Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows gets a dynamite trailer.

Wow... just wow. After a somewhat low-key teaser clip that was shown on the MTV Movie Awards just a few weeks ago, Warner Bros. has unleashed this genuinely epic trailer. This is a thunderously impressive preview, full of the kind of emotional pathos and visual oomph that the Twilight crowd could only dream of. You can practically hear Harry, Hermione, and Ron telling Bella, Edward, and Jacob to get the hell off of their lawn. As far as tentpole teasers go, this is Dark Knight/Star Trek good. Warner Bros is selling the astonishing legacy of this series first and foremost, as well they should be. Eight rock-solid epic films, nearly ten years in the making, with nearly every major cast member (save the late Richard Harris) intact. It's hard to believe it'll be nine years since The Sorcerer's Stone premiered by the time part I of The Deathly Hallows opens this November. By keeping the films rooted in character and emotionally-charged, Campellian-storytelling, these films will live on long after their special effects have become dated. This series is a truly unprecedented achievement in cinema history and deserves to be celebrated as such.

Scott Mendelson