While I have enjoyed the HP series and was looking forward to this one, I was at a severe disadvantage trying to figure it out without having read the book. This is half a movie that requires the Part 2. The place where it ended left me frustrated and uncertain about the details I had just been shown.
It would have been better to release both movies at the same time, so that those of us who needed the loose ends explained can get those explanations (as there have been in every other HP movie).
The theater we saw the movie in also had a problem speaker that added a hum to the action throughout the film.
I give it 3 stars in hopes that the finale to this movie redeems it.