(no subject)
I got out of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a little over an hour ago. Thanks to my dear friend who works at IBM, we got tickets to an advanced screening of HBP (7 p.m. instead of midnight)!
I actually enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. It felt short (maybe because we didn't get to see any trailers. Aside: the audio was playing but the video wasn't, and tweens and teenagers in the audience screamed when the Twilight: New Moon trailer played) and I laughed a lot during the movie. Most of it was due to Ron, who I felt was mostly there for humor. There was a lot of focus on the romances, which I felt detracted a bit from the larger issue at hand, but the romance scenes were the scenes where I laughed the most, so I guess it was okay. The acting seemed stronger, but it was a shame that really great characters/actors didn't get as much screen time as I would have liked. Take Alan Rickman, for example. Despite the fact that the book/film is titled The Half-Blood Prince, the Advanced Potions book and Snape's character did not play very large roles in the plot of the movie. The ending also felt incredibly anticlimactic because the producers cut the battle and the funeral scenes.
In terms of entertainment, though, I left pretty pleased with the film. The special effects are fabulous. The acting of the younger folks were much improved (I was especially impressed with Tom Felton's portrayal of Draco Malfoy). There are a lot of really great scenes throughout. And even though there are so many pluses, I did not leave feeling incredibly... fulfilled. Pleased, but not fully satisfied. Huh.
I actually enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. It felt short (maybe because we didn't get to see any trailers. Aside: the audio was playing but the video wasn't, and tweens and teenagers in the audience screamed when the Twilight: New Moon trailer played) and I laughed a lot during the movie. Most of it was due to Ron, who I felt was mostly there for humor. There was a lot of focus on the romances, which I felt detracted a bit from the larger issue at hand, but the romance scenes were the scenes where I laughed the most, so I guess it was okay. The acting seemed stronger, but it was a shame that really great characters/actors didn't get as much screen time as I would have liked. Take Alan Rickman, for example. Despite the fact that the book/film is titled The Half-Blood Prince, the Advanced Potions book and Snape's character did not play very large roles in the plot of the movie. The ending also felt incredibly anticlimactic because the producers cut the battle and the funeral scenes.
In terms of entertainment, though, I left pretty pleased with the film. The special effects are fabulous. The acting of the younger folks were much improved (I was especially impressed with Tom Felton's portrayal of Draco Malfoy). There are a lot of really great scenes throughout. And even though there are so many pluses, I did not leave feeling incredibly... fulfilled. Pleased, but not fully satisfied. Huh.