Part Two is everything I hoped for and more. It’s a superb ending to the Harry Potter story. It’s exhausting, because it’s basically got all the excitement that was missing from Part One, but it’s thrilling. My only criticism is that, because it is the second half of a story, there is none of the customary build-up we’re expecting. We sometimes say, “This movie drops us right in the middle of the action” but we don’t really mean that. What we mean is that whatever movie we’re watching has an exciting beginning and a complicated backstory, or, if it’s directed by Uwe Boll or on the Syfy channel, we mean that it’s confused us. Not so with Part Two. It is exactly the same story as Part One, picking up exactly where the first film ended with no overlap. It feels like you pressed pause, went away for nine months to make a giant cup of coffee, or answer the door to some Jehovah’s Witnesses who are *really* good at keeping you talking, came back and pressed play, and here we are.

At the beginning of Part Two our main characters are still on their quest to destroy the horcruxes. Three are already destroyed, and they believe there are three more. From the frenzied rantings of Bellatrix Lestrange, they realize that there must be one hidden in her vault at Gringott’s bank. With the help of the goblin Griphook (Warwick Davis’ first role) they break into Gringott’s bank for the first big sequence. This involves disguising Hermione as Bellatrix, a wonderful opportunity to show off Helena Bonham Carter’s ability to act Emma Watson (it’s like that bit in Face-Off where Travolta and Cage take the mick out of each other’s voices, expressions and body language). This is a cringeworthily tense part of the film, and finally resolves itself with fist-pumping moment number 1 for a blind white dragon.

After that, our heroes make for Hogwarts, and it’s at our beloved school of witchcraft and wizardry that the showdown takes place. The rest of the film, with a couple of quieter episodes and flashbacks thrown in to give us a chance to breathe, is one long battle, and as such, there are many, many aristeias. Pretty much every character that we have been introduced to in the seven preceding films takes part in the battle in some respect, and for many of the goodies it really is a finest hour. Many characters, good and bad, die. They kick butt for their cause, and in doing so make the ultimate sacrifice, and we get to see them doing it (or, to be honest, we get to see them prepared for it, and then we get to see their remains being honoured by their friends). Pupils, staff, the dead, the building itself… no-one is left out. High points include Ron and particularly Neville taking centre stage, Ciaran Hinds as Aberforth Dumbledore, Molly Weasley taking on Bellatrix and the Big Reveal of Snape’s true allegiances and motivations. Alan Rickman doesn’t really deserve accolades for his performance here, but on a cumulative basis, and based on what we know of the character, Snape’s aristeia is very moving (and, it turns out, thirty years in the making! Who would have thought?).

This isn’t the place to muse on the whole Harry Potter saga and franchise. However, I will say how fortunate we all are that the makers of Philospher’s Stone picked such good actors to play the pupils and teachers of Hogwarts, and their families. The continuity over the eight films has been a huge factor in their success. This ending finishes the series with a bang – a big, dangerous, sad, dramatic, heartwarming, f*** yeah! bang.