WHEN IT WAS announced that the last Harry Potter book was getting two movies just for itself, moviegoers everywhere breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, there's a possibility that we wouldn't have to settle for a rushed plot and inconsistent character development and everything else that made a loveable book series a passable film franchise. But some were unsure about whether an extra 2 and a half hours would really make the difference in telling the story.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is the seventh entry in the movie series based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling adult-contemporary novels, jumping to our favorite trio — Harry, Ron and Hermione (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson) — after they drop out of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and begin their search for the Horcruxes, their only chance to defeat the dreaded Voldemort, if at least bit by bit.

The film begins very much like the previous "Half-Blood Prince", with a message from the Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour (Bill Nighy), this time accompanied by some quick dreamlike bits from the previous film to help clue in those who did not see it.

This opening bit sets the strength and emotion of the rest of the film; "Deathly Hallows" follows the gradually darkening visual motif of the preceding films, and the performances within the film mostly follow suit.

It's helped a lot by the very noticeable change in musical direction -that is, there's almost no music at all.

Most of the scenes are only driven by the on-screen performances, letting the actors take full credit for the emotional range we see. It does, at times, make the movie feel unnecessarily empty, but the strong acting does its best to counter that feeling.

The cinematic vision seems rather experimental. A consistent dark blue filter to the entire movie makes the atmosphere feel cold and gloomy, but apart from that the cinematography seems to try a number of different filming styles that we're not sure work, probably because of the fact that we've seen the same style of filming for the first 6 films of the series.

What it does do, though, is make the movie seem less fantastical and more relatable to real life; with the film outside of the confines of Hogwart's and out into Britain at large, everything feels more normal.

Those experimental scenes in addition to the dark motif and low music also carry this post-apocalyptic vibe to it that fits the theme of the film almost naturally.

The script sometimes feels overindulgent, either in an attempt to give more information about the film before it or simply because of the change in writing technique.

With the last book split into 2 films, the originally concise screenplay writing has to change to a more narrative and expressive writing. The problem is that the shift isn't completely made.

It feels almost train-of-thought, with some scenes simply feeling out of place. In other place, there are these long pauses and filler scenes to compensate for the time the script didn't seem to fill.

Maybe the most creative thing about the film is the fight scenes — or rather the wand battles — which drastically change in this film.

They are quicker, more aggressive, more explosive, and lose their air of magical elegance they seemed to carry in earlier installments. Basically, they feel like Western gunfights now, which apparently David Yates was aiming for.

And they fit the territory, with more frantic and busy fights and winding on-foot chases that split between Harry, Ron and Hermione evenly.

"Deathly Hallows" definitely benefits from the extended time. Our three favorite characters are given the time and space to show their development within the plot, and even the plot of the book has more room to breathe, so that moves from one discovery or scenario to another no longer seem contrived.

In some places it feels like too much room, but overall the spaced-out plot is welcome. It also gives the audience a chance to see the relationship between characters as powerfully as they should be seen.

The friendship between the three of them has a better chance to flourish in a way we haven't seen in the previous films, with more time for subtle but telling glances and shared words between the friends.

We finally get to see the brotherhood between Ron and Harry, Hermione's worry for Harry, Ron and Hermione's blossoming feelings for each other, and so much more that Rowling captured in her books but didn't truly manage to make the big screen.

We even get a chance to see how the atmosphere of the film affects them as individuals; Harry becomes more headstrong and willing to stand alone, Hermione more fearful, Ron darker, angrier and bitterer.

The performances from Radcliffe, Grint and Watson are all powerful, and the very noticeable advantage of working so long together is that they feed off of each other's energy well.

The three of them taking up the majority of screen time allows all three of them to make strong individual performances, and all three do extremely well.

Special mention needs to go to Watson and Grint, since they didn't have strong presences in previous films. Emma Watson's Hermione in this film is so much more saddened and weighed down by the circumstance that she and her friends are in, and causes her to make extra effort to have everything under control.

Rupert Grint's portrayal of Ron Weasley feels new compared to his performance in the previous films, with a much wider range of emotions and an on-screen presence that almost overshadows the others.

Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman as the Minister Scrimgeour and Professor Severus Snape respectively still maintain the energy of the previous film, and that energy is missed with their minimal presence in this film.

The menacing mystique around Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) isn't delivered like before, however. What makes up for it in more ways than one is the all-round beautiful performance of Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, who plays a well-rounded and consistent crazy Death Eater and is definitely enjoyable to watch.

Collectively, it makes for the best Harry Potter film thus far. The hype that the movie got before heading to theatres wasn't necessarily lived up to in terms of action and energy, but it was great aside from the publicity.

The softness of music is unlikely to remain as the next film is the very last and most exciting of the series, and the inconsistent acting from supporting characters would not be a worry when the next film increases the focus on Harry and friends even more.

The hype is definitely going to be on part 2 of "Deathly Hallows", and as the final film of the franchise it's expected to live up.

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter.

Running Time: 146 minutes (2hr, 26 mins)

Rating: Cinema!

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