I grew up with dead authors. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis Narnia and Space Trilogy, Asimov's Foundation and Robot series, even Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. I grew up knowing that when I started book 1 of a series, I could read as fast or slow as I wanted, but was still able to finish the series. Somehow this is my default expectation for any series, and if this expectation is not met, no matter the reason, I find myself annoyed at having to wait. I read the first 7 books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, only to give up after being required to wait 18 months for the release of book 8. I couldn't imaging not finishing the 12 book series for another 10 years. I am similarly annoyed by Paolini's Inheritance series (which also turned a 3 book series into 4), and until recently Terry Brooks' Shannara series.
Why do you care about this in a movie review? HP7DH1 is one of these unfinished series. In the grand tradition of Back to the Future II and III, DH1 is clearly a setup film. A well made and entertaining setup film, but a setup film none-the-less. Voldemort is in charge and things are changing. Everyone is in danger. In fact, 80% of the film is spent showing everyone in danger. Harry and Co. spend their time searching for Horcruxes, but basically, their search is a series of travels into and out of danger because of the recent regime change. They don't actually make much progress. So over the course of two and a half hours we learn that things are dangerous and we learn what the Deathly Hollows are... to be continued...
While I of course understand marketing and capitalism and why films are made ($$$), I personally would have preferred to wait another 12 months and then paid double for a 5 hour feature length film that didn't climax with the credits. Which means that next year, I will probably just need to organize a Potter marathon and set 18 hours of my life aside so I can watch the 8 films in sequence. And I will wait until 2012 when the "final" Wheel of Time novel is released to pick that series up again.
3 stars (out of 5)
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