters. At this point, it would be nearly impossible to picture anyone else playing these roles.  The real standout of the cast is by far Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Severus Snape. Since his first appearance, he has been one of the coolest and most interesting characters in the HP universe.  While he doesn’t have a ton of screen time in this one, the scenes he does appear in definitely command attention.

Perhaps if I was more into the novels, I would have enjoyed this film a lot more. I felt like it was just more of the same old stuff we’d seen in the past 5 movies. The movie wasn’t bad at all, I just expected a bit more from the series, especially this far along in the game. I still have hope for the 2 upcoming films based on the last book, The Deathly Hallows. Hopefully everything that has been built up to this point will pay off huge dividends in the final acts.