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However, writing-wise...
The romance scenes were awkward and overly silly, they were a needed relief from the seriousness of the rest of the movie, yes, but they were very poorly written. In the theatre, the audience laughed when Hermione was crying over Ron, and when Ginny made any sort of advance on Harry at all.
The last half hour of the movie was unfortunatly very boring. The cave scene was amazing, best scene in the movie. But Dumbledore's death was too brief, people who haven't read the book will not understand that he died, and the chase out of hogwarts was dulled to a quite stroll through the hall and out the front door.
The movie was entertaining despite what I see as cripiling (damn lack of spellcheck) problems with the script. To see how they fix all the absent details from this movie in movie seven will be interesting.
However, overall, it was a great movie. When faced with the task of fitting a 600+ page book into two and a half hours, most people would be knocked on their ass. However, this was done really well. I never felt as if it was rushing to touch the plot points and move on, it went at a very deliberate speed toward the end.
Yes, it left us at a kind of a pinnacle, but that is exactly where we can start the sweet, sweet ride to the finish.
For anyone interested in the rest of my thoughts, here is a review I wrote.
http://tinyurl.com/ntdb3q
There were lines of dialog in the book, that take no more than fifteen seconds to say, that give so much character. For instance, Snape getting upset (for perhaps the first time in the series), and yelling "Do not call me coward!" At Harry. I love Alan Rickman, but he was a little TOO emotionless in that last scene.
But it was good, I'll have to see it again to really work it out.
But they have such an impossible job I pity them.
Also, the whole time the Burrow was burning, I'm saying "Put the fire out, you idiots!" As they just watched it burn. It wouldn't be half as funny if Harry didn't reveal at the end that there exists a spell to summon water...
important? Oh, and great idea, that. Let's have a budget of $400m to satisfy
purist cunts.
As far as people complaining about a favorite scene left out, well... It's kind of hard to explian, but I'll try to anyway (and I get the feeling you already know this, so I may be wasting my breath, so to to speak). The Harry Potter books, to me, at least, are captivating in that they make magic seem like so much a part of everyday life to the reader. For example, the scene in (I think it was PRISONER OF AZKABAN, I could be mistaken) where Harry is at the Burrow and they're going to have dinner outside. Harry hears this crashing noise and when he looks outside, Bill and Charlie Weasley are smashing tables together in midair, trying to destroy one with the other just because they can do it - there's no reason for them to do it, they're just screwing around. I absolutely love those touches Rowling sticks into the stories - it makes them more real in some odd way. The fact that you've got these amazing (to us) things happening all the time in such an offhand manner is great. The filmmakers, to their credit, do manage to stick little throwaway things in throughout the movies, and I appreciate that. I realize these guys are doing the best they can within the time constraints they have to work under, but sometimes all their admittedly awesome work is a little underwhelming. The fact that the head of Warner's decided for absolutely no reason at all to hold the premiere of the movie back for eight fucking months didn't help either. I'm sure people would be bitching just as much if it came out in November of last year, but holding it back so they could make a killing in the summer rather than the fall was just slinging shit in the faces of the people wanting to see this movie.
And I DO miss the scenes with the Dursleys - the scene in GOBLET OF FIRE where the Weasleys pick Harry up at the Dursleys is an absolute classic, and I really woul dhave liked to see Dumbledore chew them out for the way they treated Harry his whole life. Again, not necessary scenes, but ones that would have been enormously entertaining to see on screen. But the movies are what the movies are.
I think I'll see this one again and give it another chance - I could only get ticketys for the 3 AM showing and I was very tired when I saw it, so I'm sure that influenced my opinion.
It was definitely a stop-gap film without much in the way of its own arc, which I think comes straight from Rowling realizing she needs to figure a way to wrap things up in 2 books so she basically turned Half-Blood prince into Act 1 where as Deathly Hallows is Act 1.5, Act 2, and Act 3.
A good movie, great to watch that is satisfying and tremendously well made, but unsatisfying on the story side.
Being a great fan I have collected a list of good sites and articles (may be around 200) related to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (movie information, movie schedule, movie reviews, books, games, news, wallpapers and many more). If you are interested take a look at the below link
http://markthispage.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-yo...
Going to see a Harry Potter movie is, for me at least, a mixed blessing. I really want to see the great story I've read about a dozen times up there on the screen, but at the same time I know for sure I'm going to be disappointed in the end result for the simple fact that they just can't film the entire book. For instance, I thought PRISONER OF AZKABAN was the worst movie in the series. Coron or whatever his name is screwed that one up big time, and I can't understand for the life of me why everyone practically genuflects whenever his name is mentioned.
