In an unusual move, we saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the second time last night. Bunny really wanted to see it again and take a friend. I was going to drop the two of them off at the theatre, but the friend's mother wouldn't let the girl go unless a parent went along. So I thought, hmm, nice excuse to see HP6 again. Then BB said hmm, nice excuse to go with Pam to see HP6 again. Thus it was that we all saw HP6 again.
You're safe in assuming we liked it ... On the face of it, there's much about this movie that could be disappointing. They stripped out almost every sub-plot, the secondary characters who are left are having to pull double-duty, nobody sings "Weasley is Our King," and one of my favorite characters, Aunt Petunia, has gone completely missing. But what we were left with was one strong story, handled with real cinematic flair. If they'd tried to squeeze too many disparate events into this movie, it would have come off disjointed, in my opinion.
Something else I appreciated about this Harry Potter movie - they departed from the first person perspective for a change. In the novels, nothing is learned by the reader unless Harry knows it or hears about it from an outside source. (The exception would be those opening chapters dealing with non Harry-related events, which started appearing in Goblet of Fire.) The result is that Harry rarely learns the Big Secret of any given school year until just after the novel's climax - usually while he is recovering in a bed in the hospital wing, but that's a gripe for another day.
HP movies have for the most part continued in this same vein. But in Half-Blood Prince, something refreshing happened. We got to follow Draco around without Harry, and see - as well as gradually understand - the diabolical work he and the Death Eaters were up to. It was a departure from the norm which served two purposes at once: it showed Draco's very real torment, and it kept the plot moving. All in all, we were very impressed with HP6.
Here's a quiz that'll test your behind-the-scenes knowledge of the movie series. Be ready to make some educated guesses to get through it.
You actually missed one? Must have been lapse of attention.
Posted by: your mother | July 23, 2009 at 08:57 AM
why does no one speak of snape? what of snape? is snape mia in all but nom de guerre? this would be a misclculation of major proportions, since rickman is almost always the only thing worth watching in whatever he's in.
Posted by: e | July 23, 2009 at 09:12 AM
Snape was in the movie, of course. Living in London with Wormtail apparantly agrees with Snape - he was rocking a new layered haircut, and his customary black outfit was *so* obviously a designer label.
Posted by: pam | July 23, 2009 at 09:58 AM
When are people going to learn that when a 700+ page novel gets adapted as part of a major cash cow franchise, pretty much EVERY Bombadil scene and character is going to be MIA/DOA and SOL...
I thought Yate's take on the film was very sober and a bit peculiar; after all this is a franchise about WIZARDS and MAGIC and yet a good deal of the interpersonal stuff could have been Bella and...shudder...Edward. Nonetheless, it achieved what it set out to do, it's clear Yates has a real feel for the world and its characters, it was nicely constructed from moment to moment, and I, for one, cannot wait for the TWO-PART "Hallows" coming to a decade near you.
Now, bring on the next 800 Pound Cinema Gorilla, "Avatar."
Posted by: Anthony | July 23, 2009 at 01:34 PM