Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: July 15, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
40
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliJul 14, 2011
The epic and impassioned close that the saga deserves, a sweeping Wagnerian finish that's taut with suspense and wet with emotion. Read full review
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJul 14, 2011
A dazzling, stirring capper to a once-in-a-generation movie franchise. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJul 13, 2011
This outing not only doesn't disappoint; it surpasses high expectations. This is a terrific, smartly designed adolescent adventure, visually rich, narratively satisfying, and bound to resonate for years to come. Read full review
100
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJul 13, 2011
Writer Steve Kloves, who adapted all of J.K. Rowling's novels except "Order of the Phoenix" over the last 11 years, neither wastes a word nor leaves out any essentials. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 13, 2011
Considering Parts 1 and 2 of Deathly Hallows as a single enterprise, as they should be, this is a rare franchise that just kept getting better. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 12, 2011
The final Harry Potter movie, above all others, supplies Radcliffe with the gravitas of not just an epic story come to completion, but some real dramatic heft. Not so bad for a Hogwarts dropout. Read full review
100
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondJul 12, 2011
Part II gets everything right to send off Harry on a cinematic high. Read full review
100
L.A. WeeklyNick SchagerJul 12, 2011
It's a climax of truly epic proportions. Read full review
100
New York PostLou LumenickJul 12, 2011
Everything a summer blockbuster should be but rarely is - a whip-smart, slam-bang piece of entertainment where we deeply care about the fate of the central characters. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJul 6, 2011
Fully justifying the decision, once thought purely mercenary, of splitting J.K. Rowling's final book into two parts, this is an exciting and, to put it mildly, massively eventful finale that will grip and greatly please anyone who has been at all a fan of the series up to now. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJul 11, 2011
The thrilling conclusion to a phenomenal cinematic story 10 years in the telling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 is proof that authentic movie excitement is its own form of magic. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 13, 2011
Childhood ends, this time forever, with tears and howls, swirls of smoke, the shock of mortality and bittersweet smiles in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the grave, deeply satisfying final movie in the series. Read full review
90
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJul 13, 2011
The movie's final moments are the equivalent of the half-jubilant, half-mournful thrill you get when you close the cover of a book you've savored. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallJul 13, 2011
Cinematographer Eduardo Serra underscores the sense of dread with a rich charcoal palette, and the outstanding CGI and 3D effects make the otherworldly threats more corporeal. Read full review
90
TimeRichard CorlissJul 11, 2011
It is indeed impressive; and we mean not just this solid, satisfying final film - in which the Potter saga reaches its climax, if not quite its emotional apex - but the entirety of producer David Heyman's blockbuster franchise. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 14, 2011
Like the previous seven movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 obliviates the line between art and craft, but the witchcraft conjured for this satisfying finale is uniquely generous. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 13, 2011
The ideal culmination of a fantasy series that has artfully blended excitement, adventure and terror with humor, kinship and love. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJul 13, 2011
This movie is impressively staged, the dialogue is given proper weight and not hurried through, there are surprises which, in hindsight, seem fair enough, and "Harry Potter" now possesses an end that befits the most profitable series in movie history. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 13, 2011
It's virtually non-stop action, though director David Yates, who has taken good care of these final four, ever-meaner Potter adventures, does a very crafty thing, following adapter Steve Kloves' screenplay. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 13, 2011
What an exhilarating gift to watch Harry and Company go out in a blaze of glory and amazing grace. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 13, 2011
Overall, Part 2 tells a more compelling and emotionally fulfilling tale than the one related in Part 1, although that could be a result of this movie having a conclusion - something its predecessor notably lacked. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyJul 13, 2011
Although not blessed with a cinematic eye, Yates, a sensitive director of actors, structures his movie like the final movement of a symphony. He reprises themes and characters from the previous films that swell in the epochal siege of Hogwarts and ends his films with an almost wordless coda that will wring tears even from Harry haters. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyJul 13, 2011
The fact that Yates marshals a mile-long grocery list of business with the grace and poise of an orchestra conductor, and makes it look easy, isn't just flattery, it's an indication of his method. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 13, 2011
A fitting, expertly made final chapter, freighted with hard-won emotions, shot through with a sense of farewell, and fully aware of the epic stakes involved. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJul 12, 2011
And so the saga of Harry Potter comes to an end - not with a whimper but with a rousing thunderclap of incident, emotion, suspense and old-fashioned movie magic. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJul 14, 2011
The excellent news is that Yates and company took their time adding visual depth to the film -- they shot it as 3-D -- and the result feels immediate and real and not at all slathered-on. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonJul 14, 2011
This is the most epic of the Harry Potter movies, the one that finally dispenses with side-quests and open-ended plotlines and offers up all the final payoffs.
80
The New YorkerDavid DenbyJul 18, 2011
When the movie was over, a young boy sitting behind me said, "That was great!" He was satisfied, and rightly so. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 14, 2011
Part 2 of The Deathly Hallows, is the best possible end for the series that began a decade ago. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJul 13, 2011
Part 2 turns out to be more than the last of its kind. Almost magically, it ends up being one of the best of the series as well. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensJul 13, 2011
It's always hard to predict how a work of art will age over time, but I have the feeling that, like its three young leads, the Harry Potter series will turn out just fine. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 12, 2011
It's wonderful. Epic and heartbreaking and just as grand as it needs to be. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 12, 2011
With shifting loyalties, unlikely heroes, truths revealed and a little help from friends, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 winds the series up in a most-satisfying fashion. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 11, 2011
HPATDH 2 works like a charm. A funereal charm, to be sure, but then, there's no time left for larks. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'HaraJul 9, 2011
A worthy farewell that packs in as much action as its seven predecessors combined and manages not to stint on the emotional beats. Harry Potter leaves us as a quiet, bespectacled, corduroy-wearing hero for the ages. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangJul 6, 2011
With its accelerated rhythm, relentless flow of incident and wizard-war endgame, "Part 2" will strike many viewers as a much more exciting, involving picture than the slower, more atmospheric "Part 1." Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJul 13, 2011
Part 2 is something else altogether. Such digital effects as the marauding giants that squash baby wizards like bugs or the inky terror that is the Death Eaters – acolytes to the mad, bad wizard Voldemort (Fiennes) – are magnificent and experienced in one long, clutched breath. But what's missing is what has been the chief pleasure of the series: the chemistry between its young leads. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJul 13, 2011
With its heartening final note of hope and renewal, Deathly Hallows -- Part 2 provides an altogether fitting finale to a series that has prized the fans above all. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJul 12, 2011
The awesome effects take over where the plot used to be, and although this is the end, my guess is that it will fire the imagination for years to come. What fun to feel like a kid again. I had a marvelous time. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreJul 13, 2011
The finale to the Harry Potter saga is, like most of the films in the series, a bit of a slog. But it's a generally satisfying slog. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 13, 2011
So ends this enormously important, and enormously extended, chapter of pop culture, with a combination of bang and whimper. Read full review
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