Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince Review/Rant

[Paperplanes79]

Okay I start off I feel obligated to inform you dear reader that yes, as a matter of fact I am a avid Harry Potter fan. I read all the books, seen all the movies, and have my fair share of Potter memorabilia. With that being said I thought it was a great idea to wait 4 hours in my local movie theatre?s chair to see it at midnight with a good seat. Something I know realize was a completely horrible idea.

But let us focus on the positive note for a second. If you have only seen movie and am not as well ?committed? as I am this is the best Potter yet. The plot is vast and is a classic good vs. evil battle in which characters only get deeper with alliance and betrayals everywhere. With that said on to my true review.

I?ll be splitting this review into multiple parts to make it more manageable:

Plot -This was my most beloved book; it opened so much history in the Harry Potter universe and recalled the origin of one of the most powerful dark wizard of all time. The director on the other hand seem to believe this could all be left behind for snogging, and innuendos fit for a third grade lunch room. This movie is supposed to draw grey lines between the good and evil that exist in this universe and to discover the secrets to why the dark lord continues to come back. While what it does is clearly draws a line between good and evil and leaves a lot of the subtly and charm in the Potter books to add new scenes which are totally unnecessary destruction that there going to need to do a lot of explaining to do in order to continue. The biggest one is the destruction of the Weasly?s burrow. Wait what? Yep you read it right that destroy the Weasly?s burrow. For no reason at all and to add salt to the wound they leave out the Gaunt House memory. I am all in favor for adding spice and flavor to a movie but completely destroying a home of beloved characters for no reason and then leaving out one of the most creative parts of the book is simply unacceptable. This leads to another point this movie focuses way too much on relations. While I will give that there is always an undertone of love and relationships (what coming of age story doesn?t) in the books it stays an undertone. As apposed to this one which a good chunk of the movie is focused on jealousy and hormones as apposed to finding out who?s kidnapping everyone and the most deadly wizard coming back. For goodness sakes there?s a part where two totally random students are making out while the skies are visibly darkening for an impending attack. With all that said one thing was left out in the very end which might be the biggest crime in all of Harry Potter history but I won?t spoil it for anyone who doesn?t know yet.

Cinematography/CGI - With all that said I must rant a bit more before it gets better. The movie is almost exclusively filmed in a black in white palate with a some what grainy feel. Gone are the bright and fun colors of Hogwarts. Here comes bright white and dark black. Not to say it?s absent of color it?s just almost all faded. Even the spells which have always looked like roman candles, now all the sudden look like magical bullets with nothing but a vapor trail and a white wisp to know something happened. But with all that said I must give a round of applause to the CGI director for quite a feat. The CGI is wondrous especially a scene in which fire and water combine.

So there you go dear reader it?s been rough but thank you for reading this review/rant. I hope the film treats you better then it did me.

Final verdict:

If you haven?t read the books: See it.

If you have: Skip it and reread the book and sacrifice a goat/pray/punch the director/cry in hopes the 7th one is better.

 

[Curtmiester]

A little short there buddy. I'll need alittle more info before I'll give it a B.

 

[shaltir]

lies...pure lies. j/k

i'm gonna go see it now actually. but thank you for the review.
my wife is the true potter fan...i just hope she enjoys it.

 

[Paperplanes79]

Yeah sorry i was just afraid of giving too much away in case people still wanted to see it. Harry potter is tricky with those things.

But what more would you like to know/think I should add?

 

[CloudKiller]

It's a film based on a book, just like all the others it will suck when compared to it's original media. I honestly expected nothing more than average

 

[GonzoGamer]

So do Neville and Krecher follow Malfoy?

The Burrow Burns down but does Hagrid's' Hut? Just wondering what's going to replace the wedding in the next movie. Maybe Lee Jordan's Bar Mitzfa; Hagrid's a rabbi in the movies.

I haven't really expected much out of the movies since the 4th one. Unfortunately this one doesn't even seem very exciting. I was hoping it would be worth the wait.

 

[Disaster Button]

Pretty sure the colour shceme was used to reinforce the darker theme of this movie.

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

With all that said one thing was left out in the very end which might be the biggest crime in all of Harry Potter history but I won?t spoil it for anyone who doesn?t know yet.

You have me intrigued enough to see the movie now. What is this thing that was left out at the end that is so terrible? Fortunately I have only the read the books once so I only notice half of the bastardising.

 

[Paperplanes79]

For anyone who hasnt seen it yet..... Harry Potter dies at the end. Yeah im an ass like that. haha

This site has a certain amount of intelligence required to post so please never post something like this again.

 

[dodo1331]

Spoiler

Is Dumbledore's funeral in the movie? "With all that said one thing was left out in the very end which might be the biggest crime in all of Harry Potter history but I won't spoil it for anyone who doesn't know yet."

 

[Paperplanes79]

No dodo1331 no it isn't. I was at a loss for words when I saw that it wasn't.

 

[Fenring]

Okay, it was a pretty good review. Didn't really suck me in, but wasn't bad. My one comment is I think you might have mixed up a few metaphors, but this might just be I learned them meaning different things than you. You say:

This movie is supposed to draw grey lines between the good and evil

Which I thought meant that it was supposed to make the sides are supposed to become less clean cut in good and evil, then you say:

While what it does is clearly draws a line between good and evil

Which I take to mean that the sides becomes more of a straight up good vs. evil struggle.

I could just be misunderstanding you or misreading it, but I think I got what you wanted say.

 

[Zukonub]

I remember hearing about the removal of the House of Gaunt, and how disappointed I was. Even moreso then the

Spoiler

funeral removal

. Both scenes would have been great in film, particularly with a reasonably pretentious director like Yates.

