OH NO!!! (+ What aunt_zelda Thinks: HBP the Movie)
OH MY GOD THEY FOUND US!!!
HIDE!!!
In other news, I saw HPB today in a very bad theater. (Sound quality was horrendous, the seats squeaked, and I sat all the way in the back because I came just as the previews were showing and couldn't see at all and just found the nearest empty place. Luckily I didn't sit on anybody.)
So ... the movie was ... actually quite good. It felt very rushed, but they got most of the important things and still managed to make me scream (I knew the Inferi were coming, but I screamed when one grabbed Harry all the same ... they kinda looked like Gollum, but whatever, STILL MAKE ME SCREAM!) and cry (Dumbledore ... *sniffles*) and now I feel emotionally drained and upset. It's bad enough that Dumbledore dies in the books, quite another to SEE IT ONSCREEN, and quite another for Richard Harris, who played him in the first two movies, to die in real life himself. R.I.P., Mr. Harris. You are missed.
The overall dark mood of the movie - THEY BURNED DOWN THE WEASLEY'S HOUSE!!! That wasn't in the book! *staves off another bout of tears* - contrasted quite harshly with the flippant crushes and bouts of love running around. Say what you will about the movie, but it really managed to capture the tone of the 6th book. And, in spirit, we get blinding flashes of light and fire and squint-inducing shadowy scenes. These must have been a bitch to film, but let me tell ya, it paid off.
I liked how instead of having Fudge meet with the Muggle Prime Minister, they SHOWED the bridge breaking and people getting carried off from Diagon Alley. I also liked how there was barely any talking for the first five or so minutes. I really felt that we were going into an older, darker world, in a way that I didn't even get from watching OotP, which is saying something.
I also liked how, despite getting very few and very short scenes, Draco's character achieved all of the sympathy and horror and tension that his behavior in the books did. That one bit where he rushes into the bathroom, leans over the sink, just barely begins to cry ... and then Harry cuts in and they start fighting - really struck me. I was half ready to start wibbling over Draco like the anti-hero fangirl that I am, and then the mood was changed and the scene yanked out from under my feet. Very good.
Things I didn't like ... hrrrrm ... well, I'm mad that Remus only got one scene. Really, really mad. And suddenly he and Tonks are together? What the hell? I didn't like the Remus/Tonks relationship, but I did like how it developed! I expected Tonks to hint a bit at Remus over Christmas, Harry to feel awkward at seeing that, and then at the end of the movie they'd be a couple. While I did like the cornfield scene, I felt cheated. We got some build-up with Fenrir hanging around, Remus sensing him, Tonks mentioning that it's almost the full moon ... and then nothing. (Well, the Death Eaters BURN DOWN THE WEASLEY'S HOUSE HOW DARE THEY YOU BASTARDS ON CHRISTMAS YOU'RE GOIN'
DOOOOOWN!!!) I wanted Remus and Fenrir to have a knock-down drag-out werewolf fight while Bellatrix taunted Harry and Ginny in the cornfield. Is that so much to ask? Because they cut out the first Battle at Hogwarts and had no Fleur in the movie, they could have made the movie slightly more true to the book and had Bill intervene in Remus and Fenrir's fight and get sliced up by Fenrir. *sighs* But no.
That's ok, though, and while the movie may have fared better had it been split into two (I know GoF would have ...) I feel that as a single movie it did pretty well. I didn't feel any of the anger or resentment or annoyance that I felt after watching PoA or GoF, and it stayed true to the book despite having cut out a good deal of material and changed a lot of things. I haven't felt like that about one of the movies since Chamber of Secrets.
P.S. The fight workshop today was a lot of fun! It was great to see the fight instructor again (he's seen Children of Earth already, lucky bastard!) and we learned rapier-style stage combat, which is different from broadsword-style stage combat, the later of which I prefer because the footwork is easier and makes more sense. Still, had a lot of fun and as we weren't using real swords, just air-swords (as a lot of the group were beginners, and real swords are expensive and a liability) I got to move around like Azula! That was cool! And I've memorized my speech! Huzzah!
