Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2010

©2010 Warner Bros. Ent.

This first half of the seventh Harry Potter installment is about what it needs to be. Fans will dig it, and newcomers will be entertained, if not exactly enthralled. It is of course darker and, like its three protagonists, more grown up, and that seems fitting. Fans of this ten-year franchise, perhaps children when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit theaters in 2001, have probably had their fill of all that cutesy Hogwart’s stuff, and it’s time to Bring It On, Voldemort. Things are not going well in the Wizarding World. The Dark Lord has completed his regeneration, and his totalitarian regime now controls the Ministry of Magic, Hogwart’s and (gasp) the press. Harry, Ron and Hermione, on their own now, take up Dumbledore’s mission: to find a number of so-called Horcruxes, which hold the secret to Voldemort’s immortality and destruction. At the same time, Voldemort is searching for Harry, and, rather ominously, wants him alive. Like most normal people, I don’t remember every detail of what has already transpired over the past six movies (have a glance at Wikipedia for a summary), but I had fun.