Harry Potter: Half-Blood Prince - Some Thoughts
Yesterday, I finally watched the new Harry Potter movie.
I feel rather frustrated by this movie. Halfblood Prince is my favorite HP book - no doubt due to the fact that one plot line focuses on Draco Malfoy and another on Snape, my two favorite characters in the HP universe.
The movie does a great job when it comes to the visuals, e.g. the look of the Burrow, the Quidditch rehearsal, the pensieve scenes, Aragog's funeral. (Although I think they went over the top with the "bleached look".) Some scenes are caught perfectly, but overall they just lose one of the major plot lines of the book...
To me it feels as if the screenwriter/director didn't get a core theme of the book, i.e. Harry has to learn to look behind the surface.
Well, movie 5 also suffered from a similar problem. Here I thought a large point of the book was that Harry had to learn that father figures can make mistakes (e.g. his own father, Sirius and Remus reg. his treatment of Snape) and that he himself can make mistakes and still go on living (Sirius' death). But both of these themes were mostly lost, Sirius comes across as perfectly heroic and Harry never seems to doubt any of his father figures.
What I loved:
Overall, the actors were great.
Daniel Radcliffe has become more mature as an actor; especially his comic moments (Felix Felicis) were spot on.
Rupert Grint shines in all of his scenes. The Love Potion scene in particular is perfect! His facial expressions and mood changes are extremely well-acted.
Emma Watson: Not my favorite actress, but I bought that Hermione was in love with Ron and didn't know how to handle her feelings.
Tom Felton as Draco: He did a great job with portraying Draco. So many subtle facial expressions, e.g. in the scenes where he tries to fix the cabinet. Hope and despair and anxiety and pride. The way he subtly changes over the course of the movie was very convincing. I liked that he acted even when he wasn't in the center of attention, e.g. there were one or two scenes when the camera pans over the Great Hall and we catch his face and in those scenes he looked a) very alone and b) far away in his thoughts. Felton also managed to portray Draco's bathroom breakdown perfectly which must have been a tricky scene to act. Well done!
Jim Broadbent as Slughorn: I am very impressed with how he interpreted the role. He made me Slughorn likable even though he didn't gloss over his flaws. A very humane and accessible character. He really brought Slughorn to live for me.
Luna, oh Luna! Evanna Lynch doesn't have many scenes, but she made me happy whenever she was on screen. I wish Harry's romance was with Luna and not with Ginny - if there has to be a heterosexual romance for him. :-) Because Luna and Harry have such an interesting chemistry whereas Harry and Ginny made me cringe.
Jessie Cave as Lavender Brown made me love out loud several times. The scene in the train where she paints that heart and whispers "I miss you." Brilliant!
And the girl who played Romilda really only had one moment, but in this moment she scored. Such a look of promise.
The children who played the young Tom Riddle did a great job. No blinking, no mimic. Eery.
Helena Bonham-Carter loves chewing the scenery. She loves that part and you can feel it. Bellatrix is attractive in an animalistic way and she is so crazy. Great!
Blaise Zabini: Doesn't get to say much, but looks exactly like Blaise should look.
Some scenes were brilliant:
The Felix Felicis scenes with it's really touching end.
Draco boasting to his friends on the train, how he breaks Harry's nose and Luna finding Harry
Slughorn's Potion lesson with the lovesick girls and Hermione's hair
The Pensieve scenes.
Katie Bell and the Cursed Necklace.
Draco's breakdown when seeing Katie Bell.
Plus there were some neat little moments, e.g. Draco Malfoy and his family in the newspaper or Draco insisting that he keep his father's snake cane.
What I strongly disliked:
Bonny Wright as Ginny Weasley.
It doesn't help that I'm not very fond of Ginny in the books either. Rowlings does a great job with ambiguous characters, but often fails to convince me with her favorite characters. As a result suddenly everyone seems to adore Ginny so we, the reader, will hopefully also do so. (Just reread the scene in the Hogwarts Express where Pansy says that Ginny is pretty and even Blaise thinks so. Argh.)
