Review of the Cinema Year - the best.

So following on from yesterday's post, here's my views on the best films that I've seen this year:


Honourable mentions go to Shutter Island, Four Lions, Crazy Heart, The Heartbreaker and The Princess and the Frog which all just missed out on a place in the top 25:

25. Monsters Intelligent and engaging low-budget indie sci-fi which blends several genres effectively.

24. The Kids Are Alright Smart, funny and moving relationship drama anchored by great performances from Annette Benning and Julianne Moore.

23. How to Train your Dragon Dreamwork's best film since the original Shrek. Beautifully animated and for once with a story and script to match.

22. The Town Ben Affleck's sophomore effort as director proves he's got the talent behind the lense. Hard-hitting crime drama given depth by a sense of place and character.

21. The Last Station. Helen Mirren and James McAvoy, quality drama and the story of Tolstoy's last days. Thought-provoking too.

20. The Boys are Back Clive Owen is surprsisingly good here as the bereaved dad trying to bring his sons up by himself. Moving and surprisingly funny.

19. The Road Slow and sombre drama with Viggo Mortensen walking a post-apocalyptic journey. Slightly disappointed on initial viewing as I had high hopes for this film, but it does stay with you. A slow burner.

18. Micmacs Jean-Pierre Jeunet's latest slice of French quirkiness had mixed reviews. I loved it.

17. Rare Exports Delightfully inventive Finnish film based around a gem of an idea of an alternative take on Santa Claus.

16. The Illusionist beautifully drawn animated film with a slice of melancholy charm. A glimpse into a bygone Edinburgh.

15. A Single Man Colin Firth should have won an Oscar for this - its a better performance and a better film than Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. Fashion designer Tom Ford takes the director's chair and whilst a bit too stylistically showy at times, still delivers a quality film.

14. Lebanon Claustrophobic Israeli war film all from the inside of a tank on the first day of the Lebanon war.


13. The Lovely Bones The critics didn't warm to this, I thought Peter Jackson produced something different and great - visually arresting and tense. Also featured a great turn from Stanley Tucci as the killer.
12. Scott Pilgrim vs the World  Extremely funny and wonderfully inventive, no mean feat for a film that is essentially structured around a series of fights and wonderful cameos. Edgar Wright's American debut (following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) is one of the funniest films of the year.

11. A Prophet This French prison drama is not for the faint-hearted, but adds something to the genre and features an amazng debut performance by Tahar Rahim.

10. The Hedgehog You could argue that this one is a bit of a cheat, as its not had a UK release yet ( I saw it in the French film festival) but its one of the best, most subtle, funny and moving films I've seen this year, so in it goes.


9. Avatar Another slight cheat, as it came out at the end of last year, but I saw it this, so in it goes. The story's a bit weak, but James Cameron does succeed in creating a very immersive world and the big battles are probably the best since Lord of the Rings.


8. Green Zone Greengrass and Damon re-team, the results aren't quite Bourne and the subject feels a bit like yesterday's news, but its still a superior thriller with raw, visceral excitement.


7. Winter's Bone I've seen this film described as "feminist redneck noir", which is a description I can't beat. Sustained tension and a sense of threat, a real sense of place and an amazing performance in the lead by Jennifer Lawrence make this utterly gripping.


6. Kick Ass The film that may have re-invented the superhero film, rejuvenated Nicolas Cage's career and launched a new star in Chloe Moretz. Killer idea brilliantly executed.


5. Up in the Air is a difficult film to categorise - its not exactly a comedy, a drama or a romance although it has elements of all three. Its funny, intelligent, emotional, original and thought-provoking. Has a central trio of great performances, including an on-top-of-his-game Clooney in a part you can't imagine anyone else pulling off.


4. The Social Network Smart script by The west Wing's Aaron Sorkin, smart direction by David Fincher and great performances from the young cast make the story of Facebook one of the films of the year.


3. Another Year A film in which nothing very much happens and the central couple are pretty sorted, but this could well be Mike Leigh's masterpiece through acute observation and real heart. A very human film.


2. Toy Story 3 It would have been so horrendous if they had messed this up. Thankfully they didn't. A fitting end to the trilogy.


1. Inception Stunning visually, some wonderful ideas, universally strong performances. Again Christopher Nolan has made an intelligent, sophisticated thriller and turned it into a huge blockbuster success.


Well, that's my choices. Feel free to disagree. The links should take you to trailers for the films on Youtube. Let me know if they don't work.


