Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Review

I'm just back from seeing HBP at midnight, and these would be my thoughts on it. If you haven't seen it yet, know that I really liked it and STOP HERE. THERE ARE SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT!

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Are they gone? Hopefully we're now left with people who have seen the movie and don't care that I'm about to lay it all out in a blog post.

First things first, I loved it. I really did. It was obviously not 100% perfect, but it was amazing and beautiful and I really loved it.

That being said, there WERE four major points that were left out of the movie that I really missed.
1. The Tonks/Lupin storyline. They are one of my favorite couples in the books, and I appreciate that they at least mentioned that they're together, but I love the sub-plot and how it reaches its climax at the end and we see a glimpse of love amid death and darkness.
2. Okay, the scene in the Room of Requirement was sweet, I guess, but I REALLY wanted to see the Harry/Ginny kiss after the Quidditch match! I missed that a lot. I also wish there had been more happy-together moments for these two since they're going to be separated for the next long while.
3. In the trailer, Harry has a line where he says "I won't need luck, I'll be with Dumbledore," and in the book, Dumbledore tells Harry, "I am not worried, Harry, I am with you." Neither of these lines were in the film. Both have the same sentiment, they portray a deep faith both characters have in one another. You sort of got that from their interactions, but not as intensely as it would have been if either of them had actually verbally expressed this faith.
4. Dumbledore's funeral. There wasn't one. I would have liked one. HOWEVER, the death scene was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and it almost made up for this one.

Which leads me right into talking about said death scene. I have never liked Michael Gambon's Dumbledore. Richard Harris was not exactly how I imagine Dumbledore, but Michael Gambon has never been ANYTHING like I imagine Dumbledore. Until now. He still wasn't exactly right, and he still had some odd moments, but I found myself actually liking Dumbledore through most of this movie*. This was helpful, because I really wanted to be able to mourn his death and not just be like, "Eh, alright, at lease we don't have to deal with HIM anymore." When Harry came back, and all of the students and teachers were just standing there in shock and grief, I started to mourn. When Ginny broke free of the crowd to hold a shaking Harry and tears rolled down Hermione's face, I started to sniffle. When a tearful McGonnagall raised her lit wand, followed by Madam Pompfrey, followed by Luna and by Ron and then the entire crowd of grieving students and teachers, standing with each other in a moment honoring the man who'd brought them all together and taught them so much about life and magic and love, and the Dark Mark began to disappear as the light shone through its darkness, I lost it. Most of the theater lost it. This moment was beautiful and moving beyond words. The following shots of empty, broken Hogwarts that were accompanied by silence in the soundtrack, were joined by silence in the theater. This theater which was full of people who giggled and tittered and hissed and moaned and yelled after EVERY TINY LITTLE PLOT POINT, was silent but for the sounds of several hundred people quietly sniffling or pulling themselves together.

I also REALLY enjoyed the Felix Felicis scenes. Harry was absolutely freaking brilliant in these. I loved his sass!

Actually, I would like to take a moment to say that the acting across the board was VERY impressive, but particularly Daniel Radcliffe's (Harry Potter) and Tom Felton's (Draco Malfoy). Both of them were absolutely OUTSTANDING. The little things Dan Radcliffe added to the character, tiny facial movements, little expressions and reactions, were just SO perfect and really made Harry seem very real and very relatable, and were just freaking BRILLIANT. Tom Felton hasn't had much of a role up till now except for skulking, sneering and screaming, and suddenly he's handed this hugely important, emotional role and he pulls it off FANTASTICALLY. The acting from these two guys especially was just superb. Really excellent.

Some scenes I particularly like:
The sectumsempra scene. I thought it was really well done -- very edgy and angsty and really emotionally charged as it should be.
The scene where Harry first comes to the Burrow. I loved how Ginny found his belongings and then almost everyone in the house started poking their heads out of the staircase.
The scene when Harry takes the Felix and then sneaks up on Slughorn and sasses him. XD "Harry!" "Sir!"
The scene when Slughorn gives Harry the memory (the whole Felix sequence, actually, but I'm already said that). I really adored the addition of the fish story. It was so well-placed and really added to the emotion of the scene.
The love potion scene. Rupert was hilarious. 'Nuff said.
Hermione's birds and boys. It was funny when that was called for, but the whole "How does it feel?" "It feels like this." conversation was SO well done (again, props to Dan for the acting skillz and ALSO to Emma!), and really sweet and sad at the same time. I've never been a H/Hr shipper partly because I LOVEANDADORE R/Hr and H/G and partly because I love the two of them as sibling-like friends, and I really liked the glimpse into their sibling-like relationship in this movie.
The Snape/Dumbledore argument. It was short but really really well done.
The way the camera followed Draco after Dumbledore's death. It could have followed Harry (and it did, some), but following Draco was just sheer brilliance. All the other Death Eaters around him are celebrating and pretty much frolicking with joy at their victory, but all he looks is scared and sad and lost and alone. Surrounded by people, but alone. It was perfect.

I'm sure there are dozens more, but that's all I can think of for the time being. Because it's almost 5am. :]

A few things I wish there had been more expansion/explanation of:
Horcruxes. I get this one because there just WASN'T TIME, but it would have been nice for Harry to know a bit more of what he was supposed to do before Dumbledore kicked it and left him alone to figure it out. I mean I almost feel like we should be expecting Zefron posters. :P Not really, but still.
The Riddle memories. I wanted all of them. The ones we got were good, but if time were no object, I would have loved seeing all of the memories (side note: why wasn't movie 2 Tom Riddle in this?! He was so good!)
Lupin/Tonks, and I said that, so I'll shut up.
Sweet, happy moments for Harry and Ginny, but I said that too.
Snape. He should've had more face time.
The Half-Blood Prince? I mean, it was sort of like "Yeah, idk who he is, so hwat?" "Btw, it's me." "O hai." Would have been nice to have more mystery and buildup to that big reveal at the end.
I WANTED SNAPE TO LOOSE IT! I mean there's a REASON why, in the book he flips out when Harry calls him a coward. He didn't flip out. That scene was still REALLY GOOD, but he didn't flip out which made me a little bit sad-panda-ish.
The Hogwarts battle scene. I know the big one isn't until the end of DH, but there wasn't even a LITTLE one. :[

I really liked the way they built up the sort of to-and-fro tension that is Ron and Hermione, because we'll need that later on. Also, the way they isolated Ron at the end was sort of odd to me at first, but I now realize may be buildup and foreshadowing to what happens during the semester-long camping trip next year.

So, yes. There were things I missed and things I loved, but overall, I REALLY loved this movie. It didn't end on a high note, but it wasn't supposed to. The wand-lighting scene really depicted what Dumbledore fought so long for and what the whole series is about, which is fighting darkness and evil with light and love, and watching Fawkes fly away was a perfect end to the movie. Something has ended, and it's full of sorrow, but we're still here, and we're still fighting.




*To clarify: I FREAKING LOVE BOOK DUMBLEDORE! Lovelovelovelovelove! I just...really don't like Michael Gambon's Dumbledore, so I find it very hard to like movie Dumbledore most of the time