In order to sell me on Harry/Ginny, Ginny would need to be vibrant and alive and charming. Instead we have Bonny Wright who has one, perhaps two facial expressions. And both facial expressions are not very fetching. In fact her lack of expressions reminded me of young Tom Riddle; if I hadn't read the books I would wonder if in movie 7 we would learn that due to her encounter with Riddle's diary she was permanently tainted and some sort of horcrux as well.
The scenes that were supposed to show us the attraction between Harry and Ginny felt embarrassing. (Not Bonny Wright's fault, but her non-facial-expression doesn't help either.) We get Ginny feeding Harry and Ginny tying Harry's shoelaces... and personally this made their relationship feel like little boy and his mother to me. Maybe that's what the director intended. Then he did great. To me, however, this sort of romance does not appeal. At all.
I *hated* that there was no aftermath to Harry using Sectumsempra. The aftermath is already rather meh in the book, but at least there he gets a harsh interview with Snape, panics about the book, gets detention and misses an important Quidditch match. In the movie, Ginny helps Harry to hide the book and gives him a kiss. This scene made me dislike her so much... if my partner nearly killed someone, I don't think I'd just hide the evidence with him and give him a kiss. I wouldn't leave him, but I would ask him to face the consequences - and I would ask him to apologize. The whole scene is morally really, really questionable, especially as we don't see much remorse from Harry.
The scenes between Dumbledore and Harry: I didn't dislike all of them (the one in Slughorn's house is great), but overall I didn't feel their connection and therefore Dumbledore's death didn't make me cry - opposed to Harry's reaction to Cedric's death which was intense.
Narcissa Malfoy: The actress did the best she could with the few words she was given. But I just didn't like her look. What's with the two-coloured hair? What's it supposed to mean? That's she a natural brunette, but dyes her hair blonde on top to forge a connection to Lucius and her son? - Oh well, in my mind's eye Narcissa will always look like Uma Thurman - thanks to the RPG Nocturne Alley - and that's that.
Changes I don't get:
I know why they inserted the burning of the Burrow, i.e. to get an action sequence in the middle of the movie and in order to show that noone is safe. However, I still thought this scene should have been in movie number 7 after the wedding of Bill and Fleur.
In movie 6, Harry loses Hogwarts as his home and in movie 7, he should lose the Burrow. Dramaturgically, I would have found this progression of events more interesting and devastating.
What the heck happened to the Half-Blood Prince plot? Snape revelation of "I am the Half-Blood Prince." doesn't interest us, because the trio discusses the identity of the Half-Blood Prince only once. How a screenwriter just get rid of the plot line that gives the book its title? What was he thinking? Too bad. Not neglecting this plot would have made the fight between Harry and Snape intense and real and heart-breaking. This way it was bland.
I'd also have liked some more scenes with Harry obsessing about Draco's plans. In the book, he there's a moment of obsession in basically every chapter. I also found Harry tracking Draco was an interesting contrast to Hermione who wanted to find out more about the Half-Blood Prince.
Why, oh why, isn't Harry petrified during Dumbledore's death scene? Harry being free to move - and not acting - is totally out of character under the particular circumstances. If he had not intervened before, he would have yelled and jumped out as soon as Snape curses Dumbledore.
Removing the battle of Hogwarts: What a stupid change. The book offers the perfect climax and scriptwriter and director ruin it. In the book, I especially liked it when Draco realises that Fenrir has come along... and that he helped him get into the school. I'd have love to see that moment.
Some minor changes I wish they hadn't made: E.g. I love Dumbledore's "I'm not afraid. I am with you." remark to Harry. I wish they would have left it in.
Also Draco isn't only afraid that Voldemort will kill him, he also has been told that Voldemort will kill his parents. ("He'll kill me. He'll kill my family.") The movie leaves in his self-interest and removes the fear for his parents.
Since the first movie, I don't get why they made some of adult characters so much older, e.g. Snape, Remus, Lily, James. Snape and Remus should be in their late thirties, early fourties. But in the movies, they look much older. And Lily died when she was only twenty-one, didn't she? Which makes her death even more tragic. In the movie, she looks at least 10 years older.