Hope you all had a good Christmas and have a wonderful start to 2011.

Review of the Cinema Year 2010 - the bad.

So the year is drawing to a close. 2010 has been a year when a random trip to the cinema could have you thinking that you had fallen into a time-warp back to the Eighties, with The A Team. Wall Street, The Karate Kid and Tron all on the big screen, together with Stallone and Lundgren headlining a major summer blockbuster. Some trips down 80s memory lane have been more successful than others.

In general, of course, there have been some ups and downs, some surprising delights and some crashing disappointments. Nicolas Cage finally rediscovered his Mojo, but Robert Downey Jr apparrently lost his. Over a couple of posts i'm going to present my views of the best and worst films I've seen this year, starting here with the 10 worst, in descending order of naffness.

There have probably been much worse films released this year, but the likes of Vampires Suck or Fred the movie couldn't even get me past the doors. These ones did out of false hope, blind optimism, desparation or sheer boredom and are presented here with a warning not to bother, even if they're on TV and nothing else is on, these really aren't worth it.

Dishonourable Mentions: Just missing out on the bottom 10, but still to be avoided - Clash of the Titans and The Wolfman were big budget, effects heavy and pretty dire, but still had some limited entertainment value, whilst Valentine's Day was overcrowded, superficial and largely untouching, but not without a few redeeming features.


10. It's A Wonderful Afterlife. This British-Indian black comedy had a few really hilarious moments that saved it from coming lower down, but when it wasn't funny it was pretty dire.

9 Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps There were probably worse films released this year, but few as disappointing and the betrayal of one of cinema's great villains is unforgiveable.

8 Machete Robert Rodriguez' mexploitation B-flick messily sailed well wide of the mark. Nowhere near as much fun as it should have been.

7 Legion For a film which supposedly dealt with the end of the world this was rather too small and limited and took itself far too seriously.

6 Skyline - There were some good low budget sci-fi films this year. This wasn't one of them - the savings were clearly made in the script and casting departments, but its more difficult to see where they actually spent the money.

5 All About Steve Lame Sandra Bullock rom-com in questionable taste. For a Rom-com it helps if at least one of the central characters is vaguely likeable. In fact, it actually takes some skill to take two actors as likeable as Bullock and Bradley Cooper and produce such a charmless film.

4 The last Airbender Confirmation that M Might Shyamalan has lost it (at least for the moment) - over-reliance on special effects, dreadfully wooden acting and awful script. What was he thinking?

3 Due Date Offensively bad attempt at new Planes, Trains and Automobiles featuring Robert Downey Jr's worst screen turn for a long time (possibly ever). Only a few funny moments save this from coming even lower.

2 Our Family Wedding Competely unfunny culture clash wedding film and the low point of Forest Whitakker's career. I think its officially classed as a comedy - still trying to work out why.

1 Get Him to the Greek When Russell Brand is the main star of a film and not the worst thing about it, then you're in trouble. Jonah Hill somewhat reprieved himself with Cyrus, but this was just unfunny and obnoxious.

Would the Telegraph please just stop it.

The Daily Torygraph has clearly not forgiven David Cameron for not winning an overall majority or the Lib Dems for going into coalition with them and are now using undercover reporting to trap Lib-Dem ministers into saying "sensational" things. The ministers in question have undoubtedly been a bit unwise, but these conversation were had in the context of surgeries with constituents where a certain amount of confidentiality should be in place.

Ethically, I have questions about the use of this kind of undercover reporting not to expose serious wrongdoing, but an uncomfortableness about some of the compromises involved in coalition. I means lets face it - the revelations so far have hardly been spectacular -George Osborne can get up your nose a bit - no kidding, David Cameron is not suddenly a cosy liberal - gee, who'd have thought it, Lib-Dems are uncomfortable with the compromises they had to make on tuition fees - go figure! Next week's revelations will probably include somebody saying Theresa May is a bit right-wing, isn't she? and Iain Duncan-Smith doesn't have much hair. I'm sure if they had been so inclined, they could just as easily have trapped tories saying similar things about the Lib-Dems and the compromises that they have had to make.

Leaving aside the ethical considerations, the whole thing seems to show a lack of understanding of the way coalitions work. Two parties who fought the election on different platforms aren't suddenly going to agree on everything and there will be people who they find it difficult to work with. I'm sure there are many Tories who find it hard to work with the likes of Osborne and Fox. But they are still managing to work together and govern the country together, for better or worse.

