So, unless you’re a witch-fearing fundamentalist or an illiterate, you have known for a few years now exactly how the saga of Harry Potter (a.k.a. The Boy Who Lived) ends. Having generated literally billions in revenue for author J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, and Warner Bros., the release of the final film marks the end of the most lucrative film franchise in the history of the medium. We likely won’t see another such phenomenon for a few generations, at least. (Note to Twilight fans: don’t flame me).

What this all boils down to is the plain fact that the last film had better be a good one: and I don’t mean passable-as-popcorn-entertainment-but-really-not-memorable good – it had better be on par with the best fantasy movies out there, the kind delivered to audiences by George Lucas, Disney, and Mr. Spielberg himself.

So what’s the verdict? Part 2 of The Deathly Hallows is indeed quite good – in fact, it’s intermittently excellent – which should satisfy everyone but the purest of literary purists (who, quite frankly, shouldn’t even bother with the movies in the first place). We see the heroic trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione fully come of age, realizing that their purpose in the world is to clean up the messes created by wayward adults who crave Purity, Allegiance, Wealth and Absolute Power. Harry and Co. simply want to coexist with Muggles and use magic for good . . . why Voldemort doesn’t understand this is one of Rowling’s great accomplishments as a writer.

But director David Yates doesn’t bestow his arch-villain with that degree of depth or existential introspection. Rather, Voldemort is played as he has always been played throughout the franchise: as a cunning (but shallow) shadow whose hatred of Harry is as expansive as it is inscrutable. Yates and his screenwriters have written the film as a nonstop action adventure, in clear juxtaposition to the deliberately paced Part 1 (which, in my opinion, stands as the best film of all eight).

The final film is careful to include all the series’s most memorable characters: Dumbledore, Snape, the Weasleys, Hagrid, and all those nasty Death Eaters. You shouldn’t go in expecting a faithful retelling of the final half of the seventh Potter narrative. The filmmakers have packed the movie with chases and wand wars, which, if the track record of the previous seven films is any indication, is precisely right as far as audiences are concerned.

The Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be the monstrously huge blockbuster that everyone expects it to be; it will also be a satisfying conclusion for most fans. Many will be sad to see Harry, Ron and Hermione fade away into cinematic history (even as they barely age in the movie in what is puproted to be a flash into the future) . . . some will feel compelled to bury themselves in the books one more time to re-exeperience that unforgettable magic of reading the tale of Harry Potter . . . and still others (probably studio executives) will mourn the sacrifice of this undying cash cow. Which all goes to prove one thing: Harry Potter is the definitive legend of the modern age, one which speaks to the hope that goodness – no matter how feeble or naive, no matter how inexperienced or outmatched – will always triumph in the face of adversity. Always.

Well, Ms. Rowling, you can’t do better than that.