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?