One of many pensive moments for Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) as he considers his pre-destined showdown with his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

Penultimate Potter adaptation holds no surprises - mostly a good thing. Elizabeth Kerr reports.

The end is nigh. After almost a decade, some very public puberty for its stars, and nearly $6.2 billion in box office receipts - and counting - the epic Harry Potter series is finally coming to a close. Way back in 2001, three unknown 'tween Brits burst on to the film scene and promptly became some of Hollywood's biggest power players. Most people guessed the film would be a hit given the enormous built-in audience, but the sheer, overwhelming popularity of Harry and Co. among non-readers is what tipped it over into pop culture phenomenon. That's never really let up. It is rare, now, that one property has the ability to galvanize readers and viewers in all corners of the globe.

One of the most notable elements of Harry Potter's legacy will perhaps be its vindication of young adult fiction as viable multi-media franchise material. Rowling's books paved the way for the divisive The Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials, the execrable Twilight, and the upcoming post-apocalypse-for-teens The Hunger Games, to spark feeding frenzies among studios looking for the Next Big Thing. Ideally, Big Things that would take years to complete and fill studios' coffers. (Lord of the Rings is left off this list because it wasn't intended as young adult fiction, unlike The Hobbit, now in production.) But what separates Harry Potter from many of the others is the deadly serious tone the writers, directors, and actors have taken toward the material. It's not morbid or maudlin by any stretch of the imagination, and the fundamentally fantastical nature of the story - come on, a story about a wizard school you can only get to from a magic train platform - keeps over the top angst at bay. However there's just enough exploration of themes of death, destiny, responsibility, youthful friendships, and coming-of-age conundrums for Rowling to have connected with readers and by extension viewers.

This is not a Lord of the Rings leftover, and it's devoted house elf Dobby (voice by Toby Jones), destined for tragedy.

Also notable? Warner Bros. decision not to release the film in 3D as originally re-planned. In an already suspicion-laden atmosphere - fans accused Warner of breaking up the last book into two parts to milk the franchise until it was bone dry - the studio's decision to give up on a half-cocked 3D conversion job is admirable; it's also giving up premium ticket prices and millions in potential receipts. The choice between poor visuals and staying on target for the release date was a no-brainer: Harry Potter has never needed gimmicks to sell it before, and it doesn't this time either. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is bulletproof filmmaking. Anyone who's invested the time and money on the last six films is going to line up to see it through.

There's not much in the way of surprises in Deathly Hallows. The same slavish devotion to the source material is evident, but returning director David Yates has amped up the brooding and moping in the lead up to the finale that most of us already know. That's probably appropriate given the inherent knowledge moviegoers have that this is the start of The End. There's an air of melancholy nostalgia to the film, even though there's one more to go. Harry's journey is coming to a close, and with it a ten-year chapter in many, many people's lives.

Deathly Hallows picks up almost immediately after Half-Blood Prince and the murder of the beloved Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore, with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint) now hiding in the forest and plotting how to locate the last of the Horcruxes that hold the evil Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) fragmented soul. There's a great deal of hemming and hawing by the core trio, with flashes of emotionalism that breaks up the slow-paced debating, planning, and arguing. Things do come to life when Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter, who needs to be in many more scenes) gets in on the action, the magical doohickeys get their moments in the spotlight, and the legend of the Deathly Hallows is rendered in gorgeous sepia-toned animation.

Shot with an entirely black and/or gray color palette, Deathly Hallows is the literally and figuratively darkest Potter installment yet - quite a feat considering the films (and the books) have slowly but surely been headed in that direction. The manifestation of the darkness before the dawn as it were. Yates and Kloves' aforementioned fidelity reflects that trend quite beautifully, but it's also one of the reasons Deathly Hallows is in two parts - and a reason the first part drags on occasion. The filmmakers do a great job of telegraphing the romantic tumult swirling around the non-love triangle, and an original scene not lifted directly from the book involving a dance between Ron and Hermione is one of the film's stronger grace notes.

Fans are likely to revel in the minutiae and wallow in the attention to every little detail that Yates and the army of effects technicians put into the final product. Casual viewers (are there casual viewers?) or the silent demographic that grew weary of the Harry Potter juggernaut a few films back (the series really did peak with Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban) may not have quite as much patience. The film is simply too long, and there are ample opportunities to trim the narrative's fat and pick up the pace. Even if it seems a bit forced or pat, the last reel has the Hogwarts kids reconnecting and readying for the final battle with Voldemort and Harry's date with destiny in a flawless cliffhanger. Deathly Hallows whets the appetite just enough, warts and all. Harry Potter may be dying a franchise death (the final Deathly Hallows: Part 2 hits screens in summer 2011 - in 3D) but The Boy Who Lived is primed to live long in hearts and minds. Summer won't come fast enough.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 opened in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) enlists the aid of some Hogwartsian magic to duplicate himself and throw his pursuers off track in the heavily anticipated beginning of the end.

(HK Edition 12/18/2010 page4)