Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I went to see the film with our school's Harry Potter Fan Club (Potterwatchers) on Friday 17th, and then again just the other day :D Now I have an odd relationship with the films that I think a lot of fans share - I think, generally, they are all pretty awesome as a film series in it's own right. However, compared to the books...well...let's just say that there's often a lot to be desired, though not always. Hmm. So, taking into account that I am an obsessive fact-fan, and worship the books to quite a scary extent, I've tried my best to look at HBP in as balanced way as possible. So, below the cut: review time! (Presuming I can make the cut work, that is...)
To start on a positive note, there were a lot of things I liked about the film. I liked the way Ron's character got a lot more development and screen time, and all though there was plenty of fun stuff his part wasn't all comic relief. Mind you, they still put Harry and Hermione together and Ron a bit separate in the final scene, which irritated me a bit - they always seem to do that, and it's like "Okay, now we're being serious, so Ron should just stay back a bit and twiddle his thumbs while the mature teenagers (Harry and Hermione) talk". But this film was definitely an improvement. Go Ron!
Whatever anyone says, I think all three of the trio have improved. Emma handled the emotional side really nicely, and also the balance between breaking rules for a friend's sake (jinxing McClaggan) and disapproving of seeming misdemeanors (Harry giving Ron Felix Felicis). Dan was a bit lighter in this film, with a bit more character and a bit less angst. Rupert was, as usual, marvelous. [I always get irritated when people accuse those three of not being very good actors. Having seen Dan in Equus, and Emma in a couple of other things, I think they were just brilliantly cast. They are so similar to the characters they play that no, there isn't a huge difference between how they behave in an interview and the performance they give on the screen. But just because that's the way things are, doesn't necessarily mean they can't act. Rant over.]
The obsessive fan in me was also pretty pleased with the adaption, particularly the scene with drunken!Slughorn and the Ron/Lavender/Hermione stuff in the Hospital Wing - if not word for word, they were very true to the characters and story. Lavender! Lavender, Cormac and Romilda were all amazing. There also seemed to be a couple of nods to readers of the books, which I liked: Dumbledore's lines (similar too, if not the same as the ones in the book) about Harry's blood being precious, and the moment in Dumbledore's office when Dumbles says something like "...all magic leaves traces" and just before "traces" Harry touches the ring Horcrux and gets what we who have had too much sugar call a "Voldie-flash". The ring can't have created it, because it's dead. But Harry's little Horcrux has been briefly activated, and it's really interesting how Dumbledore just looks at him...ahhh, fan-bliss. :D
Here we come to the however side of things - the stuff I wasn't so keen on. I'll try not to be too negative :)
Firstly, and probably the most petty point: There were two too many "I expect you're wondering why I summoned you/brought you here" lines from Dumbledore. It was wince-worthy, just because it was such a cliche. There were a few little things, little changes that didn't fit: Tonks and Remus. If they're going to have a relationship in the films, at least give it a tiny bit of backstory. Just Harry spotting them holding hands and Ginny explaining that they've been dating for a while would've done it. As it was it seemed to come out of nowhere. I think it would probably been better to leave Tonks out entirely - however much I like her as a character, her only important role in the adaption was to find Harry on the Hogwart's Express (awesome scene! Just awesome), and that was taken my the wonderful Evanna Lynch as Luna. Who, by the way, was incredible. I really want her dress... :D
I also have a bit of a bone to pick with the "Attack on the Burrow" scene. I understand the reasoning behind it: You've got a two, two and a half hour film which is mostly made up of dialogue, romace and mystery, and you've still got to convey a sense of all this fear and terror that's building up in the world outside Hogwarts. It makes sense to add an extra scene. But the extra scene they picked lacks just that - sense! Disregarding the fact that Bella and Greyback aren't exactly the best of buddies and therefore are unlikely to be sent on a mission together, what was the point of the mission? Okay, to do some damage to the Weasley family, blood-traitors, friends of Harry's and closely linked with Dumbledore. But if that was their aim, why not send a whole bunch of DE's and start causing some serious havoc? Why just send Bella and Greyback, why give the Weasley's plenty of time to get out of the house before it was set on fire, and why, why, WHY did the aforementioned DE's, when presented with the perfect opportunity to AK Ginny and Harry when they were standing in the middle of a field, choose to skulk around in a sinister fashion, cast some deflectable spells and then zoom off into the sky?!?!?! It just makes no sense to me. Okay, so maybe Harry is "Voldemort's". But Ginny isn't! And clearly the death of their youngest would have a huge impact on the Weasley's...argh, I can't explain it. I wouldn't mind the extra scene, if it seemed like it had a bit more sense to it. I didn't really think it added anything to the film.
Okay, I'm running out of coherence here, so I have bullet points (easier on the writers mind):
- Among the multitude of things from the book that were well done were the "Oppugno" scene, the inferi, Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir's general appearance, the complete awesomeness of Quidditch which previously has seemed more "game" than "sport", Bonnie Wright's performance as Ginny being a perfect opposite of Cho, "She's got nice...skin" still makes me laugh, Ron sitting down between Harry and Ginny at Christmas and offering Harry a pie, the sequences with the birds in the Vanishing Cabinet, and the music.
- Tom Felton is in possession of what is quite possibly the greatest sneer known to mankind.
- Dumbledore's wand in his office at the end - pick it up now, Harry! You won't believe the trouble it'll save you in the long run :P
- Jim Broadbent spot-on as Slughorn.
- What, exactly, was Harry planning to give as his name to the girl at the railway station? After telling her that Harry Potter was "a bit of a tosser, really"...?
- The opening shots of Harry and Dumbledore being photographed at the ministry, though completely unexpected, made me happy inside :D
- The DH symbol decoration; it was in a cupboard in Dumbledore's office in film four (and possibly five, I can't remember). Now it seems to have been moved to the Room of Requirement.
- Speak of the R of R, why doesn't Harry recognise the Vanishing Cabinet when he's in there with Ginny? I know it's covered, but Harry has been spending most of the year pondering over what he saw in Borgin and Burkes...
- Seven objects on Tom Riddle's windowsill: "seven is the most powerfully magical number"...creepy...
- I can't help but think that the memories would have been more sinister without the fuzzy-round-the-edges style; I always found it the scariest that the situation (Professor of Hogwarts explaining to the child about the wizarding world) is such a normal event in the wizarding world. Nothing really happens, and yet you know that this is the starting point from which all the evil spills, as it were.
- Katie Bell getting cursed was pretty good, except Hagrid's line "get back, all of you, don't come any closer" when none of the others have actually moved...
- Alan Rickman was INCREDIBLE. Except for one little bit: his reaction to being called a coward seemed rather lacklustre. "I'm the Half-Blood Prince" - possibly the only duff line I've ever heard him utter in these films, but duff nonetheless.
- The raising of the lighted wands after Dumbledore's death was a bit reminiscent of people waving lighters at a rock concert, but still moving and sad.
- Are those the Carrow siblings I see on the astronomy tower?
- Snape "shhing" Harry, pre-death-of-dumbles gave me shivers...spinner's end was delectable...
and I know, I know, this is going on a bit, but I only have three more points:
- I LOVED the side-along-apparition scene. I HATED, as I did in 4 and 5, the smokey-death-eater-apparition trails, or whatever they are. Grrr.
- Why did the falling of Dumbles from the tower require slo-mo? Why?
- Is it too much to ask for music other than "Fireworks" for the Weasley twins?
Okay, I'm done. I found this film the most enjoyable to watch purely as a film in it's own right, though I don't think it's the best or truest adaption. :D
When my hands stop aching, I'll go and reread the book...
Hazel