Yeah, HBP was heavy on the romantic subplots, but so was the book. What I really objected to was the way they're filing the edges off the characters. For example, in the book, when Hermione sicced the birds on Ron, she screamed, "OPPUGNO!" and they ATTACKED him - they started pecking on him. In the movie, she just whispered it and they ran into the goddamned DOOR, for God's sake! That was one of the funniest scenes in the book and showed that Hermione wasn't above punishing Ron for his thoughtless behavior nor was she above giving vent to her jealousy. And the scene where Luna was commentating on the Quiddich match - I KNOW why they cut that, but it was hilarious. I suppose I shouldn't bitch about that one - at least they got some Quiddich into the movie this time.
Anyway, the movie was just one big shrug to me.
That's all I got.
That said, I do feel that the climax was the weakest aspect of the movie. I enjoyed the rest a great deal.
After they complete the task that has been facing them the entire movie, they return to Hogwarts. In any other story, it would be gravy all the way to the end credits, but the movie rolls out a sad ending on us - killing off a major character during the denouement. Everything that can get wrapped up is wrapped up, and then they throw a wrench into the works by creating an open ending, something to solve for next time.
I realize that the book treats that moment as the climax, but it's pretty clear that the movie doesn't - especially considering they leave out his funeral which would have shifted his death to the climax spot and his funeral to the denouement position.
Speaking of which, I wouldn't suggest attempting the denouement position unless you're really, really limber.
As for the ending, I sort of liked how subdued it was. I'm in the minority there, I know, but there was something about how casually Snape killed him that worked for me. Besides, I think that after the scene in the cave, a huge battle would have been overload for me. Killing Dumbledore sort of took the wind out of me simply because of how calmly it was handled.
-they had the burning down of the burrow, but why didn't they have the battle of hogwarts instead of that?
-they had hardly and potions classes, hardly any classes in general for that matter.
-they put the muggle girl at the the beginning of the movie flirting with harry. but they could easily have had shown harry at the dursley's and dumbledore coming to pick harry up from there. or they could have had the meeting of the 2 ministers
-i think they should have had dumbledore's funeral for sure.
-ron and lavendar's relationship totally took over harry and ginny's.
-fleur and bill weren't in it, and their wedding is in the deathly hallows. and during that wedding, they're tracked down by the death eaters. SO NOT HAVING BILL AND FLEUR IN HP6 BETTER NOW EFFECT THE WEDDING SCENE IN HP7!!!
but there were a few things that i do have to admire.
-the scene where ron was under the love potions(hilarious!!)
-the scene of katie bell..i thought it was perfect
-the weasley twins' shop!! it was amazing! i wish they had more of that in the movie
-and tom felton's acting. absolutely perfect!! and the part where he cried...it was awesome
but they could have done such a better job!
There were also some scenes I found completely unnecessary, which again could have been cut in favor of expanding the ending. The opening scene with Harry and the coffee shop girl was completely unnecessary. I have no idea why the writers put it in there, and it never went anywhere in the movie. Also, the scene when the Weasley's house burns down was bizarre. What was the point? The Death Eaters show up to what? Lure Harry out and then not follow through? And I don't remember anything about a house burning down in the book... there's a huge wedding that's supposed to happen at the start of the next book (a storyline they completely eliminated with Bill and Fleur and Bill being bitten by Fenrir). Also, on that note, Fenrir could have been such an awesome character, but they did nothing with him. He didn't attack anyone or really say anything. If not for the poster at this first shot, people who hadn't read the book would never have known he was a werewolf.
So, in conclusion, the movie was fine. There are some major holes in it that frustrate me as a fan of the books, but I can appreciate the cinematography. The writing was really lacking though, and I'm not quite sure how they're going to advance the story without having explained more about the horcruxes and the background of Voldemort, particularly in relation to his family. That was such interesting stuff in the book, and they just completely cut all of it out.
I hope they learn for the next installment and focus more on the pivotal storyline instead of the background romance that is meant to be secondary.
I went into this trying very hard to not get my expectations up too high, going so far as to avoid reading HBP for three months before. Didn't work. In the theater, I heard laughs at times I didn't see anything funny. I found Bonnie Wright's acting dry and wooden; everywhere I look online, everybody's saying she's the actor to watch, but I have to disagree. I damn near yelled "WTF??" when Snape didn't lose his temper at Harry (but my 11yo daughter was there to reel me in). I thought they were over-obvious about the vanishing cabinets. In the tower, Harry would NEVER have trusted Snape to save Dumbledore. I'm not particularly happy David Yates is still on board - he's the idiot who, in OOTP, told the kids, "Don't act, don't emote in any way - just stand there and recite the line." In this one, again, there were a few spots that didn't feel emotional enough. I'm not happy that he's got DH one & two, but at least that lowers my expectations somewhat.
But despite all that, Tom Felton was brilliant - he's going to have one hell of a career - and the cave scene was gorgeous, haunting (if not enough so), and creepy. Absolutely everybody in the theater jumped when Harry reached into the water - I think more so because it was utterly soundless for the few moments before. That scene alone will prompt me to buy the special edition as soon as it's available - just as I did with GOF and OOTP, even though I thought they both had problems. They're still wonderful movies.
And I did tear up when Dumbledore died (I still cry every time I read it), and I could hear sobbing. Maybe we didn't get the funeral, but I thought what they DID do was elegantly beautiful. That doesn't make me, or anyone else, a wuss - just a fan saying goodbye to a beloved friend. Hell, I'm gonna have to bring tissues to DH part two. lol
http://www.ranker.com/list/hottest-harry-potter...
The movie is exceptionally well-made and the cinematography is excellent. The acting is quite good, especially from Rickman, Gambon, and Felton. Felton has proven to me that he is a better actor than the trio. The score is decent and there are some exceptional pieces, especially the bit during the salute to Dumbledore. I recall reading that someone bitched about Hooper reusing themes from Order of the Phoenix, a film he scored. Well guess what, Williams did the same shit in Chamber of Secrets and it worked, just like it works here.
David Yates did an excellent job and I am glad he is directing the final two films.
This movie is the worst HP ever.
what I disliked most was the 'teen movie' side of the film. It felt like half of the movie was about
snogging and stuff and they sounded like silly teenagers. It doesn't feel the same in the book!
what's more, the wrinting was horrible ! it was soappy, made you wanna vomit.
Like hermione saying 'harry like the deseeeert' in a totally silly way.
or harry saying to dumby 'you have always be the same for me' (or something like that because I watched the movie in French). >>Take out the violins !
Tssss!
And everything has gone too fast, as if they wanted to cram the whole story in 2 hours and half's time (OK that’s what they did but we’re not supposed to feel it :P)
And when dumby found out they had to drink the water, it felt like he had been suggested this idea in his EARPHONE.! Really disappointing because it was the one of the best moment of the book.
Well the only thing I liked was the very first scene with London in a mess, the effects were great.
And also the humor was not bad !
Voilà !
The book was great - it spent the entire time focusing on setting up the final book, and really did a good job of it, a great job of revealing important information about the mains and about Voldemort in order to set up the final book/battle.
I think the movie fell short in this respect, I really think that way too much screentime was devoted to the "love stories" between the characters and could have been better spent explaining some things that were skipped over...
Honestly - I felt this was the worst in the series, and I hope that the final 2 movies strive to cover the gap left by this one... To me - this was a long series of poorly written attempt at romantic comedy, punctuated by an amazing cave scene, then a very anti-climactic death of Dumbledore and leisurely stroll through Hogwarts for those who just killed him...
The difference, imo, between this movie and the previous before is that HP and the HBP is an story at itself, not like the other 5, which were all a display of scenes from the book, but never a coherent story. Sure, a LOT stuff from book 6 wasn't adapted. But watching this movie felt finally like watching a tale. You might or might not like it, but it was a tale. A good looking one too and that's why I liked it.
That doesn't mean I don't have some troubles with this movie, especially when it comes to the soul of the last chapter in the HP saga: the horcruxes. This aspect was way to rushed. How does Harry know what the other horcruxes look like? This can cause serious problems for the next two installments of the movie-franchise. I don't understand why they left the other memories out; they could've beeen easily adapted without taking to much time.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is by far the most action-packed book, and I fear for an movie that will focus on the action, without presenting the story behind, so that the action will feel a bit empty. But we'll see.
The added scenes, such as the destruction of the Burrow, were totally unnecessary. These could have been easily replaced with scenes such as the first battle of Hogwarts or Dumbledore's funeral. These are scenes that are sad in their own right and don't need over acting to be achieved, unlike the Burrow scene. Comments from the directors that they didn't put the battle in so that there wasnt repetition are just stupid. The battle in the 7th book is completely different to that of the 6th. Only D.A. fight in the 6th book and then are finally relieved by the Order of the Phoenix, whereas the battle in the 7th book is a full scale fight, with everyone that wants to fight, including giants, centaurs, werewolves and giant spiders, fighting.
I think the best part of the film for me was the death scene of Dumbledore, but unfortunately they have made Snape out to be an even worse person than he is in the books. The death scene was tragic and the music was PERFECT! I knew it was coming, I've read all the books and I was still reduced to tears. That is good film making. However I think they should have done the funeral scene to finish the movie... I was really looking forward to hearing the Phoenix song and the Mermaids but it sadly never happened. The ending was just too corny for what had just happened
Cinematography was beautiful and the conflict scenes are wonderful. If the movie was a little more coherent to the book then this would be the best movie I have seen in a long time...