To be honest, I didn't expect much when I went to see the movie. From what I heard here and there, however there are many glowing reviews of the movie online. However, I didn't expect what came out of the movie - as such the following impression could as well be due to missed expectations (which I believed to have kept low) and not to a movie that missed it's mark.
I've read, and enjoyed, all of the Harry Potter books - the first being my favorite. Each book sets out a puzzle. May it be finding out who the evil teacher is, discovering who a given person is, finding a specific person, etc. And once the puzzle is solved -- at the last minute of course -- does the story come to an end, usually through some battle. As well, the puzzle has plenty of tracks to send the three protagonists off course, and the school-year keeps them occupied.
Upon watching the movie, something didn't feel right. The characters were there, however there was this 'puzzle' component that was missing. Of course there was a search for who the `Half Blood Prince' was, and what Malfoy was doing, and the final memory from Slughorn. There were no false roads - everything was straight-forward and clear.
I understand this movie is supposed to serve as a bridge to the other two, albeit it feels like they simplified it for the sake of making the last two better. Every major component is there, but not fleshed out. There are puzzles, but no false paths that can be deciphered until the next movie.
The movie finished off as a bridge to the next, whereas the book went out with a bang aided by a battle at Hogwarts castle between students+teachers versus death eaters with Malfoy and Dumbledore discussing amidst the chaos while Harry is stuck underneath his invisibility cloak immobilized by Dumbledore; this one had Dumbledore die and death eaters proudly running off and only killing Dumbledore. Maybe my favorite scene in the book - absent in the movie.
The other scene in the book that I can clearly recall - was that of Moaning Myrtle screaming "murder" after Harry hits Draco with the spell 'sectumsempra'. In the book - there is consequence for Harry - and Snape clearly goes for the book. In the movie, in practically the next scene Harry resolves to get rid of the book - and he just walks away from a bloodied Draco letting Snape tend to Draco's wounds.
In the end, it wasn't a bad movie, neither was it as good as it's predecessors in my opinion. My opinion has nothing to do with the quality of the movie's visuals or audio (which are superb - I wouldn't expect anything less from a big budget movie) but the chosen content. This seems to be because two scenes that I associated as memorable from the book were missing from the movie.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment