Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
File:Deathly-hallows-p2-1.jpg Theatrical poster
Directed by	David Yates
Screenplay by	Steve Kloves
Produced by	David Heyman David Barron J. K. Rowling
Starring	Daniel Radcliffe Rupert Grint Emma Watson Ralph Fiennes Michael Gambon Alan Rickman Helena Bonham Carter Maggie Smith
Cinematography	Eduardo Serra
Edited by	Mark Day
Music by	Alexandre Desplat John Williams (Themes)
Production company	Heyday Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	13 July 2011 (2011-07-13) (Australia, premiere) 15 July 2011 (2011-07-15) (United Kingdom / United States)
Running time	130 minutes
Countries	Template:Film UK Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$250 million (Shared with Part 1)
Box office	$126,000,000

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is a 2011 epic fantasy film directed by David Yates and the second of two films based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman, David Barron and Rowling. The story continues to follow Harry Potter's quest to bring down his archnemesis Lord Voldemort once and for all. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The supporting cast features Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith.

Principal photography began on 19 February 2009 and was completed on 12 June 2010, with the final day of reshoots taking place on 21 December 2010 marking the series' closure of ten years of filming. Part 2 was released in both 2D and 3D cinemas worldwide on 15 July 2011. It was also screened in IMAX cinemas from the same date.

Plot

Further information: [[:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel)]]

See also: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 § Plot

After giving Dobby a proper burial at Shell Cottage, Harry speaks with Griphook the Goblin about breaking into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts, as he believes that a Horcrux is hidden there. Griphook agrees to take Harry, Ron, and Hermione to Bellatrix's vault if they give him the Sword of Gryffindor in return. Harry then asks Ollivander, the wandmaker, to identify the wands they took from Malfoy Manor. Ollivander says they belong to Bellatrix and Draco Malfoy, but Malfoy's wand has changed its allegiance to Harry. Harry then reveals that he knows Lord Voldemort has stolen the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand to ever exist, from Albus Dumbledore's tomb.

After using Polyjuice Potion to disguise herself as Bellatrix, Hermione manages to slip past the Gringotts goblins along with Ron, also disguised, and Harry and Griphook, who are under Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Griphook safely guides them past the dragon guard and into Bellatrix's vault where Harry discovers Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, a golden cup. When Harry manages to obtain the cup, Griphook takes the sword and runs. With Gringotts security on their tail, the three heroes jump onto the back of the dragon guard and fly far away from Gringotts. During their escape, Voldemort enters Harry's mind and discovers that they have been destroying his Horcruxes. He then begins keeping his snake, Nagini with him at all times. During the vision, Harry sees that the next Horcrux is something that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw and is at Hogwarts.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrive in Hogsmeade, they unknowingly set off a Caterwauling Charm, and have to hide. They are rescued by Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's brother. Aberforth seems to have lost all hope, but Harry convinces him to let them into Hogwarts so they may find the Horcrux. Aberforth instructs a portrait of his younger sister, Ariana to fetch Neville Longbottom, who leads the three friends through a secret passage back to Hogwarts. Severus Snape, now headmaster of Hogwarts, has heard of Harry's return and gathers all students and staff in the Great Hall to inform them of their punishment should they aid Harry in any way. Harry steps forward and confronts Snape, but Professor McGonagall defends Harry by firing her own spells at Snape. Snape retreats to Lord Voldemort and McGonagall gathers all beings in Hogwarts to prepare for the final battle. Luna Lovegood finds Harry and introduces him to Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena and ghost of Ravenclaw house. Helena reveals that she knows of Voldemort and the dark magic he had performed on her mother's lost diadem. When Harry tells her that he wishes to destroy it, she tells him it is hidden in the Room of Requirement. While Harry is talking with Helena, Ron and Hermione go to the Chamber of Secrets and destroy the cup Horcrux with a Basilisk fang. Harry goes to the Room of Requirement where he finds Malfoy, Goyle, and one of their fellow Slytherins. Goyle attacks Harry, but Ron and Hermione arrive and defend him. Goyle casts a Fiendfyre curse in the Room of Requirement, forcing the three heroes to retreat. Before leaving, Harry saves Malfoy and his companion, but Goyle, the Ravenclaw Horcrux, and the Room of Requirement itself are destroyed in the fire. The trio go on a search for Voldemort so that they may kill Nagini, the final Horcux, but when they discover him, he has Nagini kill Snape to make the Elder Wand truly his. Before he dies, Snape passes Harry memories via a tear to be used in the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office.

As Voldemort gives Hogwarts a reprieve, Harry looks into Snape's memories and learned that he and his mother, Lily Potter, were close friends and that Snape defected from Voldemort after Lily's death. From the memory, Harry learns that he himself is a Horcrux, as Voldemort's soul was very fragile at the time he killed Lily and James. Due to the fragile state of his soul, a result of creating numerous Horcruxes, and his attempt to murder an innocent child, a part of Voldemort's soul broke away, and attached itself to the only living thing in the house, this happened to be Harry. Harry then goes into the Forbidden Forest to face Voldemort, where he is hit with a Killing Curse. Harry enters a state of limbo, where he meets Dumbledore. He then returns to the world of living and his reappearance re-ignites the fighting. As he and his friends try to kill Nagini, they lose their basilisk fangs, until Neville decapitates the snake with Gryffindor's sword, destroying the last of the Horcruxes. Voldemort is then killed by his own Killing Curse as the Elder Wand falls into Harry's hands. With the battle over, Ron suggests that they keep the Wand, because it would make them invincible, but Harry wordlessly snaps the Elder Wand in half, thinking it would be too much power to have.

Nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny Potter, along with Ron and Hermione Weasley, see their children off on the Hogwarts Express. But Harry's middle child, Albus Severus, expresses hesitation about being sorted into Slytherin house. Harry confides in his son regarding his namesake and assures him that the Sorting Hat will allow him to choose his own house. Albus gets on board the train, and both married couples watch their children leave to have their own adventures at Hogwarts.

Cast

Further information: [[:List of Harry Potter cast members]]

• Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, the film's main protagonist, and Ginny's romantic interest.
• Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend and Hermione's romantic interest.
• Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friend and Ron's romantic interest.

• Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater and Sirius Black's cousin and murderer.
• Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn, the Potions master at Hogwarts.
• Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid, Harry's half-giant friend and a former teacher at Hogwarts.
• Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick, the Charms master at Hogwarts; and Griphook, a goblin and former employee at Gringotts Bank.
• Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival and a Death Eater.
• Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort, a merciless power-hungry wizard, and the leader of the Death Eaters.
• Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore, former headmaster of Hogwarts killed by Severus Snape two films earlier.
• Ciarán Hinds as Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore's brother and bartender of the Hog's Head inn. Hinds replaced Jim McManus, who portrayed the character in the fifth film.
• John Hurt as Ollivander, a wandmaker abducted by the Death Eaters.
• Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's father and a disgraced Death Eater.
• Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom, the trio's friend and the rebellion's leader at Hogwarts.
• Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. Killed in battle three films earlier by Bellatrix Lestrange.
• Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, former Potions master and the new headmaster of Hogwarts.
• Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher, Deputy Headmistress and future Headmistress at Hogwarts.
• David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, a member of the Order of the Phoenix and a former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.
• Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts.
• Julie Walters as Molly Weasley, the Weasley matriarch and a mother figure to Harry.
• Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley, Harry's romantic interest.

Joshua Herdman announced on 9 August 2009 (2009-08-09) that Jamie Waylett would not be reprising his role as Vincent Crabbe for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Waylett's character would instead be written out and his role in the plot taken over by Herdman's character, Gregory Goyle.

David Yates announced that, for the final scene in the film which is set nineteen years after the film's main story, older actors will not be cast to play the main characters. A mix of make-up and special effects will be used to depict the cast members as older.

Production

Main article: Production of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Part 2 was filmed back-to-back with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 from 19 February 2009 to 12 June 2010, with reshoots for the Epilogue scene taking place at Leavesden Film Studios on 21 December 2010. Director David Yates, who shot the film with director of photography Eduardo Serra, described Part 2 as "operatic, colourful and fantasy-oriented", a "big opera with huge battles."

Sets

In an interview with Architectural Digest, production designer Stuart Craig remarked on creating sets for Part 2. On the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, he said, "our banking hall, like any other, is made of marble and big marble columns. And it has great strength. The fact that the goblins are the bankers and tellers at the counter helps that feeling of grandeur and solidity and the big proportions. That was part of the fun of the set: we exaggerated the size of it, we exaggerated the weight of it, and we even exaggerated the shine of the marble." About the multiplication of treasure in one of the bank's vaults, he noted, "We made literally thousands of pieces for it and vacuum metalised them to be shiny gold and silver. John Richardson, the special effects supervisor, made a floor that was capable of rising on different levels, so there was kind of a physical swelling of the treasure on it."

Craig spoke about the Battle of Hogwarts to Art Insights Magazine, saying that "the great challenge is the destruction of Hogwarts. The sun rising behind the smoke ... the massive remains of destroyed walls, the entrance hall, the entrance of the Great Hall, part of the roof of the Great Hall completely gone, so yeah. A big challenge there and an enjoyable one really – maybe it helped me and the guys in the art department sort of prepare for the end ... we demolished it before we had to strike it completely." When asked about the King's Cross scene near the end of the film, Craig said, "We experimented a lot, quite honestly. I mean it was quite a protracted process really but we did experiment the sense of it being very burnt out very very kind of white – so we experimented with underlit floors, we experimented with different kind of white covering everything: white paint, white fabric, and the cameraman was involved in how much to expose it, and a series of camera tests were done, so we got there but with a great deal of preparation and research."

Visual effects

Visual effects companies that worked on Part 1 (including Framestore, Moving Picture Company and Double Negative who created the Gringotts Dragon) also worked on the visuals for Part 2. Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Burke said that "It was such a major job to stage the Battle of Hogwarts, and we had to do it in different stages of production. We had shots with complex linking camera moves from wide overviews, to flying into windows and interior spaces. So, we took the plunge at the end of 2008 and started rebuilding the school digitally with Double Negative." He went on to say that "It's taken two years – getting renders out, texturing every facet of the building, constructing interiors to see through windows, building a destruction version of the school. We can design shots with the knowledge that we have this brilliant digital miniature that we can do anything with. With a practical Hogwarts, we would have shot it last summer and been so tied down. Instead, as David Yates finds the flow and structure, we are able to handle new concepts and ideas."

On the quality of 3-D in film, Burke told Los Angeles Times, "I think it’s good, actually. I think people are going to be really pleased. I know everyone’s a little nervous and sceptical of 3-D these days, but the work has been done very, very well. We’ve done over 200 shots in 3-D and in the visual effects as well, because so much of it is CG, so the results are very, very good. I think everyone’s going to be really impressed with it, actually." Producer David Heyman spoke to SFX magazine about the 3-D conversion, saying that "The way David Yates is approaching 3-D is he’s trying to approach it from a character and story point of view. Trying to use the sense of isolation, of separation that sometimes 3-D gives you, to heighten that at appropriate moments. So we’re approaching it in a storytelling way."

Soundtrack

Main article: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (soundtrack)

See also: Music of the Harry Potter films

The composer of the first three films, John Williams, expressed interest in returning for Deathly Hallows – Part 2 if it fit his schedule. Director David Yates stated that he was eager to work with Williams on the score, but it was not possible due to their conflicting schedules. It was confirmed via the Warner Bros. website that Part 1 composer, Alexandre Desplat, was set to return for Part 2. In an interview with Film Music Magazine, Desplat stated that scoring Part 2 is "a great challenge" and that he has "a lot of expectations to fulfill and a great deal of work" ahead of him. Desplat started writing the music in early 2011 and finished recording with orchestrator Conrad Pope and the London Symphony Orchestra on 27 May 2011 at Abbey Road Studios.

Marketing

In March 2011, the first preview for Deathly Hallows – Part 2 was released revealing new footage and new interviews from the starring cast. The first poster was released on 28 March 2011 with the caption "It All Ends 7.15" (referring to its international release date). On 27 April 2011, the first theatrical trailer for Part 2 was released. The trailer revealed a range of new and old footage. A month later, a set of eleven posters was released each illustrating a different character with the caption "It All Ends" and a background depicting the Battle of Hogwarts. The IMAX trailer for the film was released with IMAX screenings of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on 20 May 2011. During the MTV Movie Awards on 5 June 2011, Emma Watson presented a sneak peek of the film.

The official theatrical trailer for Part 2 (and the final Harry Potter theatrical trailer) was released on 16 June 2011. Two more posters were released, one with Voldemort and the Death Eaters and one with the trio and the Hogwarts Students, which is the main poster of the two posters. That poster was also the international poster, but the international poster had the logo instead of the "It All Ends" caption, along with the credits underneath and was a little wider than the US version.

