SPOILER WARNING: Half Blood Prince Reviews

[bufftheshwood]

So I figured I would start a thread for those of us who have seen Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince already. I'll post my ideas later after I have a chance to digest the experience. Anyone else?

[tamtamg]

SPOILERS

I saw the midnight show. It was a lot funnier than expected. A lot of random laughs i just wasn't expecting from a potter flick. There were a lot of odd choices from the director. I felt the drunk Hermione and stoned Harry was completely unnecessary. Beyond that, my only complaint was the ending. It was very anti-climatic. They completely removed the end battle scene in Hogwarts. Instead of battling their way in and out of Hogwarts, they tiptoed their way in and out. Overall, it was definitely the best Potter flick out so far, I'd recommend all Potter fans check it out, but non-potter fans might find the plot lacking.

[Bret]

LOVED every minute of it. Fav potter film so far and my fav film of the summer. Cant wait to see it again. It strays from the book a bit but i dont care, still loved it.

[roessnakhan]

Definitely the best Potter film I've seen so far. Keeping in mind I have not read the books, I thought it was very well done. I'm glad that the no-longer child actors have finally developed acting skills. Also, the comradery between the three leads seemed really geuine this time around. Well acted, well directed, beautiful to watch, and I'm glad Nicholas Hooper turned a good score this time around too.

[eddielee]

Bored to tears, didn't find anything remotely cool or exciting, plot was almost too simple (nothing really happened in 2.5 hours) and some acting was extremely questionable.

Should be noted I did not read the book.

[nshady]

It's odd. I really liked the fifth film despite it being the weakest book. The sixth book, from memory, seemed like a return to form, but in this instance I thought the film was a little underwhelming. It was still good. Very good, even. But it lacked the showpieces and action I was looking for. Nothing really compared to the wizard showdown at the end of the last film. It felt a bit like The Two Towers - preparation for the climax in the next films. The best part of the film was in the cavern with the Horcrux, but otherwise it was a bit uneventful. I liked the humour, especially 'lucky Harry'. A bit too much focus on all the relationships for me, though, I think. It was a beautiful film, though.

Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy it, that I found it a struggle to sit through, that I wouldn't see it again or that I wouldn't recommend it. But I think the fifth film is still the best.

[darthender]

This movie marks the first in the series where I actually read the book so I know what both the book and the film were like.

Frankly, it was exactly how I remembered the book. There were more Voldemort flashbacks in the book, but other than that, nothing that struck me as important seemed to be left out.

Oh, also I thought it was great.

[scoobydiesel]

I was made to go see it at midnight and had to wait in line.

So it wasnt worth that.

But it was fun for sure, i did enjoy it more then the last one.

I have only read the first 3 books, so by this stage in the movies I dunno whats going on.

but i found it alot more haha then OH...then i was expecting.

The very end seemed a bit quick to me? i did love Luna(the blonde chick?) crying at the end, that made the whole scene work for me, just because she is so lovable and care free yet it hurt even her.

[cwilkey]

I have to say I really enjoyed the film until the end. The stakes are HIGH at the end of the this book, it's not a happy tale. People DIE and stuff... This movie left me with zero sense of urgency or dread or any of that. I don't need scenes verbatim form the book, but there should have been a big ass battle at the end with people dying. That said it was very funny and the three main actors get to show off their skills, but some scenes with Ron's stalker could have easily been cut. The more I think about it the less I like it..

[tsmith15]

I really didn't like the movie. I feel I would have likd it a lot more if I had not read the book because the whole Malfoy thing would not have been blatantly obvious. That said, the Malfoy plot was my favorite part of the movie and I think he stole the show. I am amazed at how little of consequence happened in a 150 minute movie, and am also disappointed in the lack of action.

The fourth book was the best book and the fourth movie was the best movie, and I doubt the seventh and eighth movies will change that.

[jabber]

I'm surprised to see how many people are saying that this is their favorite Potter film. It was certainly entertaining but seriously lacking. Insert grains of salt though because my opinion comes from someone who has read all seven books.

