Here it is, the final battle between good and evil. The final confrontation between the young wizard, Harry Potter, and the dark lord Voldemort.

Well, Part 1, that is. The producers decided to split the conclusion to “Harry Potter,” one of the most popular book series and movies of all time, into two separate movies, because I guess everybody involved with this franchise hasn’t made quite enough money yet. The beauty of splitting it into two parts is that once you’ve seen the first half of something you just have to come back and see the rest. So Potter fans will have to wait another year before they can see the two wizards’ final duel.

From a technical standpoint there’s nothing really wrong with David Yates’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One.” Like the previous films it’s visually stunning. The directing by Yates really evokes the dark and chilling tone. The cinematography is absolutely beautiful and the script by Steve Kolves is faithful to the books. “Deathly Hallows” looks exactly like the other Harry Potter films. Even with David Yates and Mike Newell switching off as directors for the last few films, they’ve kept the movies almost identical to each other.

The great wizard and headmaster of Hogwarts School of Magic, Professor Dumbledore, has been killed. Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has become very powerful and is now on a personal journey to track down and kill Potter. In the opening scene Voldemort and the other “death eaters” discuss the whereabouts of Potter and how Voldemort needs to be the one to kill him.

This is by far one of the better openings in any of the “Harry Potter” movies, because it opens not with Harry doing something but with the other side plotting against him. Plus it’s the biggest scene Voldemort has in the entire movie, which is a shame because he has become one of the more interesting characters. We know mostly everything about Harry but now we want to learn a little more about the dark lord.

Elsewhere Harry (Daniel Radcliff) and his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) set out on a dangerous mission to find the Horcruxes (the secrets to Voldemort’s immortality) and destroy them, while dodging off attacks by death eaters and other minions of the dark lord. This is the only movie so far that has taken place outside of Hogwarts. It’s a nice change because it shows us how Harry and his friends are growing up and will no longer need to go to wizard school.

Like in the other movies Radcliff, Watson and Grint all do a great job with material that sometimes gets a little corny. At the same time I found this story a little less interesting than the ones before. It was basically just one big game of cat and mouse. Harry and his friends would go from one place to another, fighting off people or finding another clue to another Horcrux. Plus I found the length of the movie pretty daunting.

But despite its length, “Harry Potter” fans will certainly enjoy the film. Much like “Star Wars” the “Harry Potter” series has created a vast world of imagination, creativity and wonder. While “Deathly Hallows” may not be a major cinematic achievement it still brings author JK Rowling’s masterpiece to life.