You also wonder if the Telegraph has thought through the possible consequences. The strengthening of Murdoch's empire by the removal of Cable from the case is definitely an own-goal. But putting pressure on the coalition can't be in the Tory interests at the moment. Yes, they would probably pick up seats from the Lib-Dems at the moment, but the collapse of the Lib-dem vote in Tory-Labour contests could quite easily see them lose more - Labour currently lead in most polls. So a new election now would likely produce either another hung parliament or a Labour majority.

So, all in all, its all a bit stupid on every possible level. So just stop it now and get back to do something like proper journalism.

Some belated thoughts on Tuition Fees

I haven't really had time to get down my thoughts on this issue over the last few weeks, so thought I'd take this opportunity of a break over the festive season to offer some musings. Firstly I must say that I still believe that a university education should be provided free for all students. Whilst, its been the Lib-Dems who have been in the firing line for their u-turn, we shouldn't forget that none of the parties have managed to maintain a consistent line:

Party Inconsistency?
The 2005 Conservative manifesto (written by one D. Cameron) promised to abolish fees and now they are raising them. As for Labour, its very hard to take them seriously on the issue - they promised not to introduce fees and then did, they promised not to introduce top-up fees and then did. They commissioned the report that recommended that fees should not only be tripled but completely uncapped and there is no reason to believe that they wouldn't implement those recommendations. Whilst in office they completely dismissed the idea of a graduate tax (the NUS favoured option) but are now supporting it in a cynical ploy to make political hay out of the issue. Their opportunism on this issue is far more cynical than anything the Lib-Dems have done.

Meanwhile in Scotland (where we have free tuition), the SNP are coming up with all sorts of unworkable solutions in order to delay their own u-turn on the issue until after the elections next May.

The only parties who are maintaining a consistent anti-fees line on the issue are the Greens and UKIP (now there's an unlikely alliance).

As for the Lib-Dems. They officially remain committed to abolishing fees and I think would genuinely like to see this happen. We will never know whether they could have negotiated greater concessions on the area in the coaltion agreement, but in coalition you do need to compromise on certain issues and they knew before the election that they wouldn't get anywhere on the issue with either Tories or Labour in a coalition and would have to put it onto the back-burner. The question then arises, knowing this, whether they should have signed the NUS pledge? Probably not, but then how would it have looked if they tried to say we believe in abolishing fees, but won't pledge not to increase them - its certainly a more honest position, but one that would not stand up in an election campaign in our current soundbite political culture, which has no room for nuance or complexity.

The Details

And in that culture, what we get in the media is that tuition fees are to triple for everybody. Which isn't the case. Firstly, in order to triple, rather than double fees, universities will have to do quite a lot to increase access to university for students from more deprived backgrounds.

Secondly, under the current proposals, the 25% of graduates with the lowest incomes after completing their courses (there's nothing to pay up front) will actually pay less than they do currently. Added to that, it is calculated that around 50% will never pay back the full amount in the 30 year timespan. So far from all students three times as much as currently, much fewer than half will actually pay that, and only when they are earning enough to be able to afford it. Somebody who averages £30,000 pa for the thirty years after graduation will end up paying just £2000 more in total, which works out at £67 per year more.

Taking all this, I think that is what is being suggested is probably more fair than what is currently in place. In fact in practice it doesn't work out all that different from the graduate tax the NUS advocates, except that theoretically you could have a graduate tax and still maintain you're sticking to the principle of free university education. Personally, I think that's a bit of a fudge and would prefer no fees and higher education funded by the use of the taxes that already exist, but I'm not sure if I would prioritise it over funding on healthcare or schools, for example.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Usually every year we get at least one or two dreadful Christmas movies - unfunny Hollywood comedies, etc.. - to fill up the cinema through December. This year there has been nothing that I can think of. Instead we get this delightfully different take of the story of Santa Claus from Finland. You see the idea we have of Santa is a lie spread by Coca-Cola and the truth is that he was a rather vicious creature, more interested in punishing naughty children than giving presents to nice ones.

