Harry Potter is back again; the books have finished their run but the movies will be continuing into 2011. Two more years, gang, then peace, unless Daniel Radcliffe decides to nude it up on stage again. If that happens, it may never leave the news cycle.
Unless you're Helen Keller, you know that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has hit cinemas. Helen Keller died before the whole Harry Potter thing so she'd have no idea. A group of us went to the Parramatta megaplex to see it; something that's usually best to avoid. I saw the second Pirates of the Caribbean film there; if that wasn't bad enough, the guy next to me a) smelled, b) had his phone on, and not on silent, c) answered his phone when it rang and carried on a conversation and d) made this fucking clicking noise with his mouth every time something dramatic happened. I had a good lawyer, and didn't go to prison for murdering him. Also there was a baby in the audience - at 9pm session - that didn't get removed when it cried.
This time there was a baby again, and, again, it cried. Luckily for the baby, I'm a lousy shot. Meanwhile, there were these awful giant bogans a few rows back; during the pre-movie ads, they laughed at this fucking Cadbury ad:
Despite it being one of the creepiest ads in the history of time - not in a clever way, but in a stupid way - they were laughing throughout the whole thing, almost losing control, enjoying it so much you'd thing they were watching George Carlin and being blown at the same time. "That was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" the larger of the two said, who should have been made to pay for two seats. No, it wasn't. And it doesn't even have anything to do with chocolate. Very clever, Cadbury, you had a viral hit with that nonsensical drumming gorilla. Please go back to just making ads about your actual product now, rather than ones that make a good argument for the culling of child actors.
Then the movie started!
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Like the characters within it, the Harry Potter series continues to grow up. No longer are they boring, childish pieces of shit, slaves to their source material. Since Prisoner of Azkaban, when Alfonso Cuaron took over from Christopher Columbus, the films cannot be written off immediately - no surprise when switching from the guy behind Stepmom to the guy behind Children of Men. They still vary in quality, and all are flawed, but they now have actual merit; something which didn't seem possible in those first two films.
Once again, David Yates (who directed the brilliant State of Play miniseries) is at the helm, as he will be for the rest of the series. He's a good choice, handling action scenes well, and has made the series darker, both in tone and visually. We start in the a few weeks after the last film, when Sirius Black, godfather to Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), was killed. He is introduced by his mentor and principal, Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to an old teacher Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) before staying with best friends Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron's sister - and Harry's would-be girlfriend - Ginny (Bonnie Wright).
Upon returning to school, Harry becomes aware that Dumbledore has plans for him which involve Slughorn, and on enrolling in his class, he comes across a mysterious textbook belonging to someone who calls themselves the Half Blood Prince. Meanwhile, teacher Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) has been tasked by sisters Narcissa Malfoy (Helen McCrory) and Bellatrix LeStrange (Helena Bonham Carter) with helping Harry's enemy, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) carry out a deed on behalf of Voldemort, the villain of the series. Double-meanwhile, Harry and his friends are more and more becoming slaves to their hormones and teen romance. It should be noted that Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter typically bring anything they're in up a level; that's no different here.
The main complaint from fans of the books seems to be that the Harry Potter films diverge too much from the novels. The thing is, novels and films are different beasts. The most faithful of the films - the first two - are by far the worst. So, once again, Half Blood Prince takes many liberties, often at its own betterment. We still have a very long film, clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, but it zips along, not bogged down by minuscule details. The subplots have varying levels of success: Ron's romance with the smitten Lavender Brown (Jessica Cave) wins the most laughs; also funny is Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch), although she isn't given a huge amount to do. Harry's relationship with Ginny doesn't fare as well; Harry goes through very little inner torment here and doesn't move forward as a character, while Ginny isn't a character at all, so much as a pile of molecules that needs to smile more. Or exude any emotion; it doesn't matter which one. Whether this is the fault of Rowling's source material, Steve Kloves' adaptation or the lack of charisma Bonnie Wright has as an actress is hard to say; it's an even mix of all three. The result is that the film's central romance falls flatter that Wright's acting.
The two central plotline have similar variance in their success. The questions raised and answered by Harry's Slughorn mission offer some intrigue; the mystery of the Half Blood Prince, none at all. Draco's torment at his would have been more interesting if more centralised; their backgrounding removes much impact. Draco goes through much more than Harry in the film, so more screen time, perhaps at the expense of the mystery that surrounds him, would have served the film better. The biggest issue, however, is how anticlimactic it all is. While devotion to the novel would have been its downfall, the film excises the final battle of the novel, leaving the film without a final action sequence or, well, a climax.
This is symptomatic of the entire film. We're almost at the end of the series, so the movie is all build-up with little payoff. What remains feels more like an episode of the continuing Harry Potter serial rather than a film in its own right. It's a shame it couldn't have been both. It's an entertaining enough episode, to be sure, but in the end, not a memorable one.
6/10
Take that, innocent child actors!