When the title of your film is "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", you'd better have more intrigue about who that person is. In the book, the identity of the Half-Blood Prince was a big mystery, but in the movie there are only a few short mentions and the final revelation felt like an afterthought. In the book, learning the identity of the Half-Blood Prince is a huge "HOLY @#$%" moment but in the movie, I felt like the screenwriter finished the script and said "whoops, I forgot about that bit" and wrote in a quick line at the end. I wish there had been more A-plot in this film rather than so much B- and C-plot shenanigans. The entire conclusion of the film was completely disappointing. The book is much darker in tone compared to this movie, which felt like a romantic comedy for the first two hours.

There were little moments of direction that felt like missed opportunities and I'll be interested to hear if the guys picked up on them. One of them in particular has to do with Helena Bonham Carter's exit from the film. She has an expressive face, especially her eyes, but her final shot of the film is a pulled back, full body two-shot of her and Snape. Alan Rickman, particularly in the role of Snape, is menacing. If the camera had pushed into a tight shot of them as Snape exerts authority over Bellatrix, who responds with cavalier disappointment, the moment would have been both intense, with Rickman's calculating demeanor, and comedic with Helena Bonham Carter's humorous reaction. Instead, with the camera pulled so far back, I felt disconnected from the moment and felt no impact at all.

On a positive note, it has been fun to watch the kids grow up and see their acting abilities improve over time. Luna Lovegood was odd and adorable and I wish there had been more of her. Jim Broadbent was funny and entertaining as Professor Slughorn and I would say he added enough comedy alone to keep the film from being too dark and overbearing had they chosen to go that way with it.

The movie is a fun installment in the Harry Potter series but if you've read the books, you absolutely must forget what you've read and judge the movie on its own movement of the story.

[Bret]

I'm surprised to see how many people are saying that this is their favorite Potter film. It was certainly entertaining but seriously lacking. Insert grains of salt though because my opinion comes from someone who has read all seven books....



It was either concentrate on the half blood prince mystery or concentrate on the intro to horcruxes. Order of the Phoenix didnt have all the books content on the Members and all that so its nothing new for the films to cut things. I would rather them set up for the last 2 films then make a mystery movie about who the half blood prince is, especially when it doesn't matter all that much in comparison to the horcruxes. Its just the price you pay when your converting a 18 hour book into a 2 hour movie.

[poltah]

I did not like this movie. And I'm surprised so many people did.

Looking at this movie as a movie enthusiast, I'd call it flat. Nothing really happened. Nobody ever did anything. The most fun in this movie came from the love subplot between Ron and Hermione. And that says a lot about the supposed war between good and evil.

The Half-Blood Prince subplot made no sense at all. It had no effect on anything in the movie, except right in the beginning where the book helped Harry get the Felix Luck potion. Through the rest of the movie, it just appeared from time to time and never did anything.
And the reveal of Snape as the Half-Blood Prince was really a "oh, okay, who cares?" moment.

Even the death of Dumbledore was sort of meh. And in all honesty. Dumbledore isn't a very good character. Essentially he's a watered down Gandalf, without the charm, and without the proof that he's powerful.
When Gandalf talks in the Lotr movies, you listen. You sit there and you know he's important. He's witty, he's charming, but you know he's a person of importance.

The only reason to believe Dumbledore is anyone we should care about, is because people tell us. It's poor writing, and not very good filmmaking. SHOW US through the character that he's worth anything, instead of having other characters tell us how awesome he is.

This movie really gave me the image of the scripwriter sitting down with the Half-Blood Prince book, and dividing all the storylines into sections. There's this subplot, there's this subplot. This happens, and that happens.
Then he took a couple of scenes from all of these sections and threw them into the script, and we got our movie.

This movie felt flat, it lacked any real plot points, it wasn't interesting at all.

I'll admit there were a couple of cool scenes, and the love triangle between Hermione and Ron and Lavender worked really well, but in the end there simply wasn't enough quality filmmaking in this movie.

