What Critics Are Saying About 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2' (SPOILER-FREE)

About five days to go before the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The final film has already premiered in London. But what do the critics think?

"It’s also shot with an extraordinary eye for detail, as returning director David Yates revels in revisiting iconic locations from previous instalments – the towering Quidditch stadium, the relic-hiding Room of Requirement, the magnificent Great Hall – before spectacularly blowing the crap out of all of them." — Richard Jordan, Total Film

"At little over two hours, Hallows: Part 2 is the shortest film of the series and yet feels like the most cohesive – a pacey, exhilarating and emotionally satisfying final chapter that goes some way to validating the decision to split the book in two." — Richard Jordan, Total Film

"With so much to get through and so little time, it’s unfortunate (if hardly surprising) that a few series favourites – Jim Broadbent’s bumbling Professor Slughorn, Emma Thompson’s batty Trelawney – are consigned to the background. But it’s a testament to the quality of the filmmaking that such thesps would show up for such little screentime. Yates wisely treats these characters not as cheap cameos, but as natural colour for the movie’s richly populated universe – in Hogwarts' hour of need, why wouldn’t they be there? " — Richard Jordan, Total Film

" If ever there was a sure thing commercially, this stout farewell is it." — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

"The eventual sight of Hogwarts as a crumbled ruin is striking, Eduardo Serra's cinematography outclasses what he accomplished the last time out, and some of Nick Dudman's makeup effects -- especially with the goblins and a shocking glimpse of a fetal Voldemort -- are sensational." — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

"Alexandre Desplat's score is arguably the best yet for the series, briefly incorporating echoes of John Williams' original themes while richly boosting the already heightened drama of this sendoff to such a tremendously successful series." — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

"Never before has any film – or any book – brought home to me how terribly brief childhood is. The Potter movies weren't just an adaptation of a series of books, but a living, evolving collaborative phenomenon between page and screen." — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

" It reminded me of the thrill I felt on seeing the very first one, 10 years ago. And Radcliffe's Harry Potter has emerged as a complex, confident, vulnerable, courageous character – most likable, sadly, at the point where we must leave him for ever. Wait. I've got that darn thing in my eye again ..." — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

"Yates here transmutes it into a genuinely terrifying spectacle, as bloodied students fight desperately against a horde of screaming black-robed Death Eaters." — Philip Womack, The Telegraph

"This is monumental cinema, awash with gorgeous tones, and carrying an ultimate message that will resonate with every viewer, young or old: there is darkness in all of us, but we can overcome it." — Philip Womack, The Telegraph

You can expect my review around 3:00 a.m. on July 15. It. All. Ends.