Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the eighth and final film of the film and book franchise opens today in cinemas across Australia. The film brings a close to a story that has engaged our screens over the last ten years.

The film, shot in spectacular 3D, is the most action packed of the film series but also one of the most emotional in that it draws the epic story to an end. In my film session alone, the audience clapped and cried as if the visions on the screen were records of events that form part of our real lives, which for many the books, films and the entire Potter Universe have in many ways become.

For those who have read the books, the film takes a number liberties, some which change the way things pan out, but the ultimate end is the same. If you’re in it for complete accuracy you’re going to go in for disappointment, however given how the prior films have set up for this film you have to have known that you weren’t going to get what you were looking for anyway. The film does brilliantly in it’s own right.

The film encompasses moments of comedy, moments of extreme sadness as well as moments of complete and utter joy. Not many films can successfully take an audience on such a roller coaster ride, but I think I can safely say that this film not only did so, but did with gusto.

An amazing end for such an amazing story.

Long live Harry Potter!