'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1' doesn't disappoint

Director: David Yates

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Brendan Gleeson, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Fiona Shaw

Cert: 12

These are dark times, so for our fearless trio of spellbinders – Harry, Ron and Hermoine – it’s one last stand against the evils of the increasingly powerful Dark Lord Voldermort.

In the first of a two-part final telling of the amazingly successful J.K. Rowling stories of magic – Part 2 arrives next July – we have a more Earthbound background, though still one packed with the mythical references we have come to love (and hide behind the sofa at).

The central characters have, naturally, grown up and so too has their impact as the series draws to a climax, for one thing the perpetual swot Hermoine here comes into her own with a more telling role.

Interestingly, at the London premiere Rowling hinted, albeit vaguely, that this, the seventh of her wonderful books, need not necessarily be the final one … one day, she suggested, she might, just might, see what Harry, Ron and Hermoine have become.

For the moment, though, we have 'The Deathly Hallows', and it’s everything we have come to expect: exciting and menacing, packed with stunning effects, tender and romantic, chilling and funny and, happily, not at all sentimental.

Star Rating: 5/5