Then after the film I had a go at a guy who came up to us and complained that the film was too different from the book. It was fun; he'll be released from hopsital in the next couple of days.
Unless you're Helen Keller, you know that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has hit cinemas. Helen Keller died before the whole Harry Potter thing so she'd have no idea. A group of us went to the Parramatta megaplex to see it; something that's usually best to avoid. I saw the second Pirates of the Caribbean film there; if that wasn't bad enough, the guy next to me a) smelled, b) had his phone on, and not on silent, c) answered his phone when it rang and carried on a conversation and d) made this fucking clicking noise with his mouth every time something dramatic happened. I had a good lawyer, and didn't go to prison for murdering him. Also there was a baby in the audience - at 9pm session - that didn't get removed when it cried.
This time there was a baby again, and, again, it cried. Luckily for the baby, I'm a lousy shot. Meanwhile, there were these awful giant bogans a few rows back; during the pre-movie ads, they laughed at this fucking Cadbury ad:
Despite it being one of the creepiest ads in the history of time - not in a clever way, but in a stupid way - they were laughing throughout the whole thing, almost losing control, enjoying it so much you'd thing they were watching George Carlin and being blown at the same time. "That was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" the larger of the two said, who should have been made to pay for two seats. No, it wasn't. And it doesn't even have anything to do with chocolate. Very clever, Cadbury, you had a viral hit with that nonsensical drumming gorilla. Please go back to just making ads about your actual product now, rather than ones that make a good argument for the culling of child actors.
Then the movie started!
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Like the characters within it, the Harry Potter series continues to grow up. No longer are they boring, childish pieces of shit, slaves to their source material. Since Prisoner of Azkaban, when Alfonso Cuaron took over from Christopher Columbus, the films cannot be written off immediately - no surprise when switching from the guy behind Stepmom to the guy behind Children of Men. They still vary in quality, and all are flawed, but they now have actual merit; something which didn't seem possible in those first two films.
Once again, David Yates (who directed the brilliant State of Play miniseries) is at the helm, as he will be for the rest of the series. He's a good choice, handling action scenes well, and has made the series darker, both in tone and visually. We start in the a few weeks after the last film, when Sirius Black, godfather to Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), was killed. He is introduced by his mentor and principal, Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to an old teacher Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) before staying with best friends Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron's sister - and Harry's would-be girlfriend - Ginny (Bonnie Wright).
Upon returning to school, Harry becomes aware that Dumbledore has plans for him which involve Slughorn, and on enrolling in his class, he comes across a mysterious textbook belonging to someone who calls themselves the Half Blood Prince. Meanwhile, teacher Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) has been tasked by sisters Narcissa Malfoy (Helen McCrory) and Bellatrix LeStrange (Helena Bonham Carter) with helping Harry's enemy, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) carry out a deed on behalf of Voldemort, the villain of the series. Double-meanwhile, Harry and his friends are more and more becoming slaves to their hormones and teen romance. It should be noted that Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter typically bring anything they're in up a level; that's no different here.
The main complaint from fans of the books seems to be that the Harry Potter films diverge too much from the novels. The thing is, novels and films are different beasts. The most faithful of the films - the first two - are by far the worst. So, once again, Half Blood Prince takes many liberties, often at its own betterment. We still have a very long film, clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, but it zips along, not bogged down by minuscule details. The subplots have varying levels of success: Ron's romance with the smitten Lavender Brown (Jessica Cave) wins the most laughs; also funny is Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch), although she isn't given a huge amount to do. Harry's relationship with Ginny doesn't fare as well; Harry goes through very little inner torment here and doesn't move forward as a character, while Ginny isn't a character at all, so much as a pile of molecules that needs to smile more. Or exude any emotion; it doesn't matter which one. Whether this is the fault of Rowling's source material, Steve Kloves' adaptation or the lack of charisma Bonnie Wright has as an actress is hard to say; it's an even mix of all three. The result is that the film's central romance falls flatter that Wright's acting.
The two central plotline have similar variance in their success. The questions raised and answered by Harry's Slughorn mission offer some intrigue; the mystery of the Half Blood Prince, none at all. Draco's torment at his would have been more interesting if more centralised; their backgrounding removes much impact. Draco goes through much more than Harry in the film, so more screen time, perhaps at the expense of the mystery that surrounds him, would have served the film better. The biggest issue, however, is how anticlimactic it all is. While devotion to the novel would have been its downfall, the film excises the final battle of the novel, leaving the film without a final action sequence or, well, a climax.
This is symptomatic of the entire film. We're almost at the end of the series, so the movie is all build-up with little payoff. What remains feels more like an episode of the continuing Harry Potter serial rather than a film in its own right. It's a shame it couldn't have been both. It's an entertaining enough episode, to be sure, but in the end, not a memorable one.
6/10
Take that, innocent child actors!
Then after the film I had a go at a guy who came up to us and complained that the film was too different from the book. It was fun; he'll be released from hopsital in the next couple of days.
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