I feel rather frustrated by this movie. Halfblood Prince is my favorite HP book - no doubt due to the fact that one plot line focuses on Draco Malfoy and another on Snape, my two favorite characters in the HP universe.
The movie does a great job when it comes to the visuals, e.g. the look of the Burrow, the Quidditch rehearsal, the pensieve scenes, Aragog's funeral. (Although I think they went over the top with the "bleached look".) Some scenes are caught perfectly, but overall they just lose one of the major plot lines of the book...
To me it feels as if the screenwriter/director didn't get a core theme of the book, i.e. Harry has to learn to look behind the surface.
Well, movie 5 also suffered from a similar problem. Here I thought a large point of the book was that Harry had to learn that father figures can make mistakes (e.g. his own father, Sirius and Remus reg. his treatment of Snape) and that he himself can make mistakes and still go on living (Sirius' death). But both of these themes were mostly lost, Sirius comes across as perfectly heroic and Harry never seems to doubt any of his father figures.
What I loved:
Overall, the actors were great.
Daniel Radcliffe has become more mature as an actor; especially his comic moments (Felix Felicis) were spot on.
Rupert Grint shines in all of his scenes. The Love Potion scene in particular is perfect! His facial expressions and mood changes are extremely well-acted.
Emma Watson: Not my favorite actress, but I bought that Hermione was in love with Ron and didn't know how to handle her feelings.
Tom Felton as Draco: He did a great job with portraying Draco. So many subtle facial expressions, e.g. in the scenes where he tries to fix the cabinet. Hope and despair and anxiety and pride. The way he subtly changes over the course of the movie was very convincing. I liked that he acted even when he wasn't in the center of attention, e.g. there were one or two scenes when the camera pans over the Great Hall and we catch his face and in those scenes he looked a) very alone and b) far away in his thoughts. Felton also managed to portray Draco's bathroom breakdown perfectly which must have been a tricky scene to act. Well done!
Jim Broadbent as Slughorn: I am very impressed with how he interpreted the role. He made me Slughorn likable even though he didn't gloss over his flaws. A very humane and accessible character. He really brought Slughorn to live for me.
Luna, oh Luna! Evanna Lynch doesn't have many scenes, but she made me happy whenever she was on screen. I wish Harry's romance was with Luna and not with Ginny - if there has to be a heterosexual romance for him. :-) Because Luna and Harry have such an interesting chemistry whereas Harry and Ginny made me cringe.
Jessie Cave as Lavender Brown made me love out loud several times. The scene in the train where she paints that heart and whispers "I miss you." Brilliant!
And the girl who played Romilda really only had one moment, but in this moment she scored. Such a look of promise.
The children who played the young Tom Riddle did a great job. No blinking, no mimic. Eery.
Helena Bonham-Carter loves chewing the scenery. She loves that part and you can feel it. Bellatrix is attractive in an animalistic way and she is so crazy. Great!
Blaise Zabini: Doesn't get to say much, but looks exactly like Blaise should look.
Some scenes were brilliant:
The Felix Felicis scenes with it's really touching end.
Draco boasting to his friends on the train, how he breaks Harry's nose and Luna finding Harry
Slughorn's Potion lesson with the lovesick girls and Hermione's hair
The Pensieve scenes.
Katie Bell and the Cursed Necklace.
Draco's breakdown when seeing Katie Bell.
Plus there were some neat little moments, e.g. Draco Malfoy and his family in the newspaper or Draco insisting that he keep his father's snake cane.
What I strongly disliked:
Bonny Wright as Ginny Weasley.
It doesn't help that I'm not very fond of Ginny in the books either. Rowlings does a great job with ambiguous characters, but often fails to convince me with her favorite characters. As a result suddenly everyone seems to adore Ginny so we, the reader, will hopefully also do so. (Just reread the scene in the Hogwarts Express where Pansy says that Ginny is pretty and even Blaise thinks so. Argh.)