And where's all the magic? There's no wonder in this movie, no fantasy or fairytale, no adventure. There's no magic!
The wands have become guns instead of tools magic.

I'm disappointed in this movie. It feels lazy, it's unimaginative and I can't help but fear what's in stall for us next.

What I feel this movie should've done was to totally eliminate the Half-blood Prince subplot, and instead focus on the relationship between Dumbledore and Harry.

[tsmith15]

It's poor writing

Ultimately that's my gripe with the whole series. I didn't mind the first 4 books because I was young and uneducated, but by the time the fifth book came out I was schooled enough in grammar and well-read enough to recognize an extremely plainly written story. I think the whole story works well and it spans seven books well and interesting things happen, but its just written extremely childishly.

I don't think that has much to do with the movies, I just felt I should say it.

Does anyone think it would/could have been better if it was longer? Or just that the wrong things were fit into the 2.5 hours? Personally I would not have minded it if was longer, provided they used that as a way to make it a better told and more interesting story.

Also, I wish i knew what it was like to see the movies without having read the books. On one hand it could be better because I wouldn't see things coming, but on the other hand I could be confused.

[jay_ray]

I enjoyed the movie, like the rest but I am not expecting high art from them. I never read the books but I wouldn't expect them to be anything more then the "popcorn flick" equivalent. So since I am not going in with high expectations I leave satisfied.

[gm_wil]

well crap . . . I was looking forward to this movie because of the EPIC battle in the school . . . but it sounds like it's a bust . . .

*furls sails and sits quietly in the small rowboat, hoping the wind brings more reviews*

-

[poltah]

Ultimately that's my gripe with the whole series. I didn't mind the first 4 books because I was young and uneducated, but by the time the fifth book came out I was schooled enough in grammar and well-read enough to recognize an extremely plainly written story. I think the whole story works well and it spans seven books well and interesting things happen, but its just written extremely childishly.


Was talking about the movie. The movie was poorly written. Didn't mean the books.

[stayambiguous]

I'm just gonna post what I said on slashfilm.

"I found it mediocre at best. It was one of my least favorite harry potter movies. I found it jumpy and the moods were constantly changing in my opinion. Half of the time it felt like the summer's newest romantic comedy, instead of the dark 6th installment of the HP series I love so much.

Many of the roles were undermined, including Tonks, Lupin, Hagrid ect ect. I found that Draco had little to do while he was such a vital character, and it was just constant shots of him moping around. They switched Tonks out in exchange for Luna, who was one of my favorite characters in the book. I like Luna, but that role was vital for the Lupin + Tonks developing relationship, as well as expressing the growing fear of Death Eaters, having a full blown Auror just rescue Harry.

I have major problems with the battle scenes. The whole "Burrow Fight" which was completely new and non-cannon to the original story killed it for me, while they removed the entire "Flight from Hogwarts" epic battle that I was so desperately hoping for.

I also felt like Ron was thrown in just for kicks, with Hermoinie being the only "serious" companion of Harry in this version. And Lavender Brown came off incredibly creepy, which I would understand after she and Ron broke up or when Ron started avoiding her, but it was just constant creepers-ville in my book.

Quiditch, which was supposed to have a complete reboot, was totally underdone. There was one match. And the tryouts. It was a MAJOR part of Ron's plot during the film, and they completely threw it out the window as with many other scenes. The new outfits were exclusive to the Griffindor players, which made it feel like it was just their personal preference, not a new aspect to the sport.

I could go on and on with my little problems with the film, but it was a complete disappointment to me. I found it charming and funny and the comedy was very nice, but definitely shouldn't have been in the film whatsoever.

On the bright side, it was a beautiful film. I loved the washed out color tones they used when Ron was nervous playing his first match. The scene of Dumbledore falling was very appropriate, albeit ending up to be vastly underdone for the 2nd most important death in the series. The visual effects were better than ever, and the use of the classic Harry Potter music was completely sound. I just didn't like the movie itself.

