Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

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Seven instalments into the inordinately budgeted franchise, tensions finally reach boiling point with the penultimate episode. As the skitter hits the fan, Harry and co. must go into hiding for fear of impending death at the hands of Voldemort. Undoubtedly languid in places; large parts see nothing really happening other than plot exposition, which will grate newcomers, but there is still enough magic left to delight fans - both casual and hardcore alike.

Voldemort is still gunning for Harry, and has managed to take control of the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts, putting the lives of anyone around Harry in imminent danger. Going into hiding with Hermione and Ron, Harry must locate the Horcruxes to have any chance of defeating Voldemort. But dark forces are at play, and lurk around every corner, as the three struggle to find anyone to trust and begin to turn on each other.

Seriously dense in characters, you'd really fear for the welfare of bit-playing British actors when Harry Potter really does end. It seems anyone who can bang out a passable cockney twang has had a role in the series, but it also lends itself to a sense of quirky camaraderie. The acting is considerably less forced than the first couple of (frankly shoddy) films, and although Radcliffe still has little in the way of screen presence, he's grown into the part admirably. Of all the young cast, though, Watson is the one most likely to find herself with a post-Potter acting career.

The film suffers massively from pacing issues. It's long, with a lot of threads that either need wrapping up, or simply more explanation before the final foray into Hogwarts. There's a frantic feel to the opening and closing, with some stand-out sequences in both, but the middle of the film is borderline boring and could have done with tightening up. That problem may lie more with the source material than the execution, but one of the wonderful things about Potter is the world of eccentric peripheral characters. Thus it feels like the film's pandering to the mammoth fanbase by including seemingly everyone from the Potter universe.

In fairness the films have come a long way since they first stained celluloid under the "gee-shucks" direction of Chris Columbus. There has been a consistently foreboding but whimsical tone since The Prisoner of Azkaban, and that isn't broken here. A couple of moments in particular might frighten some of the younger kids, but it's nothing surprising for the many familiar with this world.

There has never been a great Harry Potter film, nor with one instalment left to go is there likely to be. But Deathly Hallows is consistently entertaining, if never spectacular.