Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-14-2009, 03:08 AM:

Well, "ladies and gents": "Mr. Potter" is growing up!

The last two movies that needs to be made should really top this fable off.

4/5 for me.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-14-2009, 04:00 AM:

quote: Monte
Topic: "Mr. Potter," the VI

Monte,

Did you have a brain fart with that subject header?

Adam's not going to be happy... [thumbsdown]

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 07-14-2009, 06:11 AM:

real title [Razz]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

--

I actually quite enjoyed it. It's too early for me to rank, but it's up there at the top of the six so far.

Fairly dark themes for a PG rating.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 07-14-2009, 06:48 AM:

I liked it as well. I know there will be a ton of bitching about what was left out from the books.

The only negative feeling I took away from the movie was that it was very open-ended and left too much unanswered. Obviously this is something that couldn't be help with what's still to come. It's pretty much the same feeling I had at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. The only reason why I bother to mention this point is because the previous movies all felt like self contained stories and when the movie was over, you felt like that chapter of the story was done.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 07-14-2009, 08:41 AM:

[splode]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-14-2009, 12:52 PM:

Okey Adam, you can smile now .. I was having a 'bit of fun'

I could easily tolerate seeing it again.

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 07-14-2009, 01:01 PM:

Well, that's a ringing endorsement.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-15-2009, 02:30 AM:

What I did like about it is that this film's story and plot got things back on track - to get ready for the last book - one big shooting so it can be split for the two upcoming releases.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-15-2009, 06:49 AM:

I thought it was generally good, but I think they blew the ending by not following the book a bit closer. The ending for this one could have been and should have been really really good, but they chose a different direction for some reason and it was a bit of a disappointment for me. But I still liked it, and will probably see it again.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-15-2009, 07:35 PM:

I've heard a few negative comments about the ending. I think this one is "pretty good" but not overwhelmingly so, according to comments I'm hearing.

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 07-15-2009, 11:04 PM:

I'm torn on this one. I rather liked the previous movie, and don't think this one stacks up, despite the sixth book being better than the fifth. I think the four main protagonists (Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore) are well developed in this movie, although Hermione and Ron take a backseat that betrays their relationship with Harry, as depicted in the previous movies and all the books. Dumbledore is especially effective, which is as it should be. Even Malfoy is well written.

Some of the other characters, however, get the shaft. This is a big deal, because this particular part of the story is entirely about setting the characters up for the home stretch.

Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
Voldemort, especially, is wronged here. Dumbledore completely glosses over the significance of the items Voldemort has chosen as his horcruxes. Just by the movie, you're left with the impression that Voldemort may have chosen a soup can to hold a piece of his immortal soul. In fact, his vanity and self-aggrandizement drive him to choose items of immense value and significance. Without this little bit of information, the quest left to Harry et al is impossible. Furthermore, Voldemort's character is done wrong by the omission of the key dialog from the book between Harry and Dumbledore in the cave. The relationship between Ginny and Harry also gets the shaft, which is harmful to exposition of Harry's motives in the rest (and also relevant to the dreadful epilogue from the seventh book. Here's to hoping they axe that in the eighth movie. Probably the most contrived bit of writing I've ever seen published, apart from Ayn Rand.). There was some other stuff that I think could've been better, but I think a lot of that is countered by the fantastic awkward atmosphere developed on the first half of the movie.

In closing, I think that, as long as this movie was, it almost could've been a bit longer. I think this one needed a two-movie treatment more than the finale, most of which can be covered by a montage, but obviously that wouldn't have been commercially practical. Also, there isn't really a climactic bit towards the middle to separate it into two.

Posted by Tom Inglis (Member # 5181) on 07-16-2009, 08:33 AM:

Apparently they haven't axed the dreadful epilogue...

But anyway, the film.

I thought the film, as a film, was near perfect. Everything felt necessary, well done and essential.

Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
the one thing i'd change is the ending, it had the chance to be the Empire Strikes Back of Harry Potter, ending on Dumbledore's dead face... but they shirked away and gave the kids hope...