Its really a shame. I can't understand why people enjoyed it. I kept whispering over to my girlfriend telling her all the parts I disliked or thought were distasteful. She ended up agreeing with me on almost every point and we never agree on movies =). But it had major problems that I couldn't get past to the point where I could enjoy it."

I had so many other issues with this film, but I can only dislike things so much. It had good points, and bad points. I wouldn't see it again like some of the other people said, and it wasn't worth my $8, but I still had a decent time.

[dvereb]

I'm glad to see that others didn't like it too. I was beginning to think that because it was my first drive in movie in years, THAT was why I didn't like it. After watching the movie before this one to get pumped up, I wish I wouldn't have. IMO the last movie was much better!

[hoaznod]

I thought it was okay before I reread the book, but after rereading it the day after I was surprised how many major plot points and character defining moments were left out or butchered.

The "romance" parts, if you were to call it that, was absolute filth. I may not have been the coolest teenager, but I know what flirting is suppose to be and what I saw onscreen was definitly not it. Everything definitly felt like a fake disney relationship. The book on the other hand does a good job of getting all the jitters of teen flirting and uncertainty down flat. I understand the book has much more time to develop this kind of stuff, but the romance stuff was the main theme of the movie. (At least that's what I got out of it).

I couldn't believe they left out so much stuff, especially everything at the end. Yes they did the cave part well, but the end of the book is this giant rollarcoaster ride that just doesn't stop for like 60 pages. It's like big revelation after big revelation after huge battle. The movie completely blotched it. I also thought the final Malfoy v Dumbledore scene was done horribly generic.

I think that many of the crucial scenes they left out will be added to the Deathly Hollows Part I movie so I guess I'll be fine with that to provide a coheret film, but the one thing I never liked about the movies was that there were all one off adventures. There really is no connection between films. Sometimes entire events aren't even mentioned. Dumbledore's talks with Harry was a cornerstone of the book for me as it was the one place where a lot of the books were threaded together.

Lastly, I really really hated the way they handled the Vanishing Box. It was such a huge mystery during the book to see what the hell Malfoy was up to. It was the single driving force for Harry and the reader the entire book, driving him and you insane because he didn't know what Malfoy was up to. The movie just flat out ruins the end reveal buy giving so many ridiculous hints that you should have figured it out after 30 minutes into the movie.

It wasn't a bad movie. But it was a squandered opportunity for something much better.

[amr]

I think this film wasn't awful, but was just not any good. I am listening to the TRS review now, and I totally agree with Jeff, when he says that the adult acting was great, however, I completely disagree with Dan and Alex. The childrens acting except for one was slightly above par. Daniel Radcliffe's acting was awful.

I have not read the books, and have seen all the other films, as I hope the films would get better over time. When I walked into this film, I had no idea what was going on! Seeing the last film over a year and a half ago, it was really difficult to remember what had happened.

All the previous films didn't really have anything important that stuck out in my mind. So when I started watching this one, I found it very difficult to remember if I should be remembering anything imparticular from the last ones. They should have made this film for people who hadn't seen the others.

Great cinematography and apart from the issues I have with the storyline (but this is down to the books ;) ) it was in all a below average movie.

My main reason is because this is a Movie, and so should not rely on you having read the book, to need to know what was going on. So as a Movie it was poor, but maybe as a book + movie it was amazing. I am not sure, any ideas?

[poltah]

They should have made this film for people who hadn't seen the others.


How on earth are they supposed to do that? How do you make one story that's going to span over 8 movies, and make each movie so you don't have to have seen the previous? That's impossible.


Great cinematography and apart from the issues I have with the storyline (but this is down to the books ;) ) it was in all a below average movie.


No it's not. The storyline from the book is very poorly represented in the movie. The problems, storywise, in the movie stems from the script, not from the books.

[amr]

How on earth are they supposed to do that? How do you make one story that's going to span over 8 movies, and make each movie so you don't have to have seen the previous? That's impossible.



