Half Blood Prince Review
So, as I was watching the movie I actually enjoyed it. I didn't go into the movie thinking that it had to be exactly like the book. In fact, this was my initial thought going into the movie: They would do what they did with Order, they would strip away most of the sideline stories, such as Quidditch, romances, whatever, and only include small amounts of that. That would leave the meat of the book left, including most of the stuff about Slughorn, and most of Harry's meetings with Dumbledore, learning about Voldemort's past. That was what I expected. And, it was very different from that. But I was okay--they focused a LOT on the relationships but they did it pretty well and there was still a good deal of important stuff.
Then the end came. I was okay with the trip to the cave, I was okay with all of that, I was okay with getting back to the tower at Hogwarts. Then...
1. There was no fighting, no battle. To me, that brought a lot of the tension into the movie. Draco has to hurry because at any minute now his DE friends might have lost and who knows what will happen. It just looses tension. (The actual Draco and Snape parts to the killing Dumbledore scenes were great, I loved it.)
2. Harry not being paralyzed by Dumbledore doesn't really make sense with the character, because I doubt he would have stayed quiet. But that wasn't too bad either.
3. Why do the Death Eaters run away after killing Dumbledore if there is no one chasing them except Harry? There is no one fighting them, just seems weird.
4. If you didn't read the books, Fenrir Greyback was just any other death eater, you don't get that he's a werewolf.
5. This is what really bothered me. Snape and Harry interacting at the end. Harry calls him a coward and all he does is say "Don't use my own spells against me. Yes, I am the Half Blood Prince" and then he walks away. (Preface: I don't like Snape as a person in the books but I LOVE how full and interesting his character is.) There is no emotion, no feeling, no reaction to the coward thing. Rowling's theme with Snape is that he is anything BUT a coward, and that comes at the end when Harry tells his son he was named after "probably the bravest man I knew." If Snape had at least said "Don't-call-me-a-COWARD!" I would have been happy. I just felt like Snape had about 5 lines (in fact, I will see the movie again if only to count them exactly) and he's played by one of the most brilliant actors who did a lot with what he had but I just feel like he was wasted in this movie. I didn't even dislike him after killing Dumbledore because I didn't really feel anything toward him. I was just so, so, so disappointed in the end, I gave the movie a D rating even though I liked the rest.
6. The last part I feel made the movie lose a lot was the fact that you only saw 2 memories of Voldemort. This is really compared to the book, I know, but HBP is not my favorite book in the series and one of the redeemable traits is that you get to learn so much more about Voldemort. And we miss that in this movie as well, to see instead a whole lot of teen angst. Eh.
7. Seeing as in the movie they know about the vanishing cabinet, wouldn't it have been fairly obvious that it could be used to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts? Maybe it just felt obvious to me, anyone who hasn't read the book feel like they really should have seen that one coming?
8. Even with all the teen angst drama, I still feel like they don't do much with Hermione as a character either. There was more of her here than usual, but I wish we got to know her more. She's not always the most likable in the movies I think. I just hope they really show how brilliant she is (the character, not necessarily the actress) in the final movies.
So, that's why I feel disappointed in the movie. I did like a lot of things, like Luna who was great, and FelixHarry, and Lavendar was REALLY annoying, Draco was great at the end, I really like Ginny as a character a LOT, Slughorn was great too. I'll just sum up how I felt at the end with Sam's quote (Sam has never read the books)..."So, if Snape was the half-blood prince, shouldn't he have had more lines?"
Then the end came. I was okay with the trip to the cave, I was okay with all of that, I was okay with getting back to the tower at Hogwarts. Then...
1. There was no fighting, no battle. To me, that brought a lot of the tension into the movie. Draco has to hurry because at any minute now his DE friends might have lost and who knows what will happen. It just looses tension. (The actual Draco and Snape parts to the killing Dumbledore scenes were great, I loved it.)
2. Harry not being paralyzed by Dumbledore doesn't really make sense with the character, because I doubt he would have stayed quiet. But that wasn't too bad either.
3. Why do the Death Eaters run away after killing Dumbledore if there is no one chasing them except Harry? There is no one fighting them, just seems weird.
4. If you didn't read the books, Fenrir Greyback was just any other death eater, you don't get that he's a werewolf.
5. This is what really bothered me. Snape and Harry interacting at the end. Harry calls him a coward and all he does is say "Don't use my own spells against me. Yes, I am the Half Blood Prince" and then he walks away. (Preface: I don't like Snape as a person in the books but I LOVE how full and interesting his character is.) There is no emotion, no feeling, no reaction to the coward thing. Rowling's theme with Snape is that he is anything BUT a coward, and that comes at the end when Harry tells his son he was named after "probably the bravest man I knew." If Snape had at least said "Don't-call-me-a-COWARD!" I would have been happy. I just felt like Snape had about 5 lines (in fact, I will see the movie again if only to count them exactly) and he's played by one of the most brilliant actors who did a lot with what he had but I just feel like he was wasted in this movie. I didn't even dislike him after killing Dumbledore because I didn't really feel anything toward him. I was just so, so, so disappointed in the end, I gave the movie a D rating even though I liked the rest.
6. The last part I feel made the movie lose a lot was the fact that you only saw 2 memories of Voldemort. This is really compared to the book, I know, but HBP is not my favorite book in the series and one of the redeemable traits is that you get to learn so much more about Voldemort. And we miss that in this movie as well, to see instead a whole lot of teen angst. Eh.
7. Seeing as in the movie they know about the vanishing cabinet, wouldn't it have been fairly obvious that it could be used to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts? Maybe it just felt obvious to me, anyone who hasn't read the book feel like they really should have seen that one coming?
8. Even with all the teen angst drama, I still feel like they don't do much with Hermione as a character either. There was more of her here than usual, but I wish we got to know her more. She's not always the most likable in the movies I think. I just hope they really show how brilliant she is (the character, not necessarily the actress) in the final movies.
So, that's why I feel disappointed in the movie. I did like a lot of things, like Luna who was great, and FelixHarry, and Lavendar was REALLY annoying, Draco was great at the end, I really like Ginny as a character a LOT, Slughorn was great too. I'll just sum up how I felt at the end with Sam's quote (Sam has never read the books)..."So, if Snape was the half-blood prince, shouldn't he have had more lines?"