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 07-18-2009, 10:40 PM:

It seems that the key to fully comprehending this collection of Harry Potter movies is in having read the corresponding novels. Each film has amounted to a greatest hits compilation of favourite bits from the book with the background details filled in by the book readers' own fore knowledge and enthusiasm for the material. Pity us poor non book readers, then, as we attempt to decipher the relevance/importance of the included set pieces and how they fit in to the central narrative. This sixth instalment in the series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, does not break this mould. Even the central premise of the film stretches credulity; Draco Malfoy is recruited by Voldemort to assassinate Professor Dumbledore, one of the most respected and powerful good guys in the wizardry league. Sure, and let's enlist a school girl to take out Dirty Harry while we're at it! Perhaps the justification for the believability of this premise is in the detail missing from the film. The book readers will know.

Another of the films great mysteries is why it is two and a half hours long when, frankly, not much happens in it. The fault lies in a sloppy script which contains little action but much soap opera and relies heavily on character dialogue to interpret the transpiring events. Given that the next book is to be stretched over 2 movies, be prepared for an even sloppier script. Maybe the producers should have hired Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh to look over the scripts given their success in distilling Tolkien's vastly complicated work into a script which, while taking extensive licence, was spiritually congruent with it's source? Indeed, had they sighted the Half Blood Prince script, they may have pointed out that having Harry and Dumbledore stranded on a tiny island in a subterranean lake being attacked by an army of Smeagols is perhaps just a teeny weeny bit close to a scene from The Hobbit.

Many lyricals have been waxed over how dark this entry is, and there's even a death in it, but when a crowded suspension bridge is destroyed in London and every soul miraculously gets off the bridge safely, you know the film really isn't that dark! Of course this doesn't stop the following morning's paper reporting on the "rising death toll"; apparently the Potterverse papers hold little regard for journalistic integrity.

Character development is virtually nonexistant, even after Harry beats a fellow student to within half a millimetre of his life, with the exception of a 3 second shot of Harry briefly considering the ramifications of his actions, his overall character arc remains unchanged. Every other character departs the film as they entered. Indeed, in retrospect, there has been little character development throughout the entire series.

However, despite this there are performances to enjoy. Jim Broadbent is particularly delightful, playing to his strengths as the jovial Horace Slughorn. As Luna Lovegood, Evanna Lynch's refreshing quirkiness steals all her scenes with her gorgeous ditzyness. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint hold up their end of the bargain and Daniel Radcliffe does what he can with Potter who always was the dullest character. Bonnie Wright is easy to warm to as Ginny Weasley.

As the franchise approaches the business end of its story arc and the Potter Lore correspondingly compounds in its complexity, the movies become increasingly incoherent due to their "greatest hits" mentality. It's as if a lot of critical details have been left out in order to make room for detail which is crowd-pleasing but ultimately inconsequential; a problem which compounds with each succeeding film; the deeper the lore, the more it gets glossed over. This will be a particular challenge for the last entry in the series due for release late next year which will need to draw all these threads, missing or otherwise, into an intelligible whole.

5 out of 10.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 07-19-2009, 02:03 AM:

Stu, I sometimes wish I could watch the Harry Potter movies without the knowledge of the books, just to see how they hold together.

Although I presume most of the deviations from the story are done for the sake of time and to minimize the number of characters, I had also assumed the point was to try and keep the plot understandable for those who have not read the books. But it appears they have failed on that last.

Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
For what it's worth, the scene where Harry and Dumbledore are being "attacked by an army of Smeagols" is straight out of the book. What is missing from the movie is the information about how Voldemort uses what are essentially zombies as an army and they are in the lake to protect his horocrux. When the lake water is disturbed, they rise to capture who ever might have been attempting to steal the trinket. These "zombies", or inferi as they are called, are mentioned several times early in the book.

Also from the book, Draco is appointed the task of killing Dumbledore as punishment for his father having failed to retrieve the prophecy in the last story. It is implied that Voldermort fully expects Draco to die while trying to accomplish the task.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-19-2009, 03:11 AM:

Yo Justin, If you want to have a quick lesson on Potter, take a peek at Wiki Potter and you'll then know what is going on.

