Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Morning, people; I saw the Harry Potter movie yesterday. Of course, it was supposed to be in 3D, and I'd been wearing glares to practice all day, but lets just say IMax rips people off BIG time. The ads should mention that only the first ten minutes are in 3D, shouldn't they? In any case, they didn't, and so I became a goggles-toting, 350 bucks-spending, self-kicking con victim. But--and listen hard now--I don't really care at all. Yes I am a broke person who cannot tolerate glasses. But I'm still not upset about all the time and money I spent going to Wadala. You see, its a very, very good film.
Here's the thing about me and Harry Potter: I grew up with the series and I love the books. I used to know them inside out. And so the movies--that always left out too much important detail and fabricated a bunch of pointless ones instead--never really cut it. The first two were shit in any case, the third was a lot better, fourth I'm not sure I remember, and fifth was good, though I can't really comment (I saw them both on the computer screen). Then there are the casting goof ups: Emma Watson who's too hot for Hermione and cannot act for nuts; that poor creature is that plays Ginny Weasley, who, sadly, will never look the part..its okay she can't help being big; Sirius Black..really; and that absurd interpretation they have of Bellatrix Lestrange's character, who seriously doesn't need to be that horny or that demented.
But the sixth book was shit to begin with. So you see why I looked forward to the movie, it had to be better than the book.
Its a brilliant fucking film, and you know I'd tell you to fuck off if you don't agree but hang on, this time I'd rather you stay and read on. If you've seen it, you can't disagree that its beautifully shot. The pensieve scenes, the Death Eaters moving, that shot of Dumbledore on the rock that looks like Merlin or like something out of the Tempest, the shot of Draco and the mirror that is so reminiscent of Requiem, and the bit where he pulls out of the first memory of Tom Riddle and they do that rapid cut from Riddle to Ralph Fiennes with I don't really remember what all in between..And honestly, the film does a much better job emotionally than the book, and that's a first. Its nice to actually grieve for Dumbledore. And a novel experience too. The book was so shit that all you felt when Dumbledore died was relief and a sort of mild disgust. Besides which, I suppose we all know of Rowling's monumental inability to deal with more adult issues. The film is a lot less awkward with everyone suddenly making out with everyone else, though there too details get changed for apparently no reason. But honestly, give the director a break. The vision is his, not a thousand disgruntled readers'. I suppose you could say the film was a bit too long, and yes, the cave was a little too futuristic for a Harry Potter movie, the inferi a little..synthetic. But watch the film as just a film, not as a Harry Potter movie, and then tell me you still want to diss it.
