"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" takes an agonizing amount of time to move past the snogging and just get on with it. "The Hot Goblet," two films ago, established Ron and Hermione's sexual tension in a charming eighties movie prom milieu. They--and Harry and Ginny--can just be together, alright? There's this guy, you know, Voldemort? Trying to destroy the world? Guys? (They're too busy snogging.)
The last, I don't know, forty-five minutes of "Half-Blood Prince"--from the moment Harry drinks the luck potion to the end--are as sustained, propulsive, and exciting as these films get. Harry and Dumbledore finally get some long-overdue male bonding time. Too bad it involves poisoned potion, not butter beer, drinking.
Let me air one Huge, Nerdy Complaint (it ties in to the weaknesses of the film, I promise): The Death Eaters use the Vanishing Cabinet to sneak into Hogwarts, where they--blow up Hagrid's unoccupied house. Wow, I seem to remember, from the book, that Snape and Harry's showdown takes place against the background of all-out war on Hogwarts' grounds. Maybe the sixth, seventh, and eight appearance of Lavender sighing in the background could have been excised to allow for a more faithful fight.
If you look at it from the perspective of someone who hasn't read the books, this change would still confuse. The Death Eaters go to all that trouble just to watch Snape from the sidelines and then run off. They'll be back for the next money-maker.
3 comments:
I've enjoyed the Harry Potter movies when I've seen them on HBO. I don't have much invested in them, so they provide a lot of entertainment value (simply can't read the books; I'm too old!).
The acting and special effects are always impressive. Whoever did the initial casting was inspired.
I haven't seen the movie and I hate to defend it, but maybe I'm misunderstanding what you wrote.
In the book, after Snape kills x, he and Draco hightail it downstairs and outside (so they can get to a place to disapparate) with Harry in pursuit. It's outside in the dark where Harry confronts Snape and is able to see Snape from the light of Hagrid's cabin being blown up.
On the way out, Harry passes the battle, but the confrontation definitely happens outside on the grounds.
And I had to reread the section. I wasn't sure off the top of my head. I'm not *that* much of a nerd.
They hightail it in the movie, but there's not much of a battle. They "wand" (to death, to unconsciousness?) someone in the great hall on the way out.
I may have been wrong about the showdown in the book taking place close to the battle.
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