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9 years and 1,048 minutes of cinema later we’ve finally reached the penultimate installment of the Harry Potter film saga. Pity it’s unbearably boring. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is little more than a chain of nauseatingly confusing climaxes broken up by the occasional joke or somber hug. This is especially disappointing considering the last installment in the series (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) was such a genuinely fun movie.

By pandering to the Michael Bay crowd, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 discards all sense of coherent structure. Whereas Half Blood Prince had it’s best moments when depicting the microcosm of schoolboy crushes and perceived popularity that is Hogwarts, Deathly Hallows: Part 1 wastes every other moment reminding you just how epic Harry’s ongoing tribulations are. The plot of the film is more like a video game than that of a fantasy film. On top of that, the only actors that get any sustained dramatic screen time are Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rubert Grint). None of these three are strong enough actors to maintain any sort of apparent chemistry, and most of their extended dramatic scenes are downright painful to watch. In one particularly disappointing scene Harry coaxes Hermione into dancing in order to help distract her from the painful reality that everyone they know is being murdered. This scene is meant to serve as a key dramatic turning point- one where we are reminded that the real strength of Harry’s character isn’t his mastery of magic but his compassion. Unfortunately though, a quick montage of smirking and waltzing doesn’t accomplish any of that. Instead it offers only a brief boring respite between two prolonged and desensitizing battles between Harry and the forces of evil.

-Paul Brinnel