The film begins in Malfoy Manor. Voldemort and his fellow Death Eaters have a meeting together. They are all aware that in a few days, Harry Potter comes of age. Therefore, his mother’s protection at Privet Drive will expire.

The POV briefly shows the golden trio doing different things. Harry is watching the Dursleys depart for their own safety. Hermione wipes her parents’ memories of her in order to protect them. Ron deals with family stuff.

At some point, the remaining Order of the Phoenix come to see Harry. Moody explains the plan, which is to have everyone around him (who are all overage) take Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as him. Harry dislikes that idea.

But then he deals with it. The others begin to depart. Hagrid, who couldn’t take the potion because he’s half-giant, takes Harry on a side car attached to his flying motorcycle.

The Death Eaters start attacking everybody. While in the air, Hedwig the owl gets killed by a bad guy while protecting Harry.

Eventually, Harry, Hagrid, and the others arrive at the Weasleys’ burrow. Their potion effects wear off, and they turn back into their real selves.

Unfortunately, George’s ear bleeds and Moody dies. Harry wants to leave, but the others won’t let him.

The next day, some of the people are setting up for Fleur and Bill’s wedding. Meanwhile, Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister for Magic, meets with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He gives them gifts that Dumbledore had left them in his will before he died.

Later, everyone is having fun at the wedding. Sadly, it is interrupted and ruined by more Death Eater attacks. Harry, Ron, and Hermione disapperate to London. More conflict happens.

Shortly after, they are in Number 12 Grimmauld Place. While there, they discover that Regulus Black, who was Sirius’s brother, was R.A.B. He also stole Salazar Slytherin’s locket from Voldemort. Then Mundungus Fletcher sold it to Umbridge.

The trio go to the ministry of magic and recover the locket. They also disguise themselves as ministry workers with Polyjuice Potion. But once again, they encounter Death Eaters who try to attack them.

They disapperate into a forest. There, Ron gets injured. But they continue to destroy horcruxes, starting with the locket. Sadly, they fail.

If that’s not bad enough, Ron has to wear the locket. It negatively impacts his behavior and attitude. He says something rude to Harry and then disappears shortly after. Hermione is heartbroken. But Harry dances with her, maybe to cheer her up.

Later, Harry and Hermione go to Godric’s Hollow to find the Sword of Gryffindor. They also encounter the graveyard where Harry’s parents are buried and meet this strange old lady, Bathilda Bagshot. Bagshot shows the two a picture of a guy who stole a wand from a wandmaker named Gregorovitch.

Unfortunately, Bagshot has Voldemort’s snake, Nagini, come out of her mouth. Then the snake attacks Harry.

Hermione disapparates both her and Harry away. However, Harry’s wand is also accidentally destroyed.

That night, Harry goes into a pond, despite how cold it is, to retrieve Gryffindor’s sword. But he is strangled because of the locket around his neck.

Luckily, Ron returns and successfully gets the sword. But when he and Harry find Hermione, she is furious at him for leaving.

The trio visit Xenophilius Lovegood (Luna’s father), where they learn about the deathly hallows from an old fairytale. However, Voldemort’s name is said out loud by Xenophilius. Therefore, Death Eaters come. Harry even has his face distorted for his own protection.

Stakes are rising.

I will admit that despite being a big Harry Potter fan, this movie did not engage me like the others did (including the second part of this film installment). I ended up being bored throughout most of the tale.

Even though the stories get darker from the third installment (Prisoner of Azkaban), this one felt a little too grim and dark.

There is also a scene where clones of Harry and Hermione make out while in the nude. No “parts” are exposed. But I considered that a little too inappropriate for a Harry Potter movie, even if they get more mature. I imagine that some parents covered their kids’ eyes over that in the theaters.

I did admire the animation used during the scene where Hermione read The Tale of Three Brothers, explaining what the deathly hallows were and their intentions. That was creative.

As for the dance scene between Harry and Hermione, I am more neutral with that. Some fans disliked that. Some enjoyed it. The fact that it used a song that didn’t exist in the late 90s (when the events of the story take place) didn’t bother me.

I did feel bad for when Harry had his face changed, especially when one of the Death Eaters called him ugly. Luckily, the effect wore off.

Like with other Harry Potter fans, there were some scenes that I wished were included. One was when the Dursleys were departing, In the novel, there were more interactions between them and Harry. Dudley also reconciled with him and said that he wasn’t a waste of space.

The scene was filmed and I’m sure you can watch it on YouTube. But it did not make it to the final cut. It is just a deleted scene.

Overall, though, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 didn’t really do it for me. Even though the tension levels were high and the characters were well-developed, the film still bored me.

In spite of loving the Harry Potter series, I give this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars.