Harry Potter 6: Half-Blood Prince (film) (SPOILERS AHOY!)

[crono1224]

I just saw it to day.

It was a big meh.

Kinda boring really. Only good parts were of Ron being king pimp.

Think we can all be suprised by your review

 

[Skinny Santa]

Was I the only one who thought this one had a lot more similarities to the LOTR movies then the other ones? Gand- sorry Dumbledore's death and the Gollum-Inferi creatures stood out the most to me.

 

[Chazwozel]

Oh Dumbledore's death = totally Hans Gruber.

 

[Singularity.EXE]

I just saw it today and enjoyed it a hell of a lot more then both the previous movies and the book its based off of. I think the major appeal of the Harry Potter books isn't so much the books themselves, but the universe that they represent. I dislike the books more and more as I grow older and recognize that they are really pure rubbish, but the concept of the books is fun to delve into.

Its kinda like the Star Wars universe. Episodes 1-3 are complete garbage, but we still love the ideas behind them.

 

[CrimsonSoul]

I like the epic battle that played out at hogwarts like in the boo... oh wait that wasn't even in the movie they just killed Dumble and left that diappointed me, I wanted to see them tear Hogwarts up like a losing lottery ticket

 

Eh, I can understand why they didn't want to do the big battle at Hogwarts. The director himself said that it would be redundant, since there's a huge attack on the school again in the final book. I can't say I can argue with that logic.

 

[CrimsonSoul]

As long as I get to see it torn up like a prostitutes pussy I don't care!

 

[Chazwozel]

Eh, I can understand why they didn't want to do the big battle at Hogwarts. The director himself said that it would be redundant, since there's a huge attack on the school again in the final book. I can't say I can argue with that logic.

I can't.

There was the battle of Helms Deep in LotR TT and was topped by the Pelnor Fields one in the final movie.

The whole ending sucked big time. We didn't even get a Dumbledore funeral.

 

There's talk that the funeral will kick off the next movie.

 

[CynicismKills]

There's talk that the funeral will kick off the next movie.

This is what I figure. Kinda like how they start Two Towers with Boromir's send-off, which actually happened at the end of Fellowship.

Actually it might be the other way around, I don't have the books with me to check. But still.

 

I think it might be the other way around, too, but it's been ages since I read the books. Another example would be using the giant spider in Return of the King, rather than Two Towers. But Jackson defended that by stating that, in the timeline sequence in some of Tolkein's notes, that part actually takes place during the final siege on the doors of Mordor.

 

[CynicismKills]

I think it might be the other way around, too, but it's been ages since I read the books. Another example would be using the giant spider in Return of the King, rather than Two Towers. But Jackson defended that by stating that, in the timeline sequence in some of Tolkein's notes, that part actually takes place during the final siege on the doors of Mordor.

Well my point was that it's not always a bad thing to break it up a bit differently. But yeah, I see what you're saying. I mean, the boat send-off for Boromir is a great emotional moment, and I'm sure the Dumbledore funeral will be too, making it a very strong jumping-off point for the next movie.

 

[@Li3n]

Pfft... LotR is just one book, so your arguments lack credibility....

 

[Singularity.EXE]

Am I the only one who thought this was better then the book? They took liberties with some plot points, and with a lot of the social interactions between the characters, but I think its for the better.

I swear to science that when I was reading the 6th book I was reading a fan-fiction.

 

[AshburnerX]

Here's my nitpicks...

1.) They didn't show Ron as being particularly BAD at being Keeper... so it didn't really show a need for Harry to [spoiler:b6hor2vs]fake him out with the potion.[/spoiler:b6hor2vs] Also, no "Weasley is our King".

2.) The whole scene at the Weasley Cottage [spoiler:b6hor2vs]where it burns down.[/spoiler:b6hor2vs] I don't remember it happening in the book... I think they are just cutting corners so they don't need to show [spoiler:b6hor2vs]Bill and Fleur getting married.[/spoiler:b6hor2vs] I suppose it was supposed to make up for the big fight scene at the end of the book when [spoiler:b6hor2vs]the Order and the Death Eaters duke it out in Hogwarts[/spoiler:b6hor2vs] that got cut.

3.) Dumbledore teleporting on school grounds. I'm calling bullshit on this one... even in the book he had to move off school grounds to do it. I can understand the need to cut down on the effects budget, but after having it hammered into our heads for 5 movies that people can't do that at Hogwarts, it seems cheap to go "Except Dumbledore. He's just too awesome to contain."

4.) THEY CUT OUT [spoiler:b6hor2vs]DUMBLEDORE'S FUNERAL![/spoiler:b6hor2vs] WTF!?

That being said, I thought the rest of it was pretty good.

 

[KCWM]

I saw it. Loved it except for the ending. But, I'll see it again.

And, for the record, the first two books are extremely childish and written in a pretty dumbed down way. But, compare the size of the 2nd book to the third, and then the fourth. The story/universe got much deeper, much darker, and moved beyond being a kids book. Anyone that reads a handful of chapters from the beginning of the series that was, in the beginning, aimed at kids and dismisses the rest of the books because of it is pretty fucking ignorant. You don't have to like it...I couldn't care less if you did...but give it a little more credit. Also, Harry Potter, for better or worse, HAS impacted literature...in a HUGE way. Call it dumbing it down or whatever, but it got a lot of kids interested in reading. That's one hell of an achievement.

 

[Espy]

The further I get from it the more I liked it. In fact, even though I was left a little confused by how they ended it I think the death scene and the rather quick move on was perfect for the flow of the films, especially since we will probably get the funeral in the next one.
I do however think the part at the very end where the 3 of them stood around and talked felt rushed and tacked on.

 

[Steven Soderburgin]

I enjoyed it. Some very nice camera work, and Yates seems to have learned a bit from some of his mistakes in the last one. Michael Gambon is fantastic, and I really liked Jim Broadbent, but then I usually do. However, the big surprise of the movie for me was Tom Felton. I'm surprised no one has made much of a mention of him because he really impressed me. In the movies, Malfoy has never been more than an incidental character who must make an appearance but is largely unimportant. Because of this, Felton has never really been able to show us what he's got, and so I was a bit worried how he'd do with the meatier part in this film, which I think is arguably the most complicated role in the movie. I think he did a very nice job.

The pacing with these films has always been a problem. There is just so much to pack in that even when they cut out certain elements, there's just not enough time to establish time and place very well. The writers and directors have had to be very economical with each scene, getting the job done in as little time as possible. This film is no exception. They waste no time and throw us right into each scene, though I question how necessary some of the scenes in the movie are. As a result, it's hard to follow how much time has passed since the last scene and many of the scenes blur together. When Lavender (or whoever) says that she and Ron have been together for three months, it certainly didn't feel that way. It felt like everything was happening in the space of a couple weeks.

In addition to that, I never really got a sense of what was happening outside of Hogwarts. I know in the book, there was a fairly strong sense of paranoia that I simply didn't feel here. The best of the previous movies also did a better job of conveying the mood and larger world of the school itself outside of the central characters, with the other students having their own lives. I didn't quite get that sense with this one either, but this can be easily forgiven since, at this point, we've already spent five movies getting to know Hogwarts.

Overall, though, the film does an admirable job of showing Harry's journey as he prepares for what he must do. It's a very good entry into the series. The performances were as good as ever, and I'm glad that Yates is returning yet again for the final two movies.

 

[Frank]

In fewer words than Kissinger, I enjoyed it.

What I did not enjoy was the child two rows back having to shout the names of each character as they appeared and be seemingly praised for it by his equally loud father. Fuck, right the fuck, off. Theatre etiquette needs to be fucking taught in schools or something. Also, it still baffles me that people are allowed to bring babies into a theatre. Truly baffling. There isn't a baby alive that's going to sit through a loud, bright movie without some sort of screaming fit and luckily, the baby in our crowd, decided that the best time for screaming was any quiet moment in the movie. It's soul crushingly maddening.

 

[Cajungal]

We had a girl talking on her phone when Dumbledore was killed. Jake threw M+M's at her until she stopped... well, not at her, just AROUND her to get her attention.

 

[Krisken]

We had a girl talking on her phone when Dumbledore was killed. Jake threw M+M's at her until she stopped... well, not at her, just AROUND her to get her attention.

I wish to say this without any sarcasm or misundersanding...

That man is a keeper

 

[Cajungal]

That's what I thought. His best friend came with us, and when he saw what Jake was doing, he held his hand up as if to say, "don't do it." I reached over, lowered the hand, and nodded at my boyfriend. When we left the theater, the girl was still outside talking with her friends. I thought she might come over and confront him, because she and her friends gave us looks on the way out. But nothing came of it.

And the best part... as we're leaving he says:

"This just gives me further proof that M+Ms can solve any problem."

 

[SeraRelm]

The only real gripe I had was when Snape said [spoiler:26wxdf34]I'm the Half Blood Prince[/spoiler:26wxdf34]. I mean, really? There was any solid focus on that through the whole movie? It should have been called Harry Potter and the Vanishing Cabinets.

Also, not a large gripe, but curiosity, why didn't Harry get in trouble when he [spoiler:26wxdf34]blasted the shit out of another student with dark wizardry[/spoiler:26wxdf34]?

-- Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:44 am --

(also) CG, ya breakin' mah heart! I thought we had a future! :waah:

 

[Cajungal]

I agree with you about the "half blood prince" angle. I almost forgot about that whole aspect of the movie. But I guess the "goblet of fire" from that other movie didn't play as huge a part as the title implied either. Maybe it should be called "Harry Potter and the Misleading Titles."

