HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE Spoiler Thread 2

[filkertom]

I thought it was a pretty good movie, much better than I feared. About as good a movie as could be made out of that lousy book, in fact.

Biggest problem? By necessity, it highlights all the book's flaws.

Pros:

• The acting is mostly very good to fantastic. Rickman, of course. Michael Gambon as Dumbledore does a great job, as does Jim Broadbent as the slimy Slughorn. I don't care how dangerous she is -- and, oh, she is -- I would still do Helena Bonham-Carter's Bellatrix. But the big winner is Dan Radcliffe, who reaches another level as Harry. He and Gambon, and he and Rickman (and he and Emma Watson -- more later) have great screen chemistry, never more so than here. And I adore Evanna Lynch as Luna. Even Rupert Grint does some good work; if nothing else, the boy's getting really good at physical comedy.
• The direction is exciting, the art direction superb, and the pacing was top-notch. Screenwriter Steve Kloves laid out Harry Potter and the Half Book of Exposition in such as way that it not only made sense but had emotional impact, and made the clumsy currying of Slughorn's favor actually feel important.
• Did I mention the twins? They have the opening of WWW (Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes), and it's fun fun fun. Only problem there was that Hermione seemed more interested in the love potions than Ginny.
• The scene in the Inferi cave was good and creepy, and only the last of several instances (the first being at Slughorn's hideout) where we see Dumbledore's power.
• I don't think I've emphasized how good Rickman's acting is. He was flippin' fantastic. Every single moment on screen. Yeah, he's a very dark good guy, but he is a good guy, and he is very dark, and he really pulled it off with style. The Unbreakable Vow scene was particularly fine.
• The other revelation was Tom Felton as Draco. They finally had to give him a lot of meat, and he was superb. Really got across the anguished teen who doesn't even realize how far in he is over his head.
• Other specific scenes: The whole Quidditch subplot was handled well, as was the Felix Felicis. The confrontation between Harry and Draco in the lavatory, and Sectumsempra. The vanishing cabinets -- nice build there. Just the effect of Bella, Fenrir et al. streaking through the sky like nasty black billowing stinging tentacles. The scene at the beginning with the waitress.The destruction of the Great Hall, especially with Bella blowing all the floating candles out.
• Innumerable little things. Arthur Weasley's shed. The whole "Harry's here!?" business, and how it's explained with one word ("Dumbledore"). The bright shiny new book and the ancient worn book, and how Ron and Harry take one beat and then both lunge for the new one. Poor Neville as the waiter. Flitwick and Filch running security at the gates of Hogwarts (and Draco getting Daddy's Pimp Stick). Luna's Gryffindor lion hat. Bluntly, Hermione's dress at the Christmas party. Dayumm.

Cons:

• The Wizarding World still makes no sense. They cannot possibly be as insulated as JKR makes them out to be, that they can have a scene where poor Muggle-born Hermione is humiliated because nobody knows what a dentist is. On the same note, why do they always have to go to the stupid library? Have they nothing like an Internet that allows them to search their data?
• I could go on at ridiculous length about the teen romances, and I'm sure that [a] the Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione shippers will tell me how wrong I am and [b] the people who are closer to teenage will tell me how wrong I am. Fine. I'm doin' it anyway, and I'll do it strictly in context of the movies.
  
  Harry/Ginny makes no sense. Ron/Hermione makes no sense.
  
  Having had almost no interaction through five movies, we are suddenly expected to believe that Harry spends inordinate amounts of time looking at Ginny. All the scenes where Hermione would've come to help or comfort him are now given to Ginny. They do everything but pry Harry and Hermione apart with a crowbar. And it still doesn't work, because Dan Radcliffe and Emma Watson have tons of chemistry, and Radcliffe and Bonnie Wright have almost none.
  
  But Watson and Rupert Grint have even less.
  
  Heck, once again they make a better case for Harry/Luna than Harry/Ginny. Radcliffe and Lynch have fine chemistry together, and Luna's such a great character.
  
  On the other hand, Jessie Cave as Lavender gets at least a silver medal in pole-vaulting, she's so over-the-top. Only bad acting in the film, but it's central.
  
