Times like these, dark times, they do funny things to people. They can tear them apart.

[rubbrducky115]

harry potter and the half-blood prince
cast: daniel radcliffe, emma watson, rupert grint, alan rickman, maggie smith, michael gambon, jim broadbent, helena bonham carter, tom felton, bonnie wright, julie walters, jessie cave
what imdb says: As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.

This will probably be the longest review to date in this journal. Major spoilers ahead! (for the movie and for Deathly Hallows) You’ve been warned.

1. I think my main issue with this movie is the additional scenes. A lot of people were happy with the action and I suppose the whole Burrow scene was added for pacing, fine whatever. I wouldn’t be nearly as upset if a) the scene had made any sense at all or b) if they hadn’t cut and altered stuff that was actually present in the books. First of all, burning the burrow to the ground puts a whole portion of the seventh book without a setting, and I really don’t think Molly needs any more shit from the Death Eaters. Furthermore, the idea that “It was considered to provide better pacing for a movie to have Harry actually experience one such attack first hand, rather than hearing/reading about those that kept happening to some other students, or their relatives.” (imdb triva section) is absolutely preposterous. Last time I checked, Harry just watched his godfather tumble to his death by curtain at the hands of the death eaters and almost had a few of his friends killed. So what the hell? Why does he need to be witness to another personal tragedy if Jo didn’t even think it was necessary enough to include it in the first place. Oh and he’s not going to face enough of Voldemort in the future or anything either right? HAH! Silly bitches. Also, if you’re going to attack a building, why would you choose one that is described in the book as “while you stay here, the Burrow has been given the highest security the
   Ministry of Magic can provide.” (Dumbledore: HBP Chapter 4)


2. A lot of the stuff that was either left out or changed a lot to work better with the plot was really unnecessary. For example, I could see how you would want Luna to be the one to rescue Harry from the train if Tonks wasn’t in the movie at all, but she was? Why would it have been harder for her to do what was supposed to be done? Because fans of the movies only don’t really know who she is as well as they know Luna? It boggles my mind. It’s also missing sort of crucial bits. Dumbledore doesn’t get the chance to enlighten harry on other horcrux possibilities… that’ll throw a kink in the next movie. A lot of the pensieve scenes were missing, ones that sort of give some backstory to Voldemort that’s important, like his family history and crap. The reason why he’s such a crazy villain is all missing, she writes that stuff for a reason people - character depth for the win (although, the kids who played young Voldemort was crazy creepy and did an excellent job scaring the crap out of me). Trelawney is entirely absent (as I hear she will be in the 7th films), but what else is new? I suppose we don’t need to know anything else about the prophecy and how Snape totally heard it first hand. There were no apparation lessons, which will be pretty important when they need to flee from shit without being splinched next year. The new minister of magic makes no appearance. The Borgin and Burke’s, Diagon Alley beginning was completely changed. The Dursleys are gone, as are Bill and Fleur! U-No-Poo is not mentioned once, which is just annoying. And the whole business with Moaning Myrtle is completely erased. I just can’t comprehend why you would add in an unnecessary long scene that readers aren’t looking for but erase things from the books that are beloved. U-NO-POO! Come on! It’s genius.


3. I think my main gripe is the blatant “if it doesn’t revolve around Harry and Hermione and Ron, it can be shortened” thing they got going on. Mostly, they leave a lot of Snape out. I mean, Spinner’s End is by far one of my favorite chapters from HBP. In the book, Snape defends all of his actions to Bellatrix and really pushes his devotion to Voldemort. It adds this whole level of suspect to his character, and of course it’s completely missing from the movie. Adding to that the fact that I have HUGE problems with the casting of Narcissa and Bellatrix, the scene just crumbles. It’s empty of all the emotion and anguish we get from Narcissa about Draco, all the wonderful sarcasm from one Severus Snape, and all the darkness of Bellatrix and her devotion to the Dark Lord. This is all mostly because of this wonderful Fanart thingy http://acciobrain.ligermagic.com/ch2.php that basically took what I was seeing in my head and put it to paper. It’s beautiful