 

[Cottle]

Hey, remember when Hagrid was a main character too and he actually interacted with the plot realistically?

 

[dodo1331]

No dodo1331 no it isn't. I was at a loss for words when I saw that it wasn't.

Are you freaking serious? The scene is one of the best parts of the books. How did they even cut that? I haven't read HBP in a while, but didn't the scene unleash questions and story arcs for the next book?

 

[Tmcmistress]

I'll add a bit more to this later, as I'm short on time, but I'd like to offer the counter from someone who is also a huge fan of both the books and their adaptations.

HBP was, I will agree with the OP, the best of the films thus far. IMO, the scene at the end which was left / replaced works better than I thought, not to mention that I've heard it will likely serve as the beginning of the next film anyway.

However, I've long taken issue with the degree to which it is seemingly impossible to please many other Harry Potter fans; it seems most would not be satisfied without a word-for-word, scene-for-scene translation from the book. I have no intention of paying $14-$20 for that.

More later.

 

[Chimaera]

Okay I start off I feel obligated to inform you dear reader that yes, as a matter of fact I am a avid Harry Potter fan. I read all the books, seen all the movies, and have my fair share of Potter memorabilia.

This is good to know, actually.

But let us focus on the positive note for a second. If you have only seen movie and am not as well ?committed? as I am this is the best Potter yet. The plot is vast and is a classic good vs. evil battle in which characters only get deeper with alliance and betrayals everywhere.

That's not even close to what I got out of it, but hey, everyone's interpretation can vary. The only real shifting of alliance happened with Draco Malfoy. Everyone else is more or less playing the cards they've been dealt, and I've always seen HBP as a strange "slice of life/fanfic" venture mixed in with Voldemort history (likely to keep people from getting bored and wandering off on Rowling's part).

Plot -This was my most beloved book; it opened so much history in the Harry Potter universe and recalled the origin of one of the most powerful dark wizard of all time. The director on the other hand seem to believe this could all be left behind for snogging, and innuendos fit for a third grade lunch room. This movie is supposed to draw grey lines between the good and evil that exist in this universe and to discover the secrets to why the dark lord continues to come back. While what it does is clearly draws a line between good and evil and leaves a lot of the subtly and charm in the Potter books to add new scenes which are totally unnecessary

It was a bit off balance, agreed. I'm really not sure what you mean with clearly drawing a line. From my perspective, the line's been drawn for years in this context. It all depends on what side you're standing on. HBP's only true purpose was to explain how Voldemort managed his power, which gives Harry &co. the needed information to do that. It did so, in my opinion, in an abbreviated way. Book fans are stricter in this sense, myself included. I wanted more history, less snogging too, yet I think it covered enough to get by - for now - for the more casual fan.

As apposed to this one which a good chunk of the movie is focused on jealousy and hormones as apposed to finding out who?s kidnapping everyone and the most deadly wizard coming back.

No one major gets kidnapped in HBP. HBP breaks down into four plots, from what I can tell:
1. Who is the Half-Blood Prince?
2. Daily Shenanigans and Romantic Hijinks at Hogwarts
3. Voldemort's History and Sources of Power
4. Draco Malfoy and What the Heck He's been Trying to Do All Year.

A better, totally ignored subplot would be Hermione's efforts to find out about the Half-Blood Prince.

With all that said one thing was left out in the very end which might be the biggest crime in all of Harry Potter history but I won?t spoil it for anyone who doesn?t know yet.

Could you spoiler tag what you thought was missing? I thought it hit the basics, really, and I'm quite curious.

edited: Ah, I see what you mean, but I have read they didn't want to end things on a note like that for three movies in a row. It is likely to be covered at the top of the next film. HBP has always felt like part one of two, and Rowling actually mentioned somewhere how the two go together as a larger story, if I recall (I am too lazy/tired from the midnight show to go look that up.)

Cinematography/CGI - With all that said I must rant a bit more before it gets better. The movie is almost exclusively filmed in a black in white palate with a some what grainy feel. Gone are the bright and fun colors of Hogwarts. Here comes bright white and dark black. Not to say it?s absent of color it?s just almost all faded. Even the spells which have always looked like roman candles, now all the sudden look like magical bullets with nothing but a vapor trail and a white wisp to know something happened. But with all that said I must give a round of applause to the CGI director for quite a feat. The CGI is wondrous especially a scene in which fire and water combine.

On the contrary, I found the desaturated palate incredibly appropriate and fitting to both the mood of the story itself, and the overall tone of the series. The films have gotten darker in tone and visual style starting with Azkaban. I agree, the CGI is amazingly well done.

Chances are with the same sort of production team, you aren't going to like anything better from the seventh/eighth films either.

I thought it was quite entertaining, myself.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Bear in mind that I haven't seen the movie so I'm just going to talk about the review.

There were a couple of small language errors but they're not the main problem. The main problem I find is that there isn't enough. You rant for ages and ages about the plot, then do a small rant on the CGI and then nothing else. What about the acting? What about the scenery? What about the music, does it suit the film?

Also, you seemed to be very negative on the film. This can make your review seem bias and just seem like your irrationally ranting on the movie. I'm going to quote scotth266 on this:

Keep in mind that while the game you're reviewing is bad in your eyes, there is probably some good point to it somewhere, right? Mention these points, as it makes you appear as a fair person in the reader's eyes.

Keep this in mind when writing to make sure people don't think that it is just a bias rant.

Also, the paragraph on the plot does seem like a (fairly small) wall of text, something that can put people off reading it. You could break the plot section down into seperate paragraphs if you want to make it easier to read.

 

[Legion]

For anyone who hasnt seen it yet..... Harry Potter dies at the end. Yeah im an ass like that. haha

I wish. I have never before had a series I liked where I absolutely hated the main character.