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My opinion of Half-Blood Prince (film) has almost done a complete 180
After seeing Part 1 and hearing how so many people were lost, I'm starting to think they went in the wrong direction with the sixth film.
Now, I still think it's a great film and just unspeakably better than the first two, but I think they focused way too much on the comedy and romance. For me, the great thing about the sixth book was that it fleshed out our main antagonist so much and through that, set up Harry's mission. Now, they still did an okay job with establishing the Horcruxes and stuff, but I felt that they rushed through all of that way too quickly just so that they could get to the next moment of humor or teen drama.
It's like "ifonedestroysallthehorcruxesonedestroysvoldemort OKAY NEXT FUNNY MOMENT PLEASE"
I think if the focus were on the memories, also, it would have given them the opportunity to get out of Hogwarts even more, and even beyond that, had some amazing/interesting, old-timey sets and creepy locations like the Gaunt house. I think this would have made for a far, far more interesting and poignant film than "lol lavender lol"
Like I said, I still consider it to be a great film. What they do right, they do really right-- Dumbledore's death, the cave sequence, Harry vs. Draco, and so on. It retains Yates' fantastic filmmaking qualities and the music was incredible-- as was the cinematography. I just think that if the script focused on the memories and Voldemort's backstory more, it would have been far more interesting, compelling, and I think people would understand the storyline much better.
A missed opportunity, but a great film nonetheless.
Now, I still think it's a great film and just unspeakably better than the first two, but I think they focused way too much on the comedy and romance. For me, the great thing about the sixth book was that it fleshed out our main antagonist so much and through that, set up Harry's mission. Now, they still did an okay job with establishing the Horcruxes and stuff, but I felt that they rushed through all of that way too quickly just so that they could get to the next moment of humor or teen drama.
It's like "ifonedestroysallthehorcruxesonedestroysvoldemort OKAY NEXT FUNNY MOMENT PLEASE"
I think if the focus were on the memories, also, it would have given them the opportunity to get out of Hogwarts even more, and even beyond that, had some amazing/interesting, old-timey sets and creepy locations like the Gaunt house. I think this would have made for a far, far more interesting and poignant film than "lol lavender lol"
Like I said, I still consider it to be a great film. What they do right, they do really right-- Dumbledore's death, the cave sequence, Harry vs. Draco, and so on. It retains Yates' fantastic filmmaking qualities and the music was incredible-- as was the cinematography. I just think that if the script focused on the memories and Voldemort's backstory more, it would have been far more interesting, compelling, and I think people would understand the storyline much better.
A missed opportunity, but a great film nonetheless.
Comments
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
If the memories had focused on Voldemort's backstory, people would understand this, and there would be much less confusion about the Horcruxes and what was going on overall in Deathly Hallows.
Lord Stafford.
Luckily, Hallows Part 1 has, for the most part, set everything right-- the film did good at portraying how deadly the Horcruxes are and it explained that they could be anywhere, could be anything. That's one reason why I was so happy when I walked out of the theater. But if Half-Blood Prince had focused on this instead of the redundant comedy and teen romance that I personally feel does NOT define that book at all.
Lord Stafford.
And I greatly disagree with Kloves there. Sometimes in order to move forward, you must go back. Did the romance and humor drive the plot forward? No.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
Lord Stafford.
I think it is one of the
greatest films ever made,
and one of the best in
the franchise.
HBP is a NOW OR NEVER
type of film.
I just want you to open
up your minds a little
bit.
The ROMANCE in HBP was
ABSOLUTELY great, and I loved
the way they handled it.
I feel so VERY LUCKY that
we got the chance to see
our characters develop in that
type of environment.
It was THE LAST CHANCE to
do something a little bit
more relaxed and romantic
in the HP Franchise, and I
think that is one of the things
that makes this film, AN AMAZING FILM!
GO HBP!
G.G.
I certainly think it is one of the best films in the franchise. Greater character development than any other one before it.
It did feel as though Yates was just going through the motions very reluctantly during the important scenes to get back to more "HAHAHA let's all laugh at Lavender drawing for 30 seconds". Really dude? There gets to a point where none the "comedy" (pathetic as much of it was) contributes to anything. Not the characters or the plot. It just becomes redundant, pathetic and boring. They could have cut half the comedy scenes and the character development would not be affected, in fact it would leave more time to develop the relationship which was MOST IMPORTANT in this film but which they absolutely BOTCHED. Dumbledore and Harry. Their relationship in the movie was pathetic. And I think one of the main problems is Kloves can't write for Dumbledore at all. That goes for many other characters too.
And I think ultimately WB got it into their heads that HBP had to be a comedy, and, despite what they say, I think they were pretty determined for it to be PG in the US.
When I think about it, the movie was really just a kids movie pretending to be grown up and dark. Just because the cinematography was dark and the score was dark, doesn't make it a dark adult movie. The comedy wasn't funny, there was no sexual tension to speak of or anything, and they never dipped into any of the more adult aspects of the story.
Now let me get this straight, I would have very little problem with HBP if it had actually managed what they set out to achieve. They wanted to make it the "sex, drugs and rock and roll" Harry Potter movie that felt a bit like Trainspotting. And if they had actually managed that, while balancing the plot I'm sure I could have loved it. The problem was that firstly the balance between plot and comedy was way off (courtesy of Kloves I think, who doesn't know when it's appropriate) and also that the movie for claiming to be a romantic comedy, was completely devoid of passion or raw sexual energy. There should have been innuendoes and sex jokes and of course the whole drugs side of things with the potions wasn't really explored. I remember they cut a line about Dumbledore which suggested he'd experimented with "substances" in his youth, but they cut it for being too adult. Yeah, if you want to make a movie that purports to be "sex, drugs and rock and roll" don't go back and make it "kissing, potions and rock and roll".
Like I said, it really was a pretty kiddie movie dressed up as a darker one, one that I believe it was originally intended to be and one that it certainly should have been.