{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 opened in Seattle on Friday, July 14 and is playing at the Majestic Bay, the Pacific Science Center IMAX®, the Cinerama, and other area theaters}

THE END of Harry Potter is here. And as I’ve said before, I’m not a huge fan. But Amie! You’re nerdy. And you love supernatural things. And you heart the crap out of reading. All this is true, but the first 5 HP books (won from a work contest many years ago) sit dust-covered and untouched on my bookshelf.

See, Harry Potter is one of those things where every single person and their brother’s brother said some variation of this to me, “OMFG they are so amazing you will totally love them read them all right now whatiswrongwithyou?” – which is the best way to make sure I NEVER do something. So instead of reading, I just went ahead and cheated by seeing all the films. And while there were a few moments I appreciated, they kind of all blended together and I just wasn’t that impressed.

So I wasn’t really expecting to be blown away by this, but I joined in the hype just because it was fun. And on the day of the press screening for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, I had to go ahead and post this smartass tweet:

Which naturally totally screwed me, because I ended up pouring out some serious waterworks over the course of 2 hours and 5 minutes. So I’ll just say it: this movie surprised me.

Pretty sure I don’t need to explain the plot, but just in case, this movie continues Harry’s quest for the remaining horcruxes—which each contain part of the Dark Lord’s soul—so he can destroy them and make sure Voldemort is easy to defeat. Problem: V has amassed a pretty large army of baddies to back him up, most of which are skilled in some major dark arts, and Harry’s group of good guys has suffered some serious losses. Even with backup from Hermione and Ron, his chances aren’t looking so good.

And so it keeps going, with more bleakness descending on Hogworts, a huge amount of wand-slinging, scary floating mummy-ghosty things, Helena Bottom Carter’s hair in a starring role, a mineshaft cart chase crazier than the one in Temple of Doom, one of the best dragons I’ve ever seen, and tons of shit blowing up and catching on fire all over the place. And yes, more people DIE. (applause)

Of course there were a lot of cheesy, over-the-top moments that made me grimace (most notably the felt like it was tacked on ending, showing the survivors 19 years later, but still looking exactly the same except for some bad wigs)—but I recognize that they all had to be there, because they were all paybacks for the shitty things that had happened in the 10 years it took for Harry to become “the chosen one” and do battle with the creepy no-nose Ralph Fiennes Voldemort.

For the most part, I was impressed with the incredible amount of edge-of-your-seat action, and the brilliant ways in which they worked the 3D effects in (it was pretty stunning at the Cinerama), and just the way the whole thing came together. I’m positive Potter fans will be pleased, and even if you’re dragged along to a screening, you’ll probably enjoy it too.

HPATDHP2 just might have changed my mind enough to make me pick up one of those books…anyone wanna place some bets? Also, I don’t really know why, but this makes me laugh so, so, so hard.