  Even forcibly keeping Harry and Hermione apart, there are still so many scenes where Harry's more focused on Hermione and vice-versa. The one where Ron and Harry compare Lav and Hermione, and both mention how nice Hermione's skin is: Dan's acting is not that of someone thinking idly about a friend.
  
  They end up cuddling and comforting each other and holding hands a good deal. Again.
  
  The only way I can justify it in my head, two characters with no previous interaction and two other characters who actively dislike each others' passions and argue all the time, is to chalk it all up to teenage hormones, because otherwise it doesn't work on any level, and especially not on the level of the acting. Problem is, as we know is coming thanks to the Epilogue, these are supposed to be the Great Loves Of Their Lives.
  
  Nuh-uh.
• There is a lot less exposition, a lot less Pensieve-browsing. Still seems like a lot. (Although the Pensieve effect, the smoke coalescing into structures into details into memories, is pretty damn beautiful.)
• Rickman announces that he's the Half Blood Prince. Fine. Woulda been nice if someone had, y'know, explained the title of the movie.
• Fenrir was reduced to Tyler Mane as Sabretooth in the first X-Men movie, i.e., no lines, baring his teeth to look menacing.
• The entire scene of the destruction of the Burrow was ludicrous. Oh, they're being attacked! There go the bad guys! Hey, we have magic wands that cast spells over a distance! Let's go running blindly into the dark! Fresh souls for the cornfield! Oh noes! The Burrow is burning! Let's frickin Apparate! Let's run all the way back! The Wizarding World can detect when anyone is using a wand, but they can't come running in case of a building fire, and have no magic to put it out!
• Big plot thing: Dumbledore knew about the horcruxes; he's found and destroyed one, he has suspicions about another, he knows Riddle's diary was one. And he thinks Harry is one as well. He even flashes Harry a significant look, when he says, (paraphrase) "I think I know where there's another."
  
  AND HE STILL ISN'T TELLING HARRY ALL THIS.
  
  For a teacher, Dumbledore is really freakin' tight with his secrets. And since most of them are intended to keep Harry in the dark so that the story is more dramatic, it really annoys me. Heck, Obi-Wan kept just two vital secrets, for very good reasons, and Luke had to readjust his entire life.

Anyway. Overall, I enjoyed the film a lot. It was a solid adaptation of a difficult book, and did everything it could to mitigate that book's problems. Thing is, I don't feel it was successful in that task. In fact, it makes them more glaring.

Thoughts?

Comments

[pyffe.livejournal.com]

I've never considered myself a book purist, but they changed too damn much for me in this movie. And they changed things that didn't NEED to be changed. I understand the need to fit things into a movie's space, but...

Examples:
Why did they have Luna find Harry on the train and not Tonks, when Tonks was in the film. And to use the Rackspurts (sp?) as her way of finding him gives her odities validity. She's supposed to be out there, but the books give the impression she believes anythign that can't be proven. yet here they made it look like the things she spouts are real.

What the heck was with the scene when they burned The Burrough to the ground and were running around in the swamp?

The location he hides his book in, and him using the tiarra to mark where he left it was critical to the next book. Now they have to modify that in the next movies, because they used this scene as an excuse to get the kiss in.

They chose to have Snape do nothing to punish Harry for nearly killing Draco? And then there was no repercussions for Harry other than him having to give up his book?

What was up with the lit wands at the end? I kept thinking they were at a concert with lighters. Maybe that's what they were going for, but it looked contrived to me. And they eliminated the fact that there were many more people involved in that fight in the books. Students were battling Death Eaters in the hallways, showing that nearly everyone was fighting evil. This movie made it look like Harry's doing it all himself with only minor assistance.

The scenes that were in the books also had their dialog changed for what I see as No Reason! I love the choice of words Rowling uses in the books for her characters. I found the changes trite and annoying. The first movie was word for word. I know that can't be done for the more confusing and longer books, but I'm not sure there were more than a handful of lines that were actually in the books word-for-word, which is a damn shame to me.

Those are my thoughts, although I know they're not very nice.

[kyril.livejournal.com]

Luna isn't actually goofy, she just appears that way--but you don't find that out until the 7th book, I thought.

I agree, the concert-with-lighters thing was badly done...at least they could've all sent streaks of light to break up the voldecloud.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Actually, having Luna find Harry gave her a little validity with almost no screen time burned, due to her using the little fairy motes to find her. They may have decided it didn't matter that much and it killed several birds with one stone, and eliminated having to have a transition scene as Harry+Tonks went to the castle; Luna was going there anyway and they could just cut to there.

Luna needs to have some cred for #7, not appear as a loopy ditz, and that got it for her I think. JKR does it other ways in the book but they'd take too long.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

I dud like Malfoy in the film, Tom has grown in leaps and bounds. But I chuckled how he vacillated between looking like a 70's Bond villain and Hamlet.

And I too am a member of the We Love Luna fan club. She's brilliant

[joyful.livejournal.com]

I loved the dress she wore to the Christmas party, is was so Luna.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

I've heard several friends complain that Rickman is too obvious near the end, that you don't get the same "is he or isn't he?" that many felt was at the end of HBP. Your thoughts?

[kyril.livejournal.com]

The hesitation at he end of the unbreakable vow scene was OK...after that he was more wooden than usual--which may have been deliberate. He wasn't his usual self this movie.

I really don't know how to split the last book, given most of it was Harry/Hermione/Ron wandering aimlessly for a whole year, given many pages to make you feel like a whole year of uselessness passed. And then the ending was much too easy compared to that.

(I'm waiting for the last movie to pull a "Luke, I am your father" bit--except adultery is too adult a concept for The Kids Audience, and it's not canon.)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I agree very much with Anne, although she did have to walk me through it: If you don't know Snape is a good guy by the end of HBP, you simply aren't paying attention. (I wasn't, which is why she had to walk me through it.) As it is, though, I'm very glad they left out "DON'T CALL ME COWARD" or whatever it was he yelled at the end, because [a] it was way too much of a tell that he is a good guy and [b] why the bloody fuck should Snape give half a shit about justifying himself to a boy he loathes?

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

At the time the book came out, there was some doubt about which side Snape was really working for. By now, every fan knows the truth.

[huskiebear.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah - the WWW shop was great but the Doublemint Weasleys talking in synch annoyed the heck outta me. I'm actually kind of glad they didn't go through the whole explanation of the half-blood prince name, since it was a stupid story to begin with. All in all, the movie did a very creditable job of conveying the book to someone who has only seen the movies, but it couldn't do anything to fix the major problem of the whole book series: she wrote some very complex and compelling characters and stuck them into a two dimensional world full of one dimensional NPCs. Causes serious cognitive dissonance.:P

And I *so* covet Hermione's dress!

[joyful.livejournal.com]

Something I've been talking about for ages. You'd think that with all sorts of magic at their disposal, some librarian or ministry worker would have come up with some sort of magical database. Hermione spends such time trying to look things up, if only she could cross-reference easier, and does the Hogwarts library even have a card catalog? Presumably Madam Pince, the librarian knows where everything is, but there should be an easier way to handle things.

Also, I agree that the magical world is way too insulated. I'm convinced that most of the pure-bloods wouldn't even be able to tell you who the Queen of England is. Most of them have shown up at Hogwarts able to read so they've presumable had some sort of schooling. But seriously, if I ran Hogwarts I would make the lessons much more well-rounded. In addition to the magical classes they still need to learn literature, math, geography, global studies, world history (not just history of magic), and maybe a foreign language or two. And how about a religions class? Art? Phys. ed? Music? Flitwick's choir isn't even in the books.

As much of an HP addict as I am, there are still many things with the world that bug me.

[joyful.livejournal.com]

Another thing that has always bothered me, is how they celebrate Christmas and Easter, but never give any indication of being religious, or acknowledging that those are even religious holidays. And if the wizarding world has been around for thousands of years, why and when did they adopt those holidays, and did Hogwarts students ever get any holidays from school before those holidays existed?

[kyril.livejournal.com]

I really like Luna -- she's too young and innocent to want to sleep with, but she's simple and uncomplicated and caring. I like that. Plus we both spout incomprehensible babble, except mine is real and hers is also real, at least in the 7th book.

I agree about the lack of chemistry, something they really have to fix, though the almost-kiss before the house blows up is better than most of the scenes, esp. the last one.

As for Hermione:

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[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Have not seen it yet, and much as I would like to go, nothing I have seen so far in reviews makes me want to spend more money for this than I can get away with (i.e., I will be waiting till it's at the cheapie).
I am happy to hear Luna still seems to be having a good role :)

[darksunlight.livejournal.com]

Even without knowing Dumbeldore is gay, they had some of the most unintentionally gay lines I have ever heard in any movie. My wife and I were sitting there snorting with laughter during some very serious scenes.

[wyldemusick.livejournal.com]

Not just the lines, but Gambon's acting tilted that way (very well, I thought) although when he held out his hand to Harry for the travel bits, did he really have to go for the limp wrist in quite that way? Gaaaaah!

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Given how little attention they gave to "Snape's worst memory" and to Riddle's backstory, I dread the filming of Snape's final revelation. If it gets any more time than the flash-forwards in "Run Lola Run", I'll consider us lucky.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Tom, please check your LJ mail inbox, I have a request regarding our ability to perhaps videotape "Hermione Granger, the Pirate Queen" together at an upcoming con, Context in Columbus, OH.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Tom? When has teen love ever made sense? I mean really. (Even if I agree the the pairings,0 teen love makes no sense, it's all hormones.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I admit that I don't agree. I fell in love when I was a teen, and the woman in question is still a very good friend. More, every woman with whom I have been involved or very interested have had her general qualities (dark hair, curvy, smart as hell, great smile, love of reading in general and fantasy in particular), with the exception of a few women who matched up point by point but happened to have lighter hair color.

Yeah, your hormones absolutely can be carbonated at that age, but you have some idea of what's going on. At the very least, I can't imagine Hermione going for someone so hostile to her love of books and learning. And fighting all the time is a great indicator of how much you like each other... at age ten.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

I think a big problem with the book-to-movie translation is a lot of it was Harry observing, or Harry sitting in his own head.

Ginny used to have a big crush on Harry, to the point where she would run and hide. When she started dating other boys, she was able to talk to Harry. I wish we could have seen more of Ginny as a person who could be attractive to Harry (and some part of that is Quidditch)

I saw both pairings from the Philosopher's Stone on in the books, so I never figured on Harry and Hermione. There's been tension and sparring between the two since before puberty.

One of the other things I disagreed with was the amount of time with the pensieve, which was supposed to give Harry some clues to find the Horcruxes. And the casting of Tom Riddle was totally wrong, in my opinion. Riddle was supposed to be charming, and not give off the Damian vibe.

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Quidditch, did anyone else think that they _finally_ got the Quidditch mechanics right in this movie?

[fredhuggins.livejournal.com]

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Tom, I have to agree on the Wizarding World making no sense. The fact that they feel they must be insulated from all muggle devices is stupid. (Unlike the Harry Dresden books, magic does not apparently interfere with technology.) Are their little games and the Weasleys' practical jokes really better than those stupid expensive portable video game systems to magic kids?

And the isolation of the Wizarding World from the Muggle World is just plain archaic racism. Perhaps it's because Rowling is British, and probably didn't understand or care about America's civil rights struggles. But everything that rises must converge, and it would have made sense for these supposedly sophisticated wizards to prepare for they day they would reunite with muggles. Kind of an X-Man thing, folks.

I always hoped Harry Potter would eventually become the Professor Charles Xavier of the wizards. Instead he and the rest of the magic folk are still in the closet. (And yes, THAT is a gay reference too.)

[turk187.livejournal.com]

(Unlike the Harry Dresden books, magic does not apparently interfere with technology.)

Actually, in book four they state very clearly that magic does interfere with technology.

[sazettel.livejournal.com]

Went today. I loved the last two movies and was really looking forward to seeing the showdown between Harry and Snape. Alan Rickman off the leash at last! He emotes so wonderfully when he's playing a master of absolute control, what's he going to do when Snape can get openly, thoroughly, demonstrably angry as hell at Harry who is a torment to him, with undertones of all the struggle of having had to kill Dumbledore?

Disappointed. Deeply, deeply disappointed.

[skemono.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, Jessie Cave as Lavender gets at least a silver medal in pole-vaulting, she's so over-the-top. Only bad acting in the film, but it's central.

Is that bad acting, or is it accurately portraying a character you're supposed to find obnoxious?

The entire scene of the destruction of the Burrow was ludicrous.

Yeah, it really was. "Oh no, they've set fire to our house! We can't possibly extinguish fires! There's no spell that will create water, like Harry uses in the Inferi cave!"

And then they stand there and watch their house burn and we're supposed to feel bad that everything is being destroyed, after a scene at the very beginning where Dumbledore completely repairs the wrecked Muggle house in seconds, with a flick of his wand?

Also, to add to your list of Pros: they had the Crystal Phallus at the beginning of the movie!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Nope, I thought it was bad acting. As Les said, it wouldn't have been out of place in a cartoon show, but with the gravity of the rest of the movie it sounded just silly.

[kayshapero]

Probably the GM in me, but just like in the book, the whole luck potion thing had me thinking "Y'know, hard to make is no substitute for impossible - if that stuff works, hard to make or not, why doesn't potion-expert Snape ever have any on hand? Or is this what his luck is like when he TAKES it?"

Y'know, we never do, actually, see the world outside of selected portions of the British Wizarding World, with the possible exception of things like that Dickensian orphanage in this movie. We have no idea what it is actually like out there. Could be they're a carefully isolated enclave being slowly introduced to the outside world via the 'Muggle-born' (who may not know all that's going on either) to minimize the inevitable shock.

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Didn't they rationalize it in the book as being "harmful in quantity", or something like that?

[jeffr23.livejournal.com]

Isn't your main complaint really about the earlier movies, which for no easily supportable reason chose to be filmed from the utterly bizarre Harry/Hermione viewpoint? Including some well after it was completely clear that wasn't ever going to happen?

(Heck, all of them were after book four came out, weren't they? The whole leadup-to-the-ball subplots make it completely clear where the lines of attractions lie to anyone paying attention...)

Oh Yes, I've Heard It Before

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That is a whole other ball of wax, honestly, and it's damn near a religious war. I will plunge in just for a minute.

Harry/Hermione has "no easily supportable reason" and is "utterly bizarre"? I beg to differ, given that Hermione spends the entire series worrying about Harry, calls him "more fanciable than ever", believes him when he says he didn't put his name in the Tri-Wizard Cup, ends up with Harry when they're flying on Buckbeak/running from Lupin/hunting for horcruxes/etc. etc. etc. -- even against her better judgment at the Department of Mysteries, Harry freaked to the point of paralysis when Hermione went down there, they made the point that Harry thought Hermione was beautiful at the Yule Ball, Hermione kissed Harry on the cheek at King's Cross, and oh yeah, she did choose Harry over Ron in Book 7, and went with him to his parents' graves, and and and.

While Ron would likely never even have met her if Harry hadn't dragged him along to save her from the troll.

Ron actively dislikes and puts down Hermione's two great loves, reading and learning -- and yet he takes advantage of her reading and learning again and again. Ron thinks Hermione is bossy and crazy ("mental"). Ron basically likes Quidditch and food; later, he likes girls. Ron isn't a very competent wizard, he's afraid of all kindsa stuff (especially spiders, of course), he's jealous of lots of people (especially Harry), he accuses Hermione of "fraternizing with the enemy" because of her Yule Ball date with Viktor Krum (doubly obnoxious, as Hermione believed Harry but Ron abandoned him and only came back much later -- where the hell does he get off, accusing ever-loyal Hermione of "fraternizing with the enemy"?), and his I-want-it-all-now-if-possible attitude frankly smacks of Slytherin, not Gryffindor.

Y'know what it comes down to, really? JKR, again. I've expressed the view that JKR is a hell of a storyteller, but not a very good writer. And her biggest fault, again and again and again, is that she TELLS stuff rather than SHOWING it -- and, to my mind, the entire series of books (NOT the movies, the books) tells us that something's happening between Ron and Hermione but shows us something between Hermione and Harry.

And Ron -- gluttonous, cowardly, cheating, whiny, selfish, frankly stupid glory-hound Ron -- is not only not Harry's best friend (at best, his best male friend), but he shouldn't be. Neville is a much better character for that role, especially given their connection through the Prophecy.

Obviously, your mileage may vary. :)