Two TV spots for Deathly Hallows Part 2 aired on both 20 and 21 June showing new footage from the film. Two more banners/billboards were released, one with a fire-breathing dragon and Severus Snape.

On 23 June, Comcast released a new featurette for the film, which included new footage and interviews. Four new character posters were released, showing each character standing with the "It all ends" in the middle. In the other countries they added the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2" logo on the bottom of those posters, along with the credits underneath.

Release

On 2 April 2011, a test screening of the film was held in Chicago. Director David Yates, producers David Heyman and David Barron and the film's editor Mark Day were in attendance. The film had its world premiere on 7 July 2011 (2011-07-07) in Trafalgar Square in London. The US premiere was held in New York City on 11 July 2011 (2011-07-11). The film was released on 12 July in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates; on 13 July in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Lithuania and several other countries; on 14 July in the UK and Puerto Rico and on 15 July in the US and Canada. Although filmed in 2-D, the film was converted into 3-D in post-production and was released in both RealD 3D and IMAX 3D.

On 10 June, one month before the film's release, tickets went on sale.

On 16 June 2011, Part 2 received a 12A certificate from the British Board of Film Classification, who note that the film "contains moderate threat, injury detail and language", becoming the only Harry Potter film to receive a warning for "injury detail". A runtime of 130 minutes was also announced via the BBFC website, making it the shortest film in the series.

At midnight 15 July, Part 2 screened in 3,800 theatres. In the United States, it played in 4,375 theatres, 3,000 3D theaters, and 274 IMAX theatres, the widest release for an IMAX, 3D and a Potter film.

Reception

See also: Critical response to the Harry Potter films

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 has received universal critical acclaim; on the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating of 98% based on 202 reviews, 100% from the site's top critics, an average score of 8.4/10, and a "Certified Fresh" with its consensus being "Thrilling, powerfully acted, and visually dazzling, Deathly Hallows Part II brings the Harry Potter franchise to a satisfying -- and suitably magical -- conclusion." On Metacritic, the film has "Universal Acclaim" with a score of 87 out of 100. The film received 91/100 from professional critics at the Broadcast Film Critics Association; it is their highest rated Harry Potter film.

The first review of the film was released on 5 July 2011 by The Daily Telegraph. Philip Womack commented, "This is monumental cinema, awash with gorgeous tones, and carrying an ultimate message that will resonate with every viewer, young or old: there is darkness in all of us, but we can overcome it." He further expressed that David Yates "transmutes [the book] into a genuinely terrifying spectacle." Another review was released on the same day, this time from Evening Standard, who rated the film 4/5 and stated "Millions of children, parents, and those who should know better won't need reminding what a Horcrux is – and director David Yates does not let them down. In fact, in some ways, he helps make up for the shortcomings of the final book." The Daily Express remarked that the film showcases "a terrifying showdown that easily equals Lord of the Rings or Star Wars in terms of a dramatic and memorable battle between good and evil."

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 1/2 out of four stars and said that "The finale conjures up enough awe and solemnity to serve as an appropriate finale and a dramatic contrast to the lighthearted (relative) innocence of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone all those magical years ago." Mark Kermode said that the film is a "pretty solid and ambitious adaptation of a very complex book", but he criticised the post-converted 3D.

Box office

The film grossed $32 million in advance ticket sales in North America, and has beat the midnight release record in North America with a staggering $43.5 million. With a record breaking opening day in 26 countries on Wednesday, Deathly Hallows - Part 2 grossed $43.6 million, placing it 86% ahead of Part 1 and 49% higher than Half-Blood Prince. The film broke the record for the biggest opening day gross in history in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Finland. The record had been previously held in Australia and New Zealand by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King which grossed $5.289 million and $919,000 respectively back on its opening day in 2003 and in Italy by Spider-Man 3, which grossed $3.685 million in 2007.

In the United States, Part 2 became the biggest midnight opening of all-time with a staggering $43.5 million breaking last year's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse record of $30 million, and was higher than Part 1's revenue of $24 million. It also broke Deathly Hallows Part 1's record of $1.4 million for the highest midnight gross IMAX, grossing $2 million.

Accolades

Award	Category	Result
National Movie Awards	Must See Movie of the Summer	Won

External links

• Official website
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at IMDb
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at AllMovie
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at Box Office Mojo