-Monte

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 07-19-2009, 05:54 AM:

I've read each of the book multiple times. I think I'm fairly knowledgeable about the story.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-19-2009, 06:27 PM:

CINEMA: Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons, Sandy, UT
AUDITORIUM: 14 (the "KJZZ HD Theater")
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

My favorite seat in the room is F16, and I reserved it a week in advance of this showing. Which probably wasn't necessary. NOBODY sits down here unless they have no choice, particularly on an early Sunday afternoon. So the trailers start and suddenly here comes this guy and his girlfriend who sit right next to me. They didn't reserve these seats...they moved from somewhere else. The rows in front and back are COMPLETELY EMPTY, and nobody is in THIS row but me, but they just HAVE to sit next to me. And the guy's bouncing his leg up and down against MINE.

WHAT. THE. HELL.

I should have bought popcorn. I could have farted them out of here.

The girl finally moved one seat to the left about halfway through the movie, and the guy eventually followed...but didn't seem to understand why they were moving.

THE PLOT: Darker wackiness ensues ahead, Harry.

I watched the previous five movies a couple weeks ago to catch up (no, still haven't read the books), and a couple of things struck me. First, watching the relationships develop between the children. I'm not just talking about the three stars...I'm including all of the Hogwarts kids who get any screen time through the series. These kids have grown up playing these characters, and they really come off as kids who would really know each other over the portrayed period of time.

Second, they carry over far too much music from movie to movie. Freshen it up a bit guys.

I was seriously considering a four star rating through about 3/4 of this movie. Then the climax and the ending happened, which was...I don't know...lacking? Especially considering the buildup of Malfoy, which he did a great job of carrying.

Probably going to see it again anyway. The rest of the movie was loads of fun.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-19-2009, 09:57 PM:

quote: Sam Graham
So the trailers start and suddenly here comes this guy and his girlfriend who sit right next to me. They didn't reserve these seats...

(A little off-topic here on a similar situation that happened to me)..

Sam,I can fully understand your question of reason on this one (you should have had popcorn for sure...remember that next time .. [Big Grin]

:

Back in 1985 when "Back to the Future" was out and it was towards the end of the run where the crowds have really dissapated.

I was on a date and we were in a good 500 seat house and about the same position of seats where Sam was sitting at.

Rather empty house. Lights went down and previews begin to roll.

Suddenly, a family of 10 JUST had to sit next to us..and I knew that my enjoyment of watching McFly and Doc Brown along with the DeLorean was going to be ruined.

Thus, we immediately got up and move back about three rows. They glared at us and made rude comments when we moved and I glared back saying that I spent money to watch the movie, not to listen to all of your whining kids.

Wow.. going to the movies is so much fun.....NOT!!

-Monte

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 07-21-2009, 05:37 PM:

I saw the first 5 films before ever reading any of the books and then pretty much read 1 - 6 in a row and caught 7 after it came out. I guess I would also state that I am a bigger fan of the books then the movies. That being said...

Unlike a lot of book fans, I actually did not have too much problems with the changes they made, even the ending. The issue I would have is that they spent WAY too much time with the romances and not nearly enough time on what is needed to be done in order to stop Voldemort. Other than near the end of the movie, there really is never a sense of urgency or danger and things are almost too light hearted through out. I thought that they did a really great job balancing the two in the last movie but obviously not so much here.

The has been complaints that the last scene from the book was cut out of the movie but I had read that that may use that to open the first part of the next film. I actually believe that it will fit in better there anyway. My complaints aside, over all it was a well made and entertaining film and I definately look forward to the next one. 4 out of 5 stars... [beer]

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 10-15-2009, 10:24 AM:

Finally got to see this in IMAX 3D or rather should I say the first 20 minutes was in 3D. Don't know why they even bothered (other than of course for marketing purposes) since the 3D added nothing and in fact made it more difficult to follow the plot.

Otherwise it was still your typical Harry Potter movie - darker both in plot and photography but still basically a standard Harry Potter movie.