No it's not. The storyline from the book is very poorly represented in the movie. The problems, storywise, in the movie stems from the script, not from the books.


Obviously you misunderstood where I was coming from. Just give the viewer some key points from the previous film to help work out where we are at in the story. The previous films all pretty much merge into one in my mind, so picking out relevant info for this film was tough as from what I gathered, this and the next film are where the entire story actually has a point to it.

As for the cinematography, let me rephrase that - the way it was shot was excellent. and as for the story issues I had, I believe the overall story from the book was a poor, with many faults within it, so making a good film based on that book would have problems anyway.

[poltah]

Obviously you misunderstood where I was coming from. Just give the viewer some key points from the previous film to help work out where we are at in the story. The previous films all pretty much merge into one in my mind, so picking out relevant info for this film was tough as from what I gathered, this and the next film are where the entire story actually has a point to it.

As for the cinematography, let me rephrase that - the way it was shot was excellent. and as for the story issues I had, I believe the overall story from the book was a poor, with many faults within it, so making a good film based on that book would have problems anyway.

I thought the way it was shot was very unimaginative.

Regarding the story. Have you read the books? If not, you can't really speak about the quality.

And still. I wouldn't want the movie waste time with a "previously in Harry Potter".

[tsmith15]

I read the books and everything that happened in the movie felt like deja vu, understandably, except that I don't remember well enough to tel you what was going to happen, except for the ending. I feel like they were stuck between making it chalk full of plot or have barely any, in an effort to cater to both the book-readers and the movie-watchers but I feel they ended up alienating everyone. The people who haven't read the books felt a little lost and the people who have read the books felt cheated.

I don't remember how much of the book talks about horcruxes, but I know they only brought it up like 30 minutes from the end in the movie, and they barely talked about the half-blood prince thing at all. So what DID they put in the first two hours? Some cheesy romance that works way better in the book, three minutes of quidditch, and shots of Malfoy looking constipated (someone elses words)?

It should have been a much much better movie, and I really don't think the length of the book has anything to do with it.

[poltah]

What they did is that they took a little from every subplot and storyline in the book and threw it together in the movie, instead of picking one main thing and a couple of subplots and focused on that.

Everything from the book was represented. None of it was done well. Except for the Hermione and Ron thing in my opinion, I liked that.

[mcdan]

SPOILER CAM I agree with you poltah. There where only two things that I demanded from this movie.

1. A true love story between Harry and Genny. At the end of Book 6 Harry ends his relation ship with Genny to keep her safe so that, "he who must not be named" will not target her to get to Harry. This movie portrayed that relationship as an infatuation. Unless they add something to movies 7a or 7b then the fact that they get married will come out of no where. There should have been alot more snogging from these too.

2. The lightning struck tower... Harry should not feel guilt about not doing anything to save Dumbledore. Harry his not a coward, and Snape holding a wand to his head would never stop Harry from charging in. The reason he should not feel guilt is that he should have been frozen still under his invisability cloak under the last spell Dumbledore ever casts. This part of the movie should have been done the way that JKR wrote it.

I know I will be dismissed as a book nut and that is ok with me. Yates did a great job with 5 but I am disapointed in 6 and I hope the next two are much better.

Now that I have said my 2 cents I will take my h8r pants off. :)

[darthender]

I do think that some of what was cut out from this movie from the book will probably show up in the next movie.

[poltah]

I really think they cut too little.

[johnnysix]

Was I the only one laughing uncontrolably at the bit where Harry forces Gandalf to drink a whole bottle of Jager? The rapid fire cuts of Gandalf moaning and spluttering. The least Harry could do was get him a drink of water.

[murphy1d]

Was I the only one laughing uncontrolably at the bit where Harry forces Gandalf to drink a whole bottle of Jager? The rapid fire cuts of Gandalf moaning and spluttering. The least Harry could do was get him a drink of water.

Yeah, and then Smeagol and his family came up and tried to take away the Ring...LOL that WAS hilarious!!! :rolleyes: