It's a good thing that "Harry Potter and the Deadly Hollows" are broken into two parts; otherwise I could've sat though a six-hour movie. As the next to the last Harry Potter movie opens, Harry and his frinds are on the run from Voldemort who wants to kill Potter in order to restore his true power. I can't reveal the ending, but it's a set-up for the final movie of the series, which will be release in July 2011. I'm already there. .

I am a big fan of the series but I will have to say that this one was a bit slow and at times boring. I know it is the lead in to the final chapter but still it should have been better. A lot of wasted space.

This is the best one yet! It sticks the closest to the book because they've given themselves enough time to tell the story with the second part coming out soon.

I admit to feeling a little lost when it comes to this installment and the previous one (Half-Blood Prince).

Perhaps ardent fans are rewarded by knowing what's going on without it all being explained on-screen, but in these last two movies, I feel that those of us that have only seen the movies are at a disadvantage. Maybe I'm in a distinct minority because I've only read the first book, but a movie shouldn't require the viewer to have knowledge of other material to make sense.

That aside, this was an enjoyable movie. The sense of dread and near sorrow that is part of the first scenes with the three primary characters is palpable. It drags a little due to the exposition necessary to explain plot points from earlier installment, but I wasn't bothered by it.

Since it's the first part of a two-part finale to the series, it doesn't end with any closure, but at least they didn't say "to be continued..." as the last scene faded to black. Part 1 will only be able to be evaluated properly once Part 2 has been released, so the two can make the whole.

If you're a die-hard fan, you've already seen this, and probably more than once. If you're not a die-hard fan and you haven't yet seen it, you might be better off waiting until late spring when the home video release happens, and the wait for Part 2 on July 15th won't be so long.