A bumbling group of Americans dig up the original Santa buried in the ice beneath and unleash something on the nearby Sami community. Only bookish Pietari is clued into what is really going wrong. To be honest, for much of the time it plays like a standard creature feature, and none of the scares are particularly original of themselves, but this is lifted well above the average by a number of strengths. Firstly, the filmakers are confident in the genius of their idea that they downplay rather than overplay the horror and gore (none of the locals are killed off). Secondly there is a very real sense of place in the depiction of the Sami community, which is never romanticised or patronised. Thirdly and most importantly, there is real depth in the relationship between Pietari and his father. Finally, the film maintains a really funny sense of dry humour throughout, both in some good dialogue and in the execution of the central idea which sees Santa as an old man/creature running about naked in the icy landscape. There's also a great conclusion where the resourceful locals triumph.

Overall - 8/10 Original, inventive and funny alternative take on Santa.

Somewhere

Somewhere is a very Sofia Coppola film and whether or not you will warm to it might well depend on how you generally take to her work. After the critical lashing for Marie-Antoinette, she returns to territory more familiar from Lost in Translation. Stephen Dorff is movie-star Johnny Marco, living out of a hotel and drifting along until he is forced to look after his 11 year old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) for a while.

It is actually a hard movie to love, but in its own rather challenging way, will stay with you. The themes are not new to Coppola, even if the Hollywood setting is, and there are echoes of Lost in Translation in Dorff's isolation and alienation (notice the way that at times the camera won't keep hom shot) with his various encounters with the women who throw themselves at him only serve to highlight his ultimate lack of connection. Cleo thus represents his best shot at redemption. Their relationship is subtly drawn by Coppola, without major drama or histionics, aided by a couple of reallt strong performances. The ending is ambiguous to say the least and will probably infuriate many.

Overall - 7/10 Its an intelligent and slightly challenging film, but that's no bad thing.

Tron: Legacy

For a film that wasn't much of a commercial success, Tron was hugely influential. No Tron, then no Pixar, no Toy Story, etc... and the development of computer generated imagery in movies would probably have been slower and different. I remember watching the original film when I was much younger, but can't say it made much of an impression on me beyond the iconic light-cycle battles.

Now comes the sequel, 28 years later, in which Jeff Bridges' Kevin Flynnn (the hero of the original) disappeared some 20 years ago and his son (Garrett Hedlund, ends up in the digital world where he has been trapped after investigating a mysterious page from him. This world is now ruled by the programme Clu (a digitally re-youthed Bridges) who is following his own plan.

Story was never the main strength of the original and there's little improvement here. The plot is adequate, but the real world sequences actually feel far more interesting and engaging than the digital world where most of the action is set. The father-son issues feel standard and cliched. You also feel there's some lazy scripting which fails to cover over holes in the plot - the appearance of the Isos - some kind of poorly explained spontaneous digital lifeform is just "miraculous"  - no ther explanation is given. And why, if Bridges' Flynn has the almost god-like powers he displays at the end, why hasn't he sorted out this whole mess long ago?

The cast on the whole is good, although Bridges seems to have almost turned Flynn into the Dude. Hedlund makes a solid lead, but the breakout turn is from Olivia Wilde, as Quorra (the last surviving Iso) who fittingly  manages to combine confident action with a childlike wonder and innocence. The less said about Michael Sheen's performance the better - its a serious rival to Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter as the most irritating and misplaced performance of the year.

Visually it works as an updating of the original - the fans' favourites like the light cycles are back, updated and looking great. That similar duels now also happens aerially with planes as well is a good addition. All in all, it feels like a faithful updating from the original and that is both a weakness and a strength. There is a paradoxical truth that nothing dates as quickly as science fiction, and the ideas of technology here still feel somewhat rooted in 80s ideas and aesthetics. So apart from a not so sly dig at Microsoft in the opening sequence, this all feels rather divorced from the world social networking and actual virtual reality that has developed since 1982.

The one unqualified success of the movie is probably the score by Daft Punk, who also feature in the night club scene.

Overall - 6/10 It's a competent belated sequel to the original which will probably keep fans happy, but falls a long way short of greatness and manages to feel strangely dated.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

So far The Chronicles of Narnia films have been fairly middle of the road - decent enough without being great, close enough to the books to be recognisable without being close enough to please the purists. The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe was slightly better than the disappointing Prince Caspian.

The good news is that The Dawn Treader is probably the best of the lot so far as a film. The bad news is that the improvement isn't huge and the straying from the book might not please the Lewis fans.

So on the plus side, its the best looking of the films so far. The Dawn Treader itself looking beautifully done. Its also helped in this respect in that it isn't trying to stage epic battles for the fate of the world with a cast of about 50, which always looked less impressive than it should have. The acting is also better than in previous films, with Son of Rambow's Will Poulter a good addition as Edmund and Lucy's cousin Eustace.

On the negative side, the final act descends into a mess of (literally) flashy special effects that are unnecessary and  a wee but confusing. Also the replacement of Eddie Izzard (one of the few highlights of Prince Caspian) for Simon Pegg as the voice of Reepicheep is a definite backward step

As far as faithfulness to the book goes - all the books story elements are there, but are added to. In some cases, (the extra real-world details at the start) this works well in adding depth to the characters and the period. Most controversial will be the decision to add an over-arching battle against a vaguely defined force of evil on top of the quest to find the seven lords. I can see why they did it - it gives the story a more over-arching, less episodic structure, but it still feels unnecessary and actually detracts from the final scene with Aslan at the edge of the world, with now feels like an epilogue rather than the climax of the story. Its also a shame that along the way we lose some details like the reason Eustace ceases to be a dragon.

Overall - 6.5/10 As a film, its a slight improvement and solid mid-range family entertainment. As an adaptation of Lewis' book, it leaves something to be desired.

The Tourist

The Tourist is a lesson in how you can take a decent script, two of the world's biggest stars and a director whose last film (The Lives of Others) was simply brilliant and come up with not very much at all.

Angelina Jolie plays Elise Ward, who is being trailed by the police (Paul Bettany in particular) who are trying to track down her former lover, Alexander Pearce, who owes about £750 million in unpaid taxes after stealing billions from his gangster boss (Steven Berkoff). Matters are complicated by the fact that nobody seems to know what Alexander looks like following plastic surgery. Acting on instructions in a note from Alexander, Jolie joins up with a random tourist, Johnny Depp, on a train to Venice. There follows many twists and turns and much canal based action before the final act twist is revealed.

The script is smart enough and has some great lines. The plot is good enough for the type of fun action this aims to be, although there are undoubtedly holes if you stop and try and work out exactly what Alexander was actually planning from the start. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck handles the action sequences well and there's good use of the stylish Venice locations and the two major twists work more than they don't. Furthermore Bettany is good as the not so nice cop and Timothy Dalton even better as his boss.

So where does it go wrong? Berkoff makes for a bland villain where the film cries out for him to be chewing up the scenery. Jolie manages a perfect crisp English accent, but apparrently puts so much into it that she at times fails to act - we're used to much better from her. However the main problem is the complete and total lack of chemistry between Depp and Jolie. They are two of the most attractive and talented of the current A-list, but here they totally fail to spark off each other. Depp is good when by himself and has greater chemistry in the scenes he shares with Bettany than with Jolie. Unfortunately, ultimately the film stands or falls on the relationship between Depp and Jolie and thus it falls. The scenes between them feel flat and limp when the should zip with electricity and tension.

Things do pick up towards the end and the last act is engaging, but overall The Tourist leaves you with the feeling that it should be great entertainment, but is decidedly ordinary.

Overall - 6/10 Its not a bad film, but it should be so much better than it is. A damp squib of a movie sunk by a lack of chemistry.

Unstoppable

Unstoppable is neither a subtle nor a complicated film. In fact, its recipe is rather simple and well-used: first take one destructive force, say an out of control, unmanned train. Then have it smash things at regular intervals to show its threat, throw in its path some complicating factors and something to be threatened - say a cargo of deadly chemicals, a large population area and a a trainload of schoolkids heading the other way. Next add a load of corporate suits to make all the wrong decisions whilst worrying about the stock-price and throw in some failed attempts to stop. Finally have a couple of heroes, preferrably from the mismatched buddy tradition, to save the day. How about one knowledgeable, proud veteran who's training a new recruit (who will need to have his own issues) to take his place as he's forced into early retirement. And that is pretty much it as far as this movie goes.

Except that even the most familiar recipe can be a tasty treat if you use the best ingredients. For example, you could pick a director like Tony Scott, the man behind Top Gun, Crimson Tide and Man on Fire, to name few. Subtlety is not his forte, but he certainly knows how to handle action and tension, pitching the camera and the audience right into the thick of things and really gets the adrenalin pumping. He also likes blowing stuff up almost as much as Michael Bay, including at one point flipping a police car for no apparent reason, but on the whole this works to serve the story rather than distract here.