HIDE!!!
In other news, I saw HPB today in a very bad theater. (Sound quality was horrendous, the seats squeaked, and I sat all the way in the back because I came just as the previews were showing and couldn't see at all and just found the nearest empty place. Luckily I didn't sit on anybody.)
So ... the movie was ... actually quite good. It felt very rushed, but they got most of the important things and still managed to make me scream (I knew the Inferi were coming, but I screamed when one grabbed Harry all the same ... they kinda looked like Gollum, but whatever, STILL MAKE ME SCREAM!) and cry (Dumbledore ... *sniffles*) and now I feel emotionally drained and upset. It's bad enough that Dumbledore dies in the books, quite another to SEE IT ONSCREEN, and quite another for Richard Harris, who played him in the first two movies, to die in real life himself. R.I.P., Mr. Harris. You are missed.
The overall dark mood of the movie - THEY BURNED DOWN THE WEASLEY'S HOUSE!!! That wasn't in the book! *staves off another bout of tears* - contrasted quite harshly with the flippant crushes and bouts of love running around. Say what you will about the movie, but it really managed to capture the tone of the 6th book. And, in spirit, we get blinding flashes of light and fire and squint-inducing shadowy scenes. These must have been a bitch to film, but let me tell ya, it paid off.
I liked how instead of having Fudge meet with the Muggle Prime Minister, they SHOWED the bridge breaking and people getting carried off from Diagon Alley. I also liked how there was barely any talking for the first five or so minutes. I really felt that we were going into an older, darker world, in a way that I didn't even get from watching OotP, which is saying something.
I also liked how, despite getting very few and very short scenes, Draco's character achieved all of the sympathy and horror and tension that his behavior in the books did. That one bit where he rushes into the bathroom, leans over the sink, just barely begins to cry ... and then Harry cuts in and they start fighting - really struck me. I was half ready to start wibbling over Draco like the anti-hero fangirl that I am, and then the mood was changed and the scene yanked out from under my feet. Very good.
Things I didn't like ... hrrrrm ... well, I'm mad that Remus only got one scene. Really, really mad. And suddenly he and Tonks are together? What the hell? I didn't like the Remus/Tonks relationship, but I did like how it developed! I expected Tonks to hint a bit at Remus over Christmas, Harry to feel awkward at seeing that, and then at the end of the movie they'd be a couple. While I did like the cornfield scene, I felt cheated. We got some build-up with Fenrir hanging around, Remus sensing him, Tonks mentioning that it's almost the full moon ... and then nothing. (Well, the Death Eaters BURN DOWN THE WEASLEY'S HOUSE HOW DARE THEY YOU BASTARDS ON CHRISTMAS YOU'RE GOIN'
DOOOOOWN!!!) I wanted Remus and Fenrir to have a knock-down drag-out werewolf fight while Bellatrix taunted Harry and Ginny in the cornfield. Is that so much to ask? Because they cut out the first Battle at Hogwarts and had no Fleur in the movie, they could have made the movie slightly more true to the book and had Bill intervene in Remus and Fenrir's fight and get sliced up by Fenrir. *sighs* But no.
That's ok, though, and while the movie may have fared better had it been split into two (I know GoF would have ...) I feel that as a single movie it did pretty well. I didn't feel any of the anger or resentment or annoyance that I felt after watching PoA or GoF, and it stayed true to the book despite having cut out a good deal of material and changed a lot of things. I haven't felt like that about one of the movies since Chamber of Secrets.
P.S. The fight workshop today was a lot of fun! It was great to see the fight instructor again (he's seen Children of Earth already, lucky bastard!) and we learned rapier-style stage combat, which is different from broadsword-style stage combat, the later of which I prefer because the footwork is easier and makes more sense. Still, had a lot of fun and as we weren't using real swords, just air-swords (as a lot of the group were beginners, and real swords are expensive and a liability) I got to move around like Azula! That was cool! And I've memorized my speech! Huzzah!