On the latest Harry Potter flick

[gwalla]

Overall, pretty entertaining. Random thoughts, spoilers ahoy:

Dumbledore is a cockblocker. Couldn't recruiting Slughorn have waited?

Sure was nice of the Death Eaters to make sure all the muggles got off of that bridge before it collapsed.

I love Luna Lovegood. She's so completely out of it. She's probably my favorite character at this point. Also, those x-ray specs are stylin'.

Ron really was thick as a whale in this installment. Harry, too, seemed to have caught a severe case of the retarded when he ran after Bellatrix LeStrange when the Order of the Phoenix is right fucking there.

Speaking of Bellatrix, Helena Bonham Carter seemed to be channeling Johnny Depp channeling Keith Richards. She had the Captain Jack wobble down.

This was the druggiest installment yet, with two extended drug scenes: Ron drunk on love potion, and Harry after taking the cocaine luck potion. Harry's behavior on the potion was particularly funny. Harry with an excess of confidence is kind of a dick.

Definitely a feeling of middle-movie-itis this time around. Lots of setting stuff up, but not much in the way of a story arc for this specific film. Snape revealing that he's the "half-blood prince" feels like it was supposed to be climactic, except that mystery was pretty minor—the only reason it seemed like it should be at all relevant was the title—and had already been overshadowed by the showdown in the tower. "Yes, I am the half-blood prince!" "Um...okay. Good for you?"

Comments

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

I've been informed by a reliable source (my mom, who's read all of the books) that the "Half-Blood Prince" mystery is more prominent in the book, and the reveal plays out very differently (apparently the Death Eaters burning Hagrid's house is not in the book).

I think they handled Draco pretty well in this one, actually. At first he's all proud to have joined the Death Eaters and been chosen for an important mission, but slowly starts to crack under the pressure. As much of a self-centered asshole as he is, he's not a sociopath and murder is way beyond the petty villainy he'd engaged in before.

[fishbulb42.livejournal.com]

Not only does the term "Half-Blood Prince" actually mean something, it's an important part of character history for Snape. Not crucial, but important.

My mom is also considerably more up on the books than I am (have read them, but not in a while), and spent a while after the movie complaining about the things they left out while adding in the scene where the Death Eaters burn the Weasley house.

[merri-chan.livejournal.com]

The house burning seems like a weird thing to add, unless the real ending was horibbly long and convoluted or somthing like that.
The house burnings in general pissed me off and made me wtf a little too. Wouldn't there be some spell that could put the fire out with magic? You've got like 10 wizards RIGHT THERE, and all you're gonna do is stare at it like cows? But I digress.

They did handle Draco's progression of emotions in this one pretty well, but I don't think that he was suppossed to be the main point of the movie like it was for me. I mean, it is 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' and not 'Draco Malfoy and that Snazzy Looking Closet'.