Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (review)
Guys. GUYS! IT IS SUCKING ME BACK IN.
I don't think I've made my overall feelings of Harry Potter a secret (in summary: brilliant concept; so-so execution), but I think being less attached to the books helps a lot when watching the movie. In terms of the novels, HBP may be the one I like the least. It has Harry acting like a dick. It has the vomit-inducing monster in the pants. It turns Ginny from an interesting character, a girl coming into her own from OoTP into a "hottie" bitch. And let's not forget the Spiderman scene.
But this movie. OMG THIS MOVIE.
The movie does what the book should have done but didn't do for me. Make me care intensely about the characters in the last 'normal' volume before they go marching off to war.
1) Harry/Ginny: Sadly IMO, I don't think Bonnie and Daniel have a shred of chemistry. Also, while it does improve on the book, the romance still comes out of nowhere (for heaven's sake, Harry starts the movie hitting on a random muggle waitress! It's hard to convince me that he's burning a torch for Ginny especially, the whole relationship comes off as a normal teen romance; which btw would be fine if Rowling hadn't tried to paint it as SOUL MATES 4EVER etc). However, at least there is SOME attempt at development. I only wish that Ginny had been more fully intergrated with the group in Order, because really for most of the scenes I felt like we were just waiting for the trio to be alone again.
2) Ron/Lavender: The actress that they got for Lavender was BRILLIANT. Played her part to comic perfection. I have a feeling that she really enjoyed her role. While she didn't physically match my mental depiction, she was wonderful in the part, and I LOVED her hairband.
3) Ron/Hermione: This is pretty much the only HP canon ship I care for, because it was built up throughout the series and because they are friends first and foremost. And in the movie? It was perfect. You have Ron not sure if Harry and Hermione are an item. You have Hermione seething with jealousy over Ron/Lavender. I don't think I would change a thing about their scenes; they are that good.
4) Harry-Hermione: As usual, Kloves give more importance on the Harry-Hermione friendship than the Harry-Ron one. But given that Ron is in a relationship and Harry is the only one that knows that Hermione really feels for Ron, it didn't bother me until the ending scene (WTF was THAT Kloves?). But the silver lining; Emma and Daniel play wonderfully off each other, and the scenes where they discuss their resp. unrequited loves are lovely. And while I always wondered WHY Ron would EVER think Harry and Hermione liked each other that way in the books (to be honest I always felt that scene in HP7 was Rowling breaking the fourth wall going "See, Harry/Hermione shippers!? Harry DOESN'T LIKE HERMIONEx1111!!!!"), given that he was only their best friend and would KNOW something like that, there's enough in this movie particulary when he catches Harry comforting Hermione that I can see why he might think that. Also, the dinner where Harry is the only one who knows what a dentist is!
5) Luna: Can this girl be any cooler? Still think Harry/Luna made MUCH more sense, and every scene with her was gold.
6) The kids: Someone on my flist posted a photograph of Dan and Rupert's first meeting. THEY WERE SO WEE. I hope that every child actor that's worked on this movie gets to come back for the final battle. I want to see Neville, the Patel twins, Cho, everyone. Watching them grow up throughout the movies is really going to be something once they are all done. To my knowledge they didn't recast the major actors (I'm not 100% sure but I think Dean was the same actor as well), and the call backs to the previous films get me all choked up. Draco with his apples. Seamus once again getting things blown up. OH FILM. Also someone between the fourth and sixth films, Emma Watson has remembered how to act without relying on her eyebrows. I really enjoyed her in this one.
7) The adults: You know that scene where Bellatrix is taunting Snape? I never saw the power and majesty of that scene until it was acted out by Helen Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman. CHILLS. Also by the time this series is done is there any major English actor/actress that WON'T have had at least a small part? I love the films for that.
I haven't seen OoTP in a very long time, but GoF repeats often enough on TV that it's still pretty fresh in my mind. My overall sense is that GoF and OoTF didn't have the intimacy that PoA and HBP have. Like, there are so many little details in this movie, so many touches of love.
In short, I really enjoyed HBP and I am looking forward to the final film(s).
ETA: Avatar teaser trailer made me SO ANGRY for a moment in the theatre. I just sat there thinking, damn, all this money thrown at a movie that could have been great ruined by racefail.
