Call me crazy. Call me a traitor. You can even call me a filthy Mudblood. But first, just shut up and listen. If you fail to do so, I will be forced to Stupify you so that you will.
As a true fan of the Harry Potter series, I attended the midnight release of the latest installment in the HP movie franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Costumed in a full length black dress, flaunting teased hair, and carrying a curved, crude wand, I was the semi-spitting image of Bellatrix Lestrange. Upon arriving at the theatre, I was greeted by other fans who were dedicated enough to also dress up, including: several Harrys, a Hermione, a few Dumbledores, a couple Hagrids, and one, rather creative, golden snitch. To my dismay, there were also two other Bellatrixes that shared my auditorium. They were promptly Crucio'd from behind.
*Please note that from this point on, there are spoilers. So if you have not seen the movie yet, stop reading and promptly apparate to your local movie theatre.*
And now, I will recapitulate my sentiments on the movie. Because many of my fellow HP fans have proceeded to tear this movie apart, I would like to start by counterattacking each of the main criticisms that have been repeatedly brought up by the purists of the wizarding world. Then, I will express my own opinions on the movie's strengths and weaknesses.
Criticism #1 (taken from a Rotten Tomatoes review): "Too much teen romance and not enough wizardry; this installment is the dullest 'Harry' yet"
Why You Are Wrong #1: Yes, the Half-Blood Prince movie was chock full of teen romance and even teen angst, but HELLO! Did you even read the 6th book? I remember HBP as the first book where love and teen romance was a central subject! I do not think that the movie exaggerated this at all! The relationship subplots in the book were perhaps, dare I say it, even stronger in the book than in the movie! For example, in the book, we also got the romantic subplot from lovesick Tonks and Lupin, who insisted he was unworthy of her love. The closest we came to this subplot in the movie was when Tonks called Lupin "sweetheart." And as for the "dullest 'Harry' yet" comment, I ask you, what made you think this movie was dull? Was it because Lord Voldemort never appeared? Or perhaps because the movie had little action? I hate repeating myself, but HELLO! Did you even read the 6th book? In the book, only Tom Riddle appeared, not Lord Voldemort himself. Additionally, the 6th book is known for its lack of action until the final pages of the novel. Lack of action does not mean dull. This movie, and book for that matter, focused strongly on the emotions of a changing world in which evil is starting to take the upper hand. You do not need action to show this metamorphosis. And it is far from dull.
Criticism #2 (taken from a Movies Online review): "For some reason a scene out of the blue in placed in the movie which has Bellatrix accompanied by Fenrir Greyback burn down the Weasley's house, The Burrow."
Why You Are Wrong #2: Yes, this scene was a director's ad-in that was not featured in the novel. Now, I may be going out on a limb here but...IT WAS A GOOD SCENE. Cinematographically, this scene was darkly beautiful! And I am always for sneaking Bellatrix Lestrange into a few extra scenes. If the scene had in some way significantly changed the plot of the Half-Blood Prince story, then I would probably be mad. But it didn't...at all. The scene simply intensified the growing turmoil faced by the wizarding world. It was intense and aesthetically pleasing, definitely NOT out of the blue.
Criticism #3 (taken from a Movies Online review): "The movie made it very obvious that Malfoy's mission for the year was to kill Dumbledore..."
Why You Are Wrong #3: Hmmm...maybe that would be because YOU READ THE BOOK AND ALREADY KNEW IT WAS HIS MISSION. Yes, to those of us who had already read the book, it was very obvious that Malfoy was trying to kill Dumbledore and even that Snape was working as a double agent. But since we already knew this information going in, it would be pretty impossible to try to conceal it from us without using anything short of the Memory Charm. There were two persons in my group at the movies who have not read any of the books (heathens!) and both confirmed that they had no idea what Draco was up to throughout the movie and were thoroughly shocked by the movie's ending.
Criticisms #4-∞ (taken from all over the internet): I don't know where this whole "Death Eaters can fly around as black smoke" bit came from; Hermione doesn't try to trick Borgin into telling her what Malfoy is reserving; Luna discovers Harry beneath his invisibility cloak on the Hogwarts Express, rather than Tonks; Hagrid never mentions Aragog is sick and doesn't invite Harry to the funeral; Harry doesn't talk about his mum and dad's death to Slughorn to the extent that he does in the book; Narcissa's hair is a mix of blonde and dark brown stripes, rather than being completely flaxen blonde...BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Why You Are all INSANE #4-∞: Excuse me, would you like some cheese with that WHINE? Seriously...I mean Siriusly, it is OK to point these things out to prove that you are the ultimate keeper of all Harry Potter knowledge. It is even OK to point these things out in a scholarly compare and contrast between the book and movie. But to use these points in order to condemn a good movie is not only ridiculous, but also rather annoying. You can not make a case against this movie by compiling a list of ways it is different from the book...it is just impractical. Any adaptation is bound to vary from its original. Even if JK Rowling wrote the screenplay herself, it would vary from her novel's manuscript. Picking at these small deviations is a waste of your time. And Dumbledore would likely suggest you pursue a new hobby.