Next you pick your stars carefully. For a figure of experienced, proud blue-collar America could you get a better fit than Denzel Washington. This is Washington's fifth collaboration with Scott, following on from the disappointing but similarly train-themed The Taking of Pelham 123, and to be honest its the kind of role that Washington can sleep walk through, and yet he is never less than a compelling presence here in every utterance and gesture. As for the younger star, you could do worse than the man who managed to successfully re-invent Captain Kirk. Chris Pine is an actor whose good looks probably count against him sometimes, distracting from some genuine talent and versatility. He may never match Washington's career achievements, but he's a good match for him here, creating a believable and not overdone relationship between then two men.

Finally and most crucially, don't overcook it or throw in too many unnecessary twists and turns. At just over and a half, this movie is probably about its perfect length to keep you gripped and engaged without having to throw in  too many distractions that would act against the main story.

Overall - 7.5/10 Don't expect to see any of the cast or crew on the stage picking up Oscars, but its an extremely well -done, thrill-packed, exciting, adrenaline-fuelled ride that will suck you in despite yourself.

Monsters

Monsters proves what Skyline  comprehensively failed to - that low budget sci-fi really can work. This was shot with minimal crew, a cast of two with all other roles being filled in by locals met on the journey through Central America and all the special effects added in director Gareth Edwards' laptop.

The story follows photographer Andrew (In Search of a Midnight Kiss' Scoot McNairy) who is ordered by his boss to make sure the boss' daughter Samantha (Whitney Able) gets back to America safely through the infected zone (an area of Northern Mexico inhabited by strange giant squid like creatures following the crash of a space probe bringing samples back from another planet). Director Edwards has described it as an action movie for girls or a romance for boys or a road trip movie for monsters. All of these descriptions fit. Real-life couple McNairy and Able have a natural chemistry and their gradual falling for each other in underplayed and utterly believable. The main characters are largely on the periphery of what action there is happening, but when it does happen it is extremely effective.

There's also some intelligent and thought-provoking dialogue - look out for the discussion about the relative price for a photo of a dead child and a happy smiling child and what happens when the situation arises for real. The film also implies a certain ambiguity to its title - we never see an unprovoked attack by the creatures and a final act scene at a gas station is amazingly beautiful. So is the the problem here the creatures or the militaristic response to them?

The film is not a total success - some of the supporting parts are notably amateurish and a circular structure is a gimmick that adds little and detracts somewhat from the ending. However, these are minor quibbles.

Overall - 7.5/10 A remarkable piece of ambitious, intelligent film-making on a limited budget.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

With The Order of the Phoenix, David Yates managed to turn the stodgiest of all the Potter novels into the most spectacular of the films. In light of this, The Half-Blood Prince was something of a disappointment, lacking in tension and energy. Therefore, it is with some relief that we can say that the first part of The Deathly Hallows marks something of a return to form.

The weaknesses of the film come not so much from poor execution as from the nature of being only the first half of a story. Thus the film is almost continually setting things up, but only reaching the odd small climactic moment along the way. It also has to contend with the weight of having to set up not just one, but two sets of McGuffins (the horcruxes and the deathly hallows) - the tension between these will hopefully pay dramatic dividends in the second half, but here it adds alot of exposition and a slight lack of focus. The other drawback being that for much of the first half of the novel, the main characters are somewhat stuck in their quest, stuck in a tent in remote parts of the country rather than having fun at Hogwarts with lots of other characters to interact with.

Bearing that in mind, Yates keeps the action moving remarkably well and will whisk you along to the end without your really noticing that two and a quarter hours have just passed on the journey. His three young leads have now totally grown into their roles and give good solid performances whilst a who's who of characters from the previous films come and go rather quickly - blink and you might miss Alan Rickman or John Hurt here. Only Helena Bonham-Carter of the adults really gets any dramatic moments to play with.

What works and works really well, is the sense of tension that Yates creates - this is now a threatening world that our young heroes inhabit and it starts to show. Visually it is also spectacular - most notably in Yates' depiction of the Ministry of Magic, which has now become a kind of Orwellian nightmare and is the setting for the most stunning sequence in the film. There are other successses - the animated sequence for the tale of the three brothers is an original touch that works wonderfully and the loss of a character in the final act is genuinely moving.

All of this bodes well for part 2 next June, which should start with the raid on Gringotts bank and finish with the battle of Hogwarts.

Overall - 7/10 It can never quite escape the fact that it is only half a film, so its slightly unfair to rate it by itself, but it does its job entertainingly well and sets the scene for what should be a truly spectacular finale.