I don't think I've made my overall feelings of Harry Potter a secret (in summary: brilliant concept; so-so execution), but I think being less attached to the books helps a lot when watching the movie. In terms of the novels, HBP may be the one I like the least. It has Harry acting like a dick. It has the vomit-inducing monster in the pants. It turns Ginny from an interesting character, a girl coming into her own from OoTP into a "hottie" bitch. And let's not forget the Spiderman scene.
But this movie. OMG THIS MOVIE.
The movie does what the book should have done but didn't do for me. Make me care intensely about the characters in the last 'normal' volume before they go marching off to war.
1) Harry/Ginny: Sadly IMO, I don't think Bonnie and Daniel have a shred of chemistry. Also, while it does improve on the book, the romance still comes out of nowhere (for heaven's sake, Harry starts the movie hitting on a random muggle waitress! It's hard to convince me that he's burning a torch for Ginny especially, the whole relationship comes off as a normal teen romance; which btw would be fine if Rowling hadn't tried to paint it as SOUL MATES 4EVER etc). However, at least there is SOME attempt at development. I only wish that Ginny had been more fully intergrated with the group in Order, because really for most of the scenes I felt like we were just waiting for the trio to be alone again.
2) Ron/Lavender: The actress that they got for Lavender was BRILLIANT. Played her part to comic perfection. I have a feeling that she really enjoyed her role. While she didn't physically match my mental depiction, she was wonderful in the part, and I LOVED her hairband.
3) Ron/Hermione: This is pretty much the only HP canon ship I care for, because it was built up throughout the series and because they are friends first and foremost. And in the movie? It was perfect. You have Ron not sure if Harry and Hermione are an item. You have Hermione seething with jealousy over Ron/Lavender. I don't think I would change a thing about their scenes; they are that good.
4) Harry-Hermione: As usual, Kloves give more importance on the Harry-Hermione friendship than the Harry-Ron one. But given that Ron is in a relationship and Harry is the only one that knows that Hermione really feels for Ron, it didn't bother me until the ending scene (WTF was THAT Kloves?). But the silver lining; Emma and Daniel play wonderfully off each other, and the scenes where they discuss their resp. unrequited loves are lovely. And while I always wondered WHY Ron would EVER think Harry and Hermione liked each other that way in the books (to be honest I always felt that scene in HP7 was Rowling breaking the fourth wall going "See, Harry/Hermione shippers!? Harry DOESN'T LIKE HERMIONEx1111!!!!"), given that he was only their best friend and would KNOW something like that, there's enough in this movie particulary when he catches Harry comforting Hermione that I can see why he might think that. Also, the dinner where Harry is the only one who knows what a dentist is!
5) Luna: Can this girl be any cooler? Still think Harry/Luna made MUCH more sense, and every scene with her was gold.
6) The kids: Someone on my flist posted a photograph of Dan and Rupert's first meeting. THEY WERE SO WEE. I hope that every child actor that's worked on this movie gets to come back for the final battle. I want to see Neville, the Patel twins, Cho, everyone. Watching them grow up throughout the movies is really going to be something once they are all done. To my knowledge they didn't recast the major actors (I'm not 100% sure but I think Dean was the same actor as well), and the call backs to the previous films get me all choked up. Draco with his apples. Seamus once again getting things blown up. OH FILM. Also someone between the fourth and sixth films, Emma Watson has remembered how to act without relying on her eyebrows. I really enjoyed her in this one.
7) The adults: You know that scene where Bellatrix is taunting Snape? I never saw the power and majesty of that scene until it was acted out by Helen Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman. CHILLS. Also by the time this series is done is there any major English actor/actress that WON'T have had at least a small part? I love the films for that.
I haven't seen OoTP in a very long time, but GoF repeats often enough on TV that it's still pretty fresh in my mind. My overall sense is that GoF and OoTF didn't have the intimacy that PoA and HBP have. Like, there are so many little details in this movie, so many touches of love.
In short, I really enjoyed HBP and I am looking forward to the final film(s).
ETA: Avatar teaser trailer made me SO ANGRY for a moment in the theatre. I just sat there thinking, damn, all this money thrown at a movie that could have been great ruined by racefail.