 

I agree with you about the "half blood prince" angle. I almost forgot about that whole aspect of the movie. But I guess the "goblet of fire" from that other movie didn't play as huge a part as the title implied either. Maybe it should be called "Harry Potter and the Misleading Titles."

All of the titles have had impact and import in the books, but these have been neutered in the movies.

 

[SeraRelm]

Maybe, but at least when it came up again you weren't all "What? Oh, that? I forgot about that thing..."

I did like the movie, it was much better than the last one, but still not as good as the third.

 

[Steven Soderburgin]

All of the titles have had impact and import in the books, but these have been neutered in the movies.

I disagree. I mean, even in the book The Half-Blood Prince thing is pretty much just a plot-device. I was never really invested in finding out who the Half-Blood Prince was and when Snape announces it at the end, it wasn't some big shocking revelation. The book isn't really about the Half-Blood Prince's book. Similarly, the fourth book isn't really about the Goblet of Fire. Contrast this with, for example, the third book, in which the "Prisoner of Azkaban" plays a major role and is much more than simply a plot device.

EDIT: What I'm saying is that these issues you are talking about are issues in the books as well.

 

All of the titles have had impact and import in the books, but these have been neutered in the movies.

I disagree. I mean, even in the book The Half-Blood Prince thing is pretty much just a plot-device. I was never really invested in finding out who the Half-Blood Prince was and when Snape announces it at the end, it wasn't some big shocking revelation. The book isn't really about the Half-Blood Prince's book. Similarly, the fourth book isn't really about the Goblet of Fire. Contrast this with, for example, the third book, in which the "Prisoner of Azkaban" plays a major role and is much more than simply a plot device.

Good point. But at least in the book they mentioned the HBP several times and even postulated that if it were evil magics it could very well have negative consequences (such as the book that took over Ginny). It's like they didn't even care what the name was.

 

[SeraRelm]

But at least the goblet was something they were all trying to attain. In the Half Blood Prince (book) there was a sense of connection growing between Harry and the Half Blood Prince just through everything that was written. That's why the revelation was surprising. In the movie version you're just surprised they brought it up again.

 

[Chazwozel]

But at least the goblet was something they were all trying to attain. In the Half Blood Prince (book) there was a sense of connection growing between Harry and the Half Blood Prince just through everything that was written. That's why the revelation was surprising. In the movie version you're just surprised they brought it up again.

I agree. The book actually does make a big point of the history of the Half Blood Prince.

 

[Calleja]

Yeah, I don't get why people say it wasn't important in the book... every time he had a spare moment Harry would spend hours pruning through that book, and Hermione was obsessed with finding out who the Prince was, and Ginny was all worried Harry was getting corrupted by a book like she had been in book 2, while Ron played the whole temptation side with the "I WISH I had gotten that book! Keep it, Harry!". It was a pretty well done dynamic.

And we do see the book grabbing Harry a bit too much, specially after casting Sectumsempra and trying to still keep the book by attaching brand new covers to it so he didn't get caught with it, knowing he had just done pretty much dark magic. He was beginning to get corrupted by the thing.

Hell, I find the whole Prince thing the first step in the whole "Snape's redemption" thing in Harry's eyes. He also fell victim to the temptations of having a bit of an unfair, sometimes even dark, edge.

 

[Chazwozel]

*, I find the whole Prince thing the first step in the whole "Snape's redemption" thing in Harry's eyes. He also fell victim to the temptations of having a bit of an unfair, sometimes even dark, edge.

Not only that but it vilifies Snape even more after he kills Dumbledore and announces that he was the Half-Blood Prince. The reader supposed to feel like Snape has been twisted by the dark arts since his early childhood. In fact, it' probably his love for Lilly Potter that kept Snape from turning into another Voldemort (as we find out in the 7th book).

 

[Bubble181]

Well, yes...The trio Voldemort-Snape-Potter is pretty much the hole point of the sixth book. Hermione says more than once that the HBP might be Voldemort, and it's eeevil and all that. Harry, on the other hand, fantasizes about who it could be, his father, or whoever, and really forms a bond with the HBP - which is really important fo the Snape character story arc, imho.


Also, haven't seen the movie yet, but, Hermione's hot, but Ginny? Really? Eww. :-P

 

[Chazwozel]

Well, yes...The trio Voldemort-Snape-Potter is pretty much the hole point of the sixth book. Hermione says more than once that the HBP might be Voldemort, and it's eeevil and all that. Harry, on the other hand, fantasizes about who it could be, his father, or whoever, and really forms a bond with the HBP - which is really important fo the Snape character story arc, imho.


Also, haven't seen the movie yet, but, Hermione's hot, but Ginny? Really? Eww. :-P

British girls:

 

[Calleja]

British girls:

Oh, really?

And that's just off the top of my head.