“The beginning of the end” is a fitting tagline for a film that signals for many the penultimate step to closing a part of their childhood. Director David Yates, who directed the previous two Harry Potter films, has created a gorgeous — albeit bleak — film. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One”

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe,

Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

Directed by: David Yates

Film studio: Warner Bros.

Grade: A

“The beginning of the end” is a fitting tagline for a film that signals for many the penultimate step to closing a part of their childhood. Director David Yates, who directed the previous two Harry Potter films, has created a gorgeous — albeit bleak — film.

The eponymous Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) find themselves completely alone for the first time. Before this — even while working on their own — it always seemed the three could find a bit of a safety net in their friends, teachers and family. Now, they have no allies.

The trio spends the film working on trying to track down and destroy the seven Horcruxes, items that contain the fragments of the wicked wizard Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) spirit. Along the way, they must hide from Death Eaters (Lord Voldemort’s followers) as well as the Ministry of Magic itself, which has been corrupted throughout by the Death Eaters. They must also struggle with inner turmoil in the group and themselves.

The cinematography and setup in this film is spectacular: One striking scene is the hauntingly majestic one in the new Ministry of Magic where it truly becomes clear that the Ministry has become a dystopian “Big Brother”-type militant monstrosity. The minute details — including pureblood propaganda manuals such as “When Muggles Attack” — are particularly enthralling.

The special-effects team also upped the ante. In the beginning of the film, the fights in the air are beautiful. The CGI on the house elves Kreacher and Dobby has vastly improved. There is even an animated sequence of 3-D animation mixed with silhouette that was surprising yet very lovely.

Two criticisms of the film might face concern the volume levels and the abundance of awkward scenes between the friends.

Certain sounds in the film were unnecessarily loud, the most glaring example being the noises caused by Lord Voldemort’s beloved pet snake Nagini. Nagini tends to be used as a device to make the audience jump, but every time they have her strike, it is overly loud. This was one example of several scenes in which noise levels became distracting.

Tension between Harry, Hermoine and Ron was ham-handedly shoved into the script and created some weird, useless scenes. For example, there is a scene where Harry and Hermione are dancing in a tent to some music on the radio. It goes on far too long and lacks purpose in the flow of the plot.

These two issues aside, Yates is debatably the best thing that has happened to the Harry Potter film series.