brilliant, anyway you look at it. the film belongs to harry, hermione, and ron, who carry the entire movie practically by themselves. these three have grown as actors immeasurably since the first film, and they give their characters power, as well as angst, sorrow, fear, the whole gamut. on top of that, the perfect director, david yates, who has taken a tight, succint screenplay from an exceedingly complex, psychological, and dark book, and with the help of magnificent cinematography, has created a gripping rendering of all going on in the minds and souls of these characters and the times of their world. i had taken my (extremely intelligent and insightful) 18-year-old son, almost as big an hp fan as me, to see it. at first, he said, it was "alright, good, but..." after a bit of probing, he admitted that it was too close to home about the fears that most adolescents share about different facets of life at this age and that it had unnerved him because it was so close to the bone. it is absolutely rotten that the world has to wait 8 more months for the conclusion of this superb series! as a bynote, i would not recommend this movie to anyone under the age 12.