4. I have another problem with Snape and Bellatrix though, and it may actually lie with the actors playing them. I understand the script may be involved in the Alan half of this but Bellatrix is, and since her movie appearance, has always been wrong. First of all her hair is straight in the books. But that’s purely a shallow observation. Secondly, she’s not supposed to be outwardly batshit insane, lighting everything on fire and breaking crap left and right and running around yelling "I killed Sirius Black". She’s supposed to be that calm deeply twisted sort of insane, like a wrong move and you’re going to get your ass kicked in a flick of a wand.; a snarling sort of crazy. Not this Helena Bonham Carter shit they pull. And on the Alan front, well let me premise this by saying nobody could come even close to the performance he gives as Snape and this is mostly the fault of the scripts… anyway, because they leave out a lot of things about his allegiance to Voldemort in Spinner’s End, and because of that insane snippet they added on the astronomy tower (which was a royal fuck up, if you ask me), I’m pretty sure that if somebody hasn’t read the books they wouldn’t have a doubt in their mind what side Snape is on. They would think he was a huge asshole, which is very true, but they wouldn’t think he’s bad at all. And that’s saying something, because as of the chapter when he dies in Deathly Hallows, I still had my doubts. It wasn’t until Lily’s Eyes or whatever that chapter was called where I felt relief for Snape. So there’s that.


5. Speaking of the astronomy tower fuck-up, they fucked up. I don’t know how the Death Eaters could have gotten up there, successfully killed the greatest wizard ever, and then slunk out of the doors with only minor damage to the Great Hall and nobody following them but for Harry. There was no battling. WTF. Oh, and the addition of “P.S. you little punk, I’m the half blood prince” at the end by Snape sucked. It’s the title of the damn book and you cut half of that story line. That’s nice, fans won’t be pissed at all.


6. Was it just me or was the Room of Requirement and the Vanishing Cabinet plot revealed way to fucking soon? You see Draco using the thing practically the whole movie and there’s no reason for it. We don’t see it in the books, why should they hand feed us the answers here? Build a little suspense here people! It’s amazing what the little things they do can effect the next movie’s plot too. Ginny hiding the book is certainly going to change some things in Deathly Hallows.


7. The ending without Dumbledore’s funeral was a little upsetting. Although it was really sad, seeing everybody’s faces crying and whatever, it was a bit confusing that everybody raising their wand can vanquish the dark mark… and I don’t think Maggie Smith seemed nearly sad enough, although I suppose McGoogles is a pretty steely lady.


8. Speaking of steely ladies, Hermione Granger - where have you gone? I don’t know where the writers get the idea that Hermione is this weepy, hormonal mess, because I certainly don’t see that in the books. I see a badass who rockets birds at her friend for being such a jackass. That was not present here. Weepy mess Hermione FTL.


9. Don’t get me wrong, the movie was fine… but I nitpick. And they happen to fuck up things that I would notice and care about in the first place. Some things I did enjoy include: Gambon giving intonation and a voice to “Severus, please.” That line has haunted fans since the books came out. It can now be said that it was a plea to end his life, not begging to be spared. “Please do what I asked you to do” not “please don’t make me dead kthnxs.” I did enjoy the Quidditch, I was just hoping for more of it. Comedy DanRad is a win. He was so awesome with the Felix. I really enjoyed the Slug Club, and the way that guy gave Hermione such a hard time :) I enjoyed how pretty the movie was, the memories were so cool the way they were all foggy and whatever. For a Harry Potter movie it was a pretty good adaptation. I can only hope that by splitting Deathly Hallows in two they won’t leave nearly as much out.


10. Although generally I’m all anger and rage after seeing a Harry Potter movie, after time I grow fond of them and look at them as separate things and appreciate them for what they are - Hollywood interpretations. In actuality they really do make me appreciate the books a lot more and love them a lot more for their wholeness and uniqueness. Harry Potter is truly an experience I’m glad I got to have, and with the movies, get to keep on having and sharing with other fans.

coming soon: quantum of solace, casino royale, away we go, star wars (IV-VI), postcards from the edge, burn after reading, miss pettigrew lives for a day, michael clayton, the answer man