Yup, I got to see Harry Potter opening night. It was packed, I was hot and halfway through the movie, I had to pee. Badly. Like when the movie finally ended, I had the most...orgasmic pee, ever.
So, I'm a Harry Potter fan. I love it, I really do. I've read them all through at least three times already. So does the movie hold up to the book? Let's find out, shall we?
BTW, I'm assuming everyone has already read the book, read it again, had sex with it, fell asleep with it in your arms, woke up the next morning and found it was gone. So, spoilers abound below.
The Good
First of all, get it out of your head that it has to be completely like the book, because it isn't. It basically follows the basic outline of the book but ultimately comes away from it entirely. And you know what? This is fine! It really is! Because there is enough they put into the film to satisfy everyone.
Don't think that because it doesn't follow the book, it means that it is going to be bad. When are people going to realize that they can't fit everything from the book into the movie without making 4 hours long? Of course things are going to be taken out because you people can't pay attention to anything for more than an hour before you start itching to blow something up.
But what they did leave in and what they added in was phenomenal. You'll notice that there is a lot of moments where you will literally laugh because...well it was freaking hilarious! The kinds of coming-of-age crap people go through is just funny to watch. There's an entire plot line where Ron is hounded by a crazy, obsessed girl named Lavender. This entire thing is just really amazingly good fun. At that point, I didn't care which parts was in the book and which parts were. Plus, who else doesn't want to see a Harry who is completely acting stoned? ON LUCK!!!!!!!
Don't think for a moment that its all fun and games, though, because this movie is dark. And I mean "I can't believe this movie got away with a PG rating" dark. Yes, this movie is rated PG and I can't believe they got away with it. One particular scene that was pretty dark was a scene where Harry has to force Dumbledore to drink a potion that causes him extreme pain and agony. This was pretty hard to watch because we begin to see Dumbledore beg Harry to kill him and Harry continues to give him this potion. Plus, Dumbledore dies so I don't know how that worked out with the rating guys.
Not to say I thought the dark scenes were bad; far from it. They were exceptionally good and well done. The intensity was perfect and I wanted more. I'm just surprised that a movie this dark got only a PG rating.
As for the actors, only a couple of them really shined. The one I feel shined the most was Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy. In this movie, he is played as far from an evil, comic relief character into a scared individual who is afraid of failing and in essence, afraid of dying. In one scene, we see him finally break down and begin to cry when everything seems hopeless. These little things are what really makes his character so interesting and so three-dimensional.
In essence, all the actors have really matured and have truly gotten to become better actors in the long time we have known them.
The Bad
They have once again rushed the ending. I remember the ending in the book lasting about 50-100 pages after Dumbledore dies. Instead, there is a good five minutes of wrap up after he dies and then boom. Credits roll. Why are so many directors afraid to drag out the ending? I mean, it worked in Lord of the Rings why shouldn't it work for Harry Potter?
For instance, the end confrontation between Snape and Harry was a good two minutes long compare to the actual emotional 10 minutes I envisioned. This in turn made the revelation that Snape was the Half-Blood Prince (oooooooooo, spoiler), very lackluster and anti-climactic. This maybe that the actor for Snape can't yell or scream to save his life (I've seen him in a couple of movies but I've never actually seen him shout at all).
I also remember that the Death Eaters didn't just walk up to Dumbledore, kill him and then walk out. I kind of remember Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville and some of the teachers actually try to stop them. I understand you have to cut out some things, but that was kind of a big plot hole you left out.
On another note, when Dumbledore died, I felt nothing for Harry. Daniel Radcliffe, I think, is not that good of an actor. Sure, he can be funny, but he can't really be emotional. Dumbledore is dead! You're supposed to be crying! You're supposed to be sad! You're supposed to be grabbing his chest and pushing his body, trying to wake him up! I got none of that!
Closing
This film completely kills all the previous movies, in my opinion. I loved it. It was funny, it was dark, it was romantic, it had something for everyone. If you can overlook a bunch of little (and I mean, little) stuff, then you're in for a treat. Because this movie is truly about relationships between different people, and the director did a great job on that. I heartily recommend this movie to all who like the book or for those who have never read the books before.
Oh, and if you can stand the trailer for New Moon (pause for screaming fan girls at the sight of a shirtless werewolf thingy), then you should watch it anyways.
Cheers.
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