WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS

 

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This is a review I wrote a few days ago and posted on Facebook. And then I thought, "Hey, why not post it on TIF?"

 

I do realise it's quite short, but this was written merely an hour after I'd seen the film, and I'm not what you'd call an experienced reviewer; this is the first movie I've reviewed.

 

 

 

The movie starts off differently than what is written in the book, though this is to be expected. A darker tone is set to the film, much like The Order of the Phoenix, but unlike that of previous movies, notably the first two, which had a much brighter tone. Subtle elements in the story are slightly changed, like when Draco Malfoy and his mother visit Borgin & Burkes. The order of events however is much the same as it is in the book.

 

 

 

Progressing quickly through the first parts of the story, and leaving out many characters and development, Harry Potter quickly finds himself back at Hogwarts before the first half-hour of the film. No doubt the writers expected most of the people seeing the movie to have already read the book. This is a likely cause for such an absence of explanation.

 

Keeping as closely to the story as possible in the such small time limit a movie has to work with is a huge task, but I believe it has been achieved as long as the audience has read the book.

 

 

 

As the story progresses, the scenes get darker and greener. Laughter is not heard often from the main characters except for the few comical reliefs scattered throughout. These instances are rare and are quickly over, a movie trait which does not tend to attract young children; the series has become progressively aimed at a much more mature and informed audience. However, I did not feel this movie to be as tense and unpredictable to an audience which had not read the book as some of the other films in the series had been, which were aimed at children, while still keeping that dark and mystical feel throughout the entire movie. In fact, it was perhaps more dark and mystical than any of the other films.

 

After the rooftop scene, the mood of the film was amazing. Far more emotional and united than I'd imagined it while reading the book. A sudden conglomeration of actors, supporting actors and somewhat insignificant characters which I'd forgotten about were all in the one scene, seemingly united by emotion and a realisation.

 

Unfortunately, no tense action scene followed. However, I believe this was necessary to leave out as development would have taken too long, and the good/bad stereotypical fight scenes would have come into existence; something which director David Yates does not seem to want, and I support him in this.

 

 

 

The relationship between Harry and Ginny would have seemed sudden to anyone who had not read the book. Although a forming relationship was hinted in the first parts of the movie, it was followed on quickly afterward, and would have seemed confusing to a person who had not read the book, as mixed emotions and intentions were implied between the characters. The growth of the relationship and the hastiness in which the other characters accepted the relationship was again far too quick and could have done with more development.

 

There is also an evidently growing relationship between Hermione and Ron. It was this relationship, I believed, which had much more development and was considered to be a more interesting relationship to follow. Although a relationship between Ron and Hermione was not hinted to be nearly as strong in the book, it was extremely evident in the movie, no doubt to allow for slower development in the next movie and not to rush it like Harry and Ginny's relationship.

 

 

 

Like the previous movie, The Half-Blood Prince had an enormous amount of visual effects, though once again not overdone. The series has progressively been using more and more visual effects, the increased budget no doubt a contributing factor, but also because, once again, the series has lately been oriented to more mature audiences who appreciate visual effects which make a film more elegant and realistic.

 

 

 

All in all, the director and writers did a reasonably good job of compressing the story. The editors were superb in both sound and visual effects, and it was an enjoyable movie overall. Two thumbs up and four stars out of five.

I know a few people who have said it wasn't very good compared to the book, but personally I thought it was a great adaptation and bodes well for the last two films.

I'm glad you feel this way. Exactly everything I thought about it.

 

 

 

You know what makes a good film and I like that.

I had the same thoughts about It too. Only part I thought they changed alot was when Dumbledore was killed in the Tower instead of on the lawn.

I was pleased with it all until the end...2:10 of awesomeness, followed by 20 mins of suck. The lack of battle between DA/Phoenix members and Deatheaters was extremely disappointing. Why did Draco even bring the Deatheaters to Hogwarts then? Also, not having them place the dark mark above astronomy tower to draw Dumbledore made no sense...how did Draco know to go up there otherwise? I pretty much felt unmoved by Dumbledore's death. I think the funeral scene would have been worth including.

I want to see it, but I'll wait till it comes to HBO. I haven't even read the book. #-o

I may see it, and I've read the books and seen the previous movies, but I forget how the story was coming along anyway. :P

When did this movie come out? :?

Doesn't sound too bad. I've never liked the movies past the first two because it simply gets too hard to fit it all in, and thus I being a Harry Potter Fangirl, get extremely pissy over things they miss out. Or even worse - things THEY PUT IN THAT WEREN'T IN THE BOOK!!@@@ *rage*

 

 

 

I doooo want to go and see it though. =/

 

When did this movie come out? :?

 

The 15th.

Doesn't sound too bad. I've never liked the movies past the first two because it simply gets too hard to fit it all in, and thus I being a Harry Potter Fangirl, get extremely pissy over things they miss out. Or even worse - things THEY PUT IN THAT WEREN'T IN THE BOOK!!@@@ *rage*

 

I feel your pain.(but not about being a Harry Potter fangirl :? ) It seems like the movies just get progressively worse. I haven't watched it yet, but I'll probably see it sometime next week.

 

about Ginny and Harry- In the book, I there was only very subtle hints about their relationship, and then suddenly in one chapter it starts going on, completely out of the blue, about how much Harry loves Ginny. And TBH, the girl who plays Ginny is ugly.

I had the same thoughts about It too. Only part I thought they changed alot was when Dumbledore was killed in the Tower instead of on the lawn.

 

 

 

I just re-read the book 2 months ago and I can assure you dumbledore was killed on the astronomy tower. In the book he is shot by the spell, flies off the tower and "out of sight."

And TBH, the girl who plays Ginny is ugly.

 

 

 

Haha too right.

 

 

 

I saw it last night, I enjoyed it. I can't say I remember enough of the book to know when they changed or left big bits out so maybe that helped. They keep getting darker, which is good. Also, I don't know if it was just me and my mate's pervy, blokey minds but did anyone else think there was quite a lot of unintentional innuendo in it?

And TBH, the girl who plays Ginny is ugly.

 

 

 

Haha too right.

 

 

 

I saw it last night, I enjoyed it. I can't say I remember enough of the book to know when they changed or left big bits out so maybe that helped. They keep getting darker, which is good. Also, I don't know if it was just me and my mate's pervy, blokey minds but did anyone else think there was quite a lot of unintentional innuendo in it?

 

 

 

No. The sexual inneundo was all intentional. Yates had an interview a while back and commented on it himself. I read it somewhere on mugglenet so if you can find it go wild. =-p

I had the same thoughts about It too. Only part I thought they changed alot was when Dumbledore was killed in the Tower instead of on the lawn.

 

 

 

I just re-read the book 2 months ago and I can assure you dumbledore was killed on the astronomy tower. In the book he is shot by the spell, flies off the tower and "out of sight."

 

 

 

At least put a dang spoiler alert. I haven't read the book yet. :-#

And TBH, the girl who plays Ginny is ugly.

Blasphemy :o

I will hopefully be seeing this movie next week. :D

My review in 2 words:

 

Let down.

 

 

 

My review in more words:

 

 

 

Ok so the movies starting... Theres some action and I have no idea what's going on. It seems completely random, though the effects are pretty cool. Then the Harry potter logo comes up and the theme music plays with a slight variation ( :o ). The next 2 hours were pretty much a blur. It just seemed as if nothing happened. The first 4 harry potter films (Haven't seen the fifth) kept my attention throughout the whole movie yet, this movie just didn't. It just felt so empty.

 

A couple of actiony bits, some funny bits, one "jumpy" bit, and thats about all I picked up.

I had the same thoughts about It too. Only part I thought they changed alot was when Dumbledore was killed in the Tower instead of on the lawn.

 

 

 

I just re-read the book 2 months ago and I can assure you dumbledore was killed on the astronomy tower. In the book he is shot by the spell, flies off the tower and "out of sight."

 

 

 

At least put a dang spoiler alert. I haven't read the book yet. :-#

 

 

 

The book has been out how long now?

 

 

 

I think it's status as a spoiler is long dead, considering the series is now finished.

I saw the movie at midnight when it came out :)

 

 

 

[hide=My Review]I loved the movie. It's my favourite Harry Potter movie so far. As expected, it certainly wasn't as good as the book, but it's very rare that a movie is. I thought the movie was very funny, which was also unexpected. I found myself laughing a lot. I have three gripes:

 

 

 

• [*:6zrpxwa3]Harry and Ginny's relationship had NO development. I don't like how Harry was attracted to that girl in the beginning, and then almost excited about Romilda liking him, and then suddenly head over heels for Ginny. I also thought that Ginny was very.. awkward.. maybe that's not the right word, but I guess she always looked like she was trying to be seductive toward Harry and she constantly failed at it (like the whole Room of Requirement scene...? That was just weird to me.
   
   
   
  [*:6zrpxwa3]The memories... I wish we would have seen more of them. We only saw two: the one of Tom Riddle at the orphanage and the one of Tom Riddle asking about horcruxes. I also don't like Dumbledore's response to horcruxes. He was like "This is worse than I could have ever imagined!" as if he never expected Tom Riddle to use horcruxes, and then suddenly he says that he's close to finding another, as if he had known for a while..? That made no sense to me.
   
   
   
  [*:6zrpxwa3]The ending. I would have liked to see an impressive fight with the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. I don't like the way Dumbledore died (with Harry just standing there.. that's so not something that Harry would do. Even if Snape did act like he was going to handle things, Harry would have wanted to help or something) and I don't like that they skipped the funeral.

 

 

 

Other than those things, I really liked the movie.[/hide]

[hide=Potential Spoilers]I went to the midnight release to this movie (the first midnight release Ive ever been to). I have to say, I was really disappointed. There's a lot of elements in the movie that are missing and are essential for the last movie to make sense (if they choose to stay true to the books). A couple of things I can think of on the top of my head is the inheritance of Number 12 Grimmauld Place and Kreacher to Harry. Also, the announcement of Bill and Fleur's wedding (there's an awesome scene in the last book that I will be pissed if they skip in the last movie, especially because it'll be in two parts (no excuse for skipping stuff out if you have potentially 5-6 hours of film to produce). This movie would've been ten times better had they focused less on adolescent love triangles and adding scenes that didn't even happen and stuck a little more to the book. When Dumbledore's murder happened and there was no fight up the tower I was choked. Also the burial of Dumbledore with the elder wand will surely mess up the story line of the last movie for those of you who have seen it.[/hide]

I had the same thoughts about It too. Only part I thought they changed alot was when Dumbledore was killed in the Tower instead of on the lawn.

 

 

 

I just re-read the book 2 months ago and I can assure you dumbledore was killed on the astronomy tower. In the book he is shot by the spell, flies off the tower and "out of sight."

 

 

 

At least put a dang spoiler alert. I haven't read the book yet. :-#

 

 

 

The book has been out how long now?

 

 

 

I think it's status as a spoiler is long dead, considering the series is now finished.

 

I think it was 06/05? *don't quote me* If you didn't find out that he died by now then... dude :|

I had the same thoughts about It too. Only part I thought they changed alot was when Dumbledore was killed in the Tower instead of on the lawn.

 

 

 

I just re-read the book 2 months ago and I can assure you dumbledore was killed on the astronomy tower. In the book he is shot by the spell, flies off the tower and "out of sight."

 

 

 

At least put a dang spoiler alert. I haven't read the book yet. :-#

 

 

 

The book has been out how long now?

 

 

 

I think it's status as a spoiler is long dead, considering the series is now finished.

 

I think it was 06/05? *don't quote me* If you didn't find out that he died by now then... dude :|

 

 

 

I've only read the first four.

Ill probably go an see this, but meh will always be dissapointed by them. They miss out so much good stuff from the books. Most of the hype around this film has been about the romance etc which i couldn't give a [cabbage] about.

 

 

 

But its worth going to see them just for the visual effects.

And TBH, the girl who plays Ginny is ugly.

Blasphemy :o

 

I wouldn't use the word ugly, but her face is so... emotionless.

 

 

 

As for the movie, I thought it was excellent, but the ending was horrible. What's funny is from the reviews I've read, a lot of people love the movie, hate the ending, or love the ending, don't like the rest of the movie.

I was pleased with it all until the end...2:10 of awesomeness, followed by 20 mins of suck. The lack of battle between DA/Phoenix members and Deatheaters was extremely disappointing. Why did Draco even bring the Deatheaters to Hogwarts then? Also, not having them place the dark mark above astronomy tower to draw Dumbledore made no sense...how did Draco know to go up there otherwise? I pretty much felt unmoved by Dumbledore's death. I think the funeral scene would have been worth including.

 

Draco brought them as insurance. He knew he wouldn't be able to kill Dumbledore - not even an unarmed one.