HP&HBP
Finally, after weeks of anticipation I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night. I don't know how you guys feel about it but I really really liked and possibly even loved it. What follows is an admittedly very random yet enthusiastic report.
* First of all, lets put our hands together for the great acting we've seen in this movie. In my opinion almost everyone gave it their best. Emma Watson didn't burst out in hysterical sobs (director's decision or no, this was getting embarrassing), Rupert and Dan played their parts with excellence and Alan Rickman, too, shouldn't be left out AS HE OWNS MY SOUL. I squeed with delight at the glare of death he shot "the love birds" at Ron's hospital bed. ♥ I was a bit scared for Tom Felton. This was the first time he actually had a challenging part -you know, apart from the occasional insulting and fleeing and shitting his pants- and he did not disappoint. Well done indeed.
* Moving on the contents of the book. As we all know, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is not really about the half-blood prince at all. It's about figuring out a way to beat Voldemort and it gives us a stepping stone to the seventh and final book. Now, considering the huge amount of information book six has to offer, I thought it was fair to leave a few things out. But cutting out the whole who/what/why/when/what for of the half-blood prince has turned out to be very confusing for the people that haven't read the books. Normally, I would say, 'screw them, at least have the decency to read the stories' but then again, the movie should be an entity in itself and it should be self-explanatory.
So, a few things were cut. But why certain non-canon story elements had to be inserted is beyond me. Like that whole "chase in the reed" scene that ends in the Burrow going up in flames, what was that for? Yes, the world has got scary, and yes, Death Eaters are not the kind of people you invite to a soiree, but we all knew that already.
* Okay, on to the bullet list of silly thoughts and flashes of memory from last night:
- I had forgotten that the Half-Blood Prince's actual title was The Big Book of Luuuurv. I love the whole teenage hormones galore theme, especially Ron's first experiments with snogging and all that jazz, but what I really detested was the way the whole Harry/Ginny romance was tackled. I mean, on the one hand you have J.K. telling us that Ginny is the fiercest witch of fierce and that Harry falls in love with her because she is just that awesome. But on the other hand, we see Ginny throwing herself -literally throwing herself- at Harry's feet. I was actually cringing in my seat with embarrassment when I saw her dropping on her knees to tie his shoelaces. I'm sorry, Steve Kloves, but it feels as if only a male chauvinist pig could have written such sexist nonsense. And such a shame they decided to throw away the pretty first kiss scene in the Gryffindor common room after the Quidditch match. I don't see why the way they've handled it now is more sexy or sweeter. Perhaps it looked too much an echo of Ron's and Lavender's kiss? Ah well.
- When Harry and Ron were talking about the respective merits of Hermione and Ginny (skin, apparently, who knew?) and then quickly decided to go to sleep, was anyone else thinking "WANKING TIMEZ!!!!" ? Or is that just my pervy mind being pervy? :)
- Christmas at the Burrow....my heart jumps at seeing lovely, sexy Remus/David around the table.....the camera swerves around..... and there she is sitting. That shipwrecking hussy Nymphadora! I think my brain purposely tried to destroy that part of HBP or at least tried to push it far into my unconscience, because I got one hell of shock. All things considered, I think we should be grateful they decided to leave out the scene in which she begs Remus to change his sexuality shack up with her (Alas! Too old, too poor, too gay)
- The scene between Harry and Hermione outside the common room after the Ron/Lavender debacle was quite touching, although I think it would have been ten times as moving and powerful if that had been the first moment we ever saw Hermione crying. Unfortunately, the two previous films prove us otherwise.
- Kudos to Evanna Lynch and Jessie Cave, who plays Lavender and made me laugh out loud quite a few times. And Jim Broadbent was fantastic, as always. I love that man.
- Teenager!Voldemort was soooooooooooooooooo gay RIGHT?
- Too bad Blaise Zabini wasn't offered a bigger part. He didn't get a chance to show off those high cheekbones.
I wanted to tell you so much more but at this moment my memory is failing me, so I really see no other option than to go and see it a second and even third time. Ah, such sacrifices....
Lewis is starting in ten minutes, so I had better run and make myself a nice rum coke and enjoy foxy Fox's performance. Laters!