Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was the first Harry Potter film I watched after already finishing the books. I was genuinely eager to finally know every detail of how the story wrapped up, so once I’d read everything, I still couldn’t wait to see it unfold in theaters too. As much as I enjoy reading, there’s something satisfying about watching a story play out on screen rather than purely in your imagination.

The film opens with the Gringotts vault break-in, a scene that always throws me off slightly, since Hermione uses Polyjuice Potion to disguise herself as Bellatrix Lestrange to infiltrate her vault. That said, “Hermione” does a noticeably poor job of replicating Bellatrix’s mannerisms, voice, and overall demeanor. I actually wondered at one point if they’d digitally overlaid Helena Bonham Carter’s face onto Emma Watson’s body, since the resemblance felt uncanny. In reality, it was simply Bonham Carter herself impersonating Emma Watson’s version of Hermione. It was genuinely her performance the entire time, which honestly deserves a lot of credit, because even knowing that fact, it still manages to convincingly fool me.

From there, the story quickly transitions into the Battle of Hogwarts, with a disturbingly massive gathering of Death Eaters and Snatchers joining Voldemort’s assault on the school, while Snape serves as Headmaster and the Carrow siblings teach what’s now simply called Dark Arts. Much of that buildup, unfortunately, barely gets any screen time in the film, even with the story split across two parts.

There’s plenty to criticize about the liberties taken from the source material here. But if there’s one adaptation choice they genuinely nailed, it’s Harry’s confrontation with Severus Snape in front of the entire student body. That “How dare you stand where he stood!” line lands incredibly hard. I almost wish I hadn’t already known Dumbledore had ordered Snape to kill him specifically to maintain Voldemort’s trust, because that moment would’ve hit even harder without that knowledge.

I was also disappointed by how drastically condensed Snape’s memories ended up being, with several key moments reduced to brief, sometimes dialogue-free flashes. The book handles this so much more thoroughly, offering real insight into Snape, Lily, and the deeper connection to Harry.

I think they handled Harry’s willing surrender to Voldemort reasonably well, with Harry sacrificing himself to destroy the Horcrux living inside him. The Resurrection Stone scene didn’t quite match the emotional depth of the book, but it still worked well enough. I’ve always loved the line where Sirius points to his own heart and tells Harry that’s where they’ll always remain.

Harry’s death felt like a genuine possibility to a lot of fans theorizing before the ending was widely known. It ultimately turns out to be temporary, implied as something largely psychological playing out in his own mind. I loved his reunion with Dumbledore in that ethereal, King’s Cross inspired limbo. What makes it feel believable as genuinely being Dumbledore is that, despite Harry desperately needing clear guidance, Dumbledore mostly offers vague hints before stepping back and letting Harry figure things out himself. It’s very fitting, considering clarity was never exactly Dumbledore’s strongest trait.

That said, I think the film’s biggest misstep is how badly it handles Neville Longbottom’s killing of Nagini. In the book, Voldemort forces the Sorting Hat onto Neville’s head and sets it ablaze, intending to humiliate him in front of everyone for his defiance. Neville then pulls the Sword of Gryffindor straight from the hat and destroys the final Horcrux, sending Voldemort into visible shock and panic. This happens simultaneously with Molly Weasley defeating Bellatrix. In the movie, though, Neville simply draws the sword, vanishes briefly, collapses unconscious, and then kills Nagini almost as an afterthought, with the moment handled so vaguely that even Harry seems unsure it actually happened.

The final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort also leans far more into spectacle than the books ever did, which honestly isn’t necessarily a good thing. Harry casually deflects Killing Curses like routine spellwork, and the two trade blows across Hogwarts like it’s just another Tuesday. At one point, Harry even grabs hold of Voldemort mid-Apparition. Then their climactic Avada Kedavra versus Expelliarmus showdown plays out more like something out of Dragon Ball Z than Harry Potter. Ultimately, Voldemort dies, which the film has to awkwardly explain afterward. Draco became the Elder Wand’s true master by disarming Dumbledore, Harry then disarmed Draco, and since the wand refuses to kill its rightful master, it instead destroys Voldemort.

And then my heart genuinely broke watching Harry snap the Elder Wand in two. I understand why they wanted that dramatic visual for the film, but it diverges so significantly from the book that it feels almost disrespectful to the source material. In the book, Harry instead returns the wand to Dumbledore’s grave, intending for it to be lost forever once he eventually dies. I get the logic behind snapping it, preventing anyone from ever disarming him again, especially since he later becomes an Auror, but I still didn’t care for the change. Overall, though, I do think it’s a genuinely great film, packed with strong moments and very little dead weight when it comes to keeping you engaged. Still, it was easily the one movie in the entire series where I found myself mentally screaming at every deviation from the book.