In order to sell me on Harry/Ginny, Ginny would need to be vibrant and alive and charming. Instead we have Bonny Wright who has one, perhaps two facial expressions. And both facial expressions are not very fetching. In fact her lack of expressions reminded me of young Tom Riddle; if I hadn't read the books I would wonder if in movie 7 we would learn that due to her encounter with Riddle's diary she was permanently tainted and some sort of horcrux as well.
The scenes that were supposed to show us the attraction between Harry and Ginny felt embarrassing. (Not Bonny Wright's fault, but her non-facial-expression doesn't help either.) We get Ginny feeding Harry and Ginny tying Harry's shoelaces... and personally this made their relationship feel like little boy and his mother to me. Maybe that's what the director intended. Then he did great. To me, however, this sort of romance does not appeal. At all.
I *hated* that there was no aftermath to Harry using Sectumsempra. The aftermath is already rather meh in the book, but at least there he gets a harsh interview with Snape, panics about the book, gets detention and misses an important Quidditch match. In the movie, Ginny helps Harry to hide the book and gives him a kiss. This scene made me dislike her so much... if my partner nearly killed someone, I don't think I'd just hide the evidence with him and give him a kiss. I wouldn't leave him, but I would ask him to face the consequences - and I would ask him to apologize. The whole scene is morally really, really questionable, especially as we don't see much remorse from Harry.
The scenes between Dumbledore and Harry: I didn't dislike all of them (the one in Slughorn's house is great), but overall I didn't feel their connection and therefore Dumbledore's death didn't make me cry - opposed to Harry's reaction to Cedric's death which was intense.
Narcissa Malfoy: The actress did the best she could with the few words she was given. But I just didn't like her look. What's with the two-coloured hair? What's it supposed to mean? That's she a natural brunette, but dyes her hair blonde on top to forge a connection to Lucius and her son? - Oh well, in my mind's eye Narcissa will always look like Uma Thurman - thanks to the RPG Nocturne Alley - and that's that.
Changes I don't get:
I know why they inserted the burning of the Burrow, i.e. to get an action sequence in the middle of the movie and in order to show that noone is safe. However, I still thought this scene should have been in movie number 7 after the wedding of Bill and Fleur.
In movie 6, Harry loses Hogwarts as his home and in movie 7, he should lose the Burrow. Dramaturgically, I would have found this progression of events more interesting and devastating.
What the heck happened to the Half-Blood Prince plot? Snape revelation of "I am the Half-Blood Prince." doesn't interest us, because the trio discusses the identity of the Half-Blood Prince only once. How a screenwriter just get rid of the plot line that gives the book its title? What was he thinking? Too bad. Not neglecting this plot would have made the fight between Harry and Snape intense and real and heart-breaking. This way it was bland.
I'd also have liked some more scenes with Harry obsessing about Draco's plans. In the book, he there's a moment of obsession in basically every chapter. I also found Harry tracking Draco was an interesting contrast to Hermione who wanted to find out more about the Half-Blood Prince.
Why, oh why, isn't Harry petrified during Dumbledore's death scene? Harry being free to move - and not acting - is totally out of character under the particular circumstances. If he had not intervened before, he would have yelled and jumped out as soon as Snape curses Dumbledore.
Removing the battle of Hogwarts: What a stupid change. The book offers the perfect climax and scriptwriter and director ruin it. In the book, I especially liked it when Draco realises that Fenrir has come along... and that he helped him get into the school. I'd have love to see that moment.
Some minor changes I wish they hadn't made: E.g. I love Dumbledore's "I'm not afraid. I am with you." remark to Harry. I wish they would have left it in.
Also Draco isn't only afraid that Voldemort will kill him, he also has been told that Voldemort will kill his parents. ("He'll kill me. He'll kill my family.") The movie leaves in his self-interest and removes the fear for his parents.
Since the first movie, I don't get why they made some of adult characters so much older, e.g. Snape, Remus, Lily, James. Snape and Remus should be in their late thirties, early fourties. But in the movies, they look much older. And Lily died when she was only twenty-one, didn't she? Which makes her death even more tragic. In the movie, she looks at least 10 years older.