After ten long years of mythical creatures, captivating spells, developing relationships and breathtaking battles, the eighth and final film of British author J.K. Rowling’s book series captivated record numbers over the opening weekend, which is the largest opening gross on record according to Hollywood.com.
By Friday, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” had racked up $92.1 million, surpassing the previous record of $72.7 million set by “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in 2009.
Hallows Part 2 was on a roll this weekend, setting a new mark for both the largest midnight screening ($43.5 million) and the largest IMAX film ($15.5 million), according to Hollywood.com.
The escalating anticipation for this film was to be expected, seeing that this was the book series’ final fight.
This is where the war between good and evil of the wizarding world was to take place. This is the most climactic of all the films.
Everything is at risk and it is up to the almighty Harry Potter to make the ultimate sacrifice in his attempt to stand up to his arch-enemy.
The film picked right up where part one had left off, and within minutes the audience was thrown right back into the storyline.
The film stayed connected to the three favorite characters, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Wesley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) as they set out to defeat Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
The famous trio must find the three remaining horcruxes—an object that contains a portion of Voldemort’s soul—in order to stand a chance of taking out He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once and for all.
The movie took its audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. One moment the crowd was laughing, the next they were choked up and teary-eyed and within minutes they were cheering.
The graphics were inevitably crisp and precise and the special effects were mind blowing.
Since the first Harry Potter film hit the scene in 2001, Potter fans have grown up with the characters and have fallen in love with their individual personalities.
While it was great to see all the characters come together to stand up and fight to protect their beloved Hogwarts from Voldemort and his followers, it would have been nice to see the supporting characters have larger roles to play in the finale.
It was, however, very refreshing to see Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis)—who traditionally played the soft spoken, stuttering and timid boy—stand up and assert himself as a man.
The only thing that could have played out a little differently was the continuing Ron and Hermione romance.
Their random romance has the awkwardness of teenage puppy love, typically clumsy and all over the place.
In the overly anticipated duel of the decade, Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort face off and go wand to wand.
It was suspenseful, jaw-dropping and fully action packed. The Muggles sitting in the theater stayed on the edge of their seats for the entire movie, anticipating what was to come next.
In the end, both the director, David Yates, and the writers did a beautiful job in putting all the missing pieces of the Harry Potter puzzle together and answering all the lingering questions the fans have had throughout the years.
The ten-year saga was finally brought to a close. As the old saying goes, “All great things must come to an end,” and it couldn’t have gone out with a bigger bang.