Now enough with these trivial counterattacks. Here are some of my direct opinions of the movie:
This movie, by far, exhibited the highest level of acting across the board when compared to the other Harry Potter film adaptations. Yes, the early movies were wonderful, but let's be honest...those kids were young...and cheesy. Now they have grown up and their acting has grown as well. Even the most nitpicky of critics have agreed that Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint have delivered their most endearing performances yet. For the first time, we got a range of emotions that went beyond just fear and excitement. This brings me back to the necessity of the love triangles formed in this movie. Without them, we would not have been able to see these added layers of emotion to our beloved characters. And of course, the acting greats that make up the Harry Potter cast, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, David Thewlis, Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, etcetera, also delivered brilliant performances. The new additions to the cast, Helen McCrory, Dave Legeno, and Jim Broadbent, were also well suited for their roles. And Frank Dillane, the young actor who portrayed a 16-year-old Tom Riddle, delivered a chilling and haunting performance. Tom Felton also delivered his darkest performance yet. As Draco Malfoy, he was eerie enough to force me to mutter the word "creeper" under my breath almost every time he appeared.
Now, what many movie reviews tend to overlook is the value of the cinematography featured in Half-Blood Prince. The cinematographer, Bruno Delbonnel, created a beautiful, magical world in HBP. Even the darker scenes such as the Burrow burning down and the parts in the cave were stunning spectacles. Even Harry Potter is not immune to the beauty of Hogwarts, as he comments on its radiant appearance at the close of the film. Oh and to address one of the complaints in the long list of Criticisms four through infinity, the whole Death Eaters flying around in smoke thing is a cinematography ad-in. In short, it may have not been in the books, but it looks freaking sweet.
OK, now I am going to list the complaints that I have. I am not a hypocrite! I do have a few things that I would like to have seen in the movie that were not there. These are the few agreements I have with the purists out there.
I would have liked to see more of Tom Riddle's past. There were many Pensieve memories that were excluded from the movie. We did not see the Gaunts or see anything about how Dumbledore came to posses the Horcrux ring. The orphanage scene also seemed short and not satisfying.
I would have liked to see Dumbledore's funeral. We all would have. It would have made for a more satisfying ending than we were left with. The funeral would have been an excellent piece of cinematography to work with as well...with the centaurs, the white tomb, etcetera. Oh and rewind for a second, I did find it kind of strange that Harry was just listening to the whole Snape killing Dumbledore debacle from under the floorboards. As we know, in the book he was under his invisibility cloak and Dumbledore had cast the Full Body-Bind Curse upon him. I find it highly unbelievable that Harry would just stand under the floorboards and not do anything when it was quite obvious that something bad was about to happen to Dumbledore. We did get to see Faukes flying overhead and mourning, but a proper funeral would have been better. The end of the movie did not leave us with much. Harry really had no clue where to start with this Horcrux business and we didn't have the emotional split between Harry and Ginny where Harry insists that he has to pursue his mission and cannot be with her until that mission is complete. Again, this is not enough of a discrepancy for me to condemn the entire movie, but it just bothered me slightly.
The one major element that was missing from this movie was the The Battle of the Astronomy Tower/Battle of the Lightning Struck Tower, a mini-battle between members of the order and the Death Eaters in Hogwarts at the end of the Half-Blood Prince novel. In the movie, it was kind of anti-climatic when the Death Eaters came. They came, they burned some stuff, and they left. Bill Weasley was not bitten by Grayback (in fact, Bill did not appear in the film at all) and the Order and the Death Eaters did not duke it out. I was waiting for the whole movie for this moment to occur! Interestingly enough, not many people are complaining about the lack of a battle. More people are complaining about the minor details that I listed before. I have also heard people complain about how Bellatrix was in the final scenes even though she doesn't appear in the battle in the book. HELLO. I think that the fact that the battle was taken out is a little more important than the fact that Bellatrix was not supposed to be there. And as I said before, I am all for extra Bellatrix scenes. Sure, we all hate her for killing Sirius, but you have to admit...she is the coolest Death Eater.
Fortunately, the tussle between Snape and Harry at the end of the movie was quite intense. Did it make up for the lack of the battle? No. But I must admit that I felt a little shiver when Snape shouted "You dare try and use my spells against me?" I also wanted to scream at Harry that Severus was only doing what he had to do...but that probably would have attracted some unwanted attention to our row in the movie theatre.
Now, this is getting pretty long...but there are a few more things I want to say...I suppose I will just list them in quick, summarized spurts (I might also summarize a couple of the points I made above in case lazy people scrolled all the way down to this section):
Luna Lovegood's Lion Hat was RAD.
Draco Malfoy is a creeper.
Bellatrix Lestrange = my favorite death eater...ever.
Severus Snape is a fox...especially when his black cape billows behind him.
Rupert Grint is bloody hilarious.
I would have liked to see more Neville Longbottom.
The biggest upset was the lack of battling at the end.
Bruno Delbonnel is a fabulous director of photography.
The Inferi were freaking creepy!
And I jumped a foot when they first appeared in the cave...even though I expected it.
Characters like Tonks, Lupin, Bill, Fleur, etcetera needed to appear more...or just appear period.
I want to go to Hogwarts.
I can not wait for Deathly Hallows Part 1, which comes out November 19, 2010!!!
Overall? A fabulous, exciting, dramatic, emotion, beautiful movie that made some acceptable deviations from the book and some not so acceptable deviations from the book. But those few unacceptable deviations were not enough to negate all of the powerful adjectives I used above.
I am always up for a challenge. Have a criticism I did not address? Submit it to me and I will tell you why you are wrong. Or, if you are lucky, and I mean REALLY lucky...like you just downed a whole chalice of Felix Felicis lucky, I will agree with you.
Why did I write this insanely long review? No, not because I am an overachiever like Hermione Granger. I wrote it because my friend and I were sick of hearing all of the trash talk from the mediocre, overly-fastidious critics infesting the discussion boards, reviewing websites, etcetera. I wrote this as a way to tell the whiney purists to suck it and just go Avada Kedavra themselves.
If you read this whole thing, I owe you a Butterbeer.
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