I am indeed late, in producing this post, since Harsh, Avada Kedavra, and Shankar have already comprehensibly reviewed this movie. But ... better late, than never ... so here I go:
As a book, the Half Blood Prince never really impressed me, compared to the others in the HP series ... because in the end it was a complete triumph of evil over good. The main emphasis of the story was as a buffer to prolong the series and allow a seventh book, than take the story any futher. As a result, HP and party, end up in the same position from where they began ... in fact I would say, in a much worse position than from where they began ... owing to Dumbledore's unfortunate death. The main focus of the book is however, the revelation of Voldemort's past, which Ms Rowling has indeed done brilliantly.
back to the movie:
If you are a Harry Potter freak (HPF), and you would rather live by and die by Harry Potter and Hogwarts and JK Rowling, and, you consider reading any other book when a new HP is released to be blasphemous, then you will not like the movie ... because the movie seems to ... borrow cues from Rowling rather than filmify her novel .... you get what I mean, right? The movie is a heavly mutated ... (HPFs would consider mutilated!) version of the novel, and many, many things which JKR had written or mentioned has been ... intentionally overlooked, and modified ... by David Yates. The entire beginning sequence has been changed ... there's no glimpse of Privet Drive, and Harry meets Dumbledore at a subway station.
Then however, the movie does try to catch up with the book, but fails.
If however, you are the sort who likes Harry Potter ... OK, make it love Harry Potter, but that's it !... no other crazy feelings .... then I vouchsafe, you will enjoy the movie. After all one must agree, that filmifying this novel is difficult. If it wasn't a Harry Potter ... no one would have considered filmifying it ... the story is too mundane to be filmified, especially after the Goblet of Fire, and the Order of the Phoneix ... which were a lot more thrilling and movie-ish ! Considering that, kudos to David Yates! What he has done, is stuck to the essentials and produced a fairly decent movie to continue the series, masterfully compressing 600 pages to 2.5 hours ...
A few points to note:
- WHAT was all the hullaballo attack at the Burrow for? Was it mentioned in the book? If no, then why include it? Specially, considering the fact, that it had no further consequence apart from bringing Harry and Ginny together.
- HOW could the Burrow be attacked that easily? J K Rowling has made it pretty clear that the Burrow was under very strong protective charms
- WHY was Madam Rosemarta NOT shown? Specially when she played a crucial role in the book by informing Draco Malfoy that Dumbledore has left the castle, which allowed the Death Eaters to strom in?
- In order NOT to show Madam Rosemarta, David Yates, has modified an important feature of Hogwarts castle by allowing Dumbledore and Harry to apparate from within its walls. the reason Dumbledore gives is pretty lame - that staying with him has some advantages.
- The movie does NOT thrill. It does NOT make you cling to the edge of your seat ... in fact I had my posterior well snugly placed in the middle throughout. The movie is NOT heart stopping. The only point where there is a slight "suspense" is when the Inferi grab Harry in the cave and pull him down. Dumbledore's recovery and his saving Harry has been very well depicted indeed.
- lastly, and MOST importantly ... WHY was Harry not immoblised in the final encounter? WHY did he look on as Draco disarmed Dumbledore? Weak links indeed!
A few more observations:- Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) still rules the roost as far as the cast is concerned ... he is just phenomenal!
- I sorely missed a chase for the snitch, which I generally look forward to in an HP movie :(
- I didn't actually find the romance to be as glaring as others did ... seriously ... it was just for a maximum of 15 mins ... or did I fall asleep? OK, there was a lot of unnecessary Ginny Weasley in the movie.
- Rupert Grint has grown stupider and Daniel Radcliffe hasn't grown much. Emma Watson is pretty much the same too! I particularly liked Tom Falton (Draco Malfoy) 's acting. And yeah, this new Tom Ridlle is weird ... the Chamber of Secret's one was waaaay cooler.
- The young Dumbledore somehow reminded me of Metallica frontman James Hetfield ... lol ...
- Lavender Brown looked like a middle aged woman
- Slughorn was pretty neat too ... I mean, the way he sunk into the character, was appreciable
- I hated the Dark Mark ... I mean, after the Goblet of Fire ... this one was unacceptable. Totally.
- The cave scene and the openeing death eater scene were done reealy well ... I loved the way Dumbledore fought the Inferi ... though the ending seemed a bit tooo hurried
- the chase and the fight in the Astronmoy tower part was the biggest let-down because it quite simply failed to capture the thrill and the action that JKR had so vividly painted ... David Yates just made the Death Eaters waltz into Hogwarts, kill Dumbledore, and escape with a rearkable degree of nonchalance ... It didn't just suit the movie at all :(
- There's absolutely no point in rating the cinematics and special effects because every new Hollywood movie sets a new standard ... this one was AS good ... especially the beginning death eater scene, the Pensieve scenes and the Cave scene.
Now from the perspective of those unfortunate souls who are absolutely unaware of the story ... who went to watch Kambakkht Ishq, and ended up watching harry Potter because KI was house full ... for people like them, who can only think of Harry Potter as something sharing the same initals as Hewlett Packard ... well I symapthise with you folks. You SHOULD have cursed the creator, the director, the actor ... everything by now! I would have suggested, wait for the next Kambakt Ishq show and go for that ... or else buy the DVD of Singh is Kinng and enjoy it at home. Would have been better options than HP for you!
Finall rating: well ... 3/5
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