They showed Malfoy diswanding AD in the tower. Then they showed the wand on the book in the Headmaster’s office with AD sleeping in the picture, so they are set for the wand switching. I paid rather close attention to that.
I haven’t read the books but I’ve always enjoyed the movies, until now. I just thought that the whole thing was boring. I understand that this story is just setting up the final book (kind of like this season of Lost) but that doesn’t make it interesting.
Saw it last night. Loved it. Didn’t feel like nearly three hours, which was a change from the last couple - there were no moments that dragged for me, even the teen angsty bits were pacey.
I did keep waiting for Slughorn to say something about Hagrid’s having " A great big bushy beard", though, but that’s probably because I’ve just rewatched “Hot Fuzz” recently.
I’ll second KRM in that I didn’t really care for this film. As a non-reader of this series, this was the first film that I felt you had to have read the books to know what the hell is going on. Most of this just made no sense:
Ok, so Harry’s got this book that used to belong to someone called the half blood prince. Which in the end turns out to be Snape (Not Voldemort as I thought)…so what? What was the point? A lot of effort spent on pretty much a fizzle as a reveal.
What the hell is the purpose of having a text book that gives you incorrect instructions? The notes Harry was following differed in substantial ways than everyone elses, so why have a book that doesn’t actually teach you anything?
Dead spider scene…who cares? Are there really no other important scenes from the book that could have been shown instead?
I still don’t really understand what the big deal is about this character (Harry Potter). He gets his ass handed to him in just about every fight, he’s only so so in his classes so why is he a big deal? I’m fine with him being “The One”, but you have to show something that makes him extrordinary.
Ok, so in the first movie they made a big deal about there being older kids there to show the younger ones where to go, what to do…stuff like that. How come we don’t see any little kids now running around?
The ending sucked ass…especially now after I read some of the comments here. I figured Dulmbedorf was pulling a Gandalf and would show up as not really being dead. That’s the only thing that the begging with Snape twice would mean. He was begging him to go through with it so that Voldemort would totally buy into him going over to “the dark side” again. But if he really killed killed him and no coming back…what the hell? You really think the best plan of action when confronting the dark lord of all evil magic is to let yourself be killed? Totally stupid.
There were a few things I did like. I thought they handled the kids getting older well. I wouldn’t buy that they were 15, but as 19-20, it works. And since we really don’t know how long you might be expected to stay in magick school, I don’t really have issues with that. Some great lines about how those three always seemed to be at the center of trouble. I liked the way they made the love interests work…a bit sappy at times, but overall it worked.
Hmm… I have to disagree. Moments before Dumbledore made him swear to not interfere, he asked Harry to get Snape. Harry knows that for whatever reason Dumbledore trusts Snape explicitly. Trusting Dumbledore meant trusting Snape. When Snape appears and has the drop on Harry, he then motions Harry to be quiet and let him handle it.
Harry goes against everything his insticts tell him to do because he trusts Dumbledore and therefore has to trust Snape. And when Snape kills Dumbledore… that- THAT kills Harry inside because it valdiates his feelings toward Snape and he knows that his mentor has been played for a fool and was betrayed and Harry could have stopped it if he had only done things his own way. It’s gotta be horribly conflicting for him to lose some respect for his mentor (Dumbledore was fooled by Snape where Harry wasn’t), actually LOSE his mentor, he’s had a terrific price for that sense of righteousness that he was always right.
The fact that there was no funeral for Dumbledore set me thinking, and I’ve come up with a Speculation: What if they took a scene out of the sixth movie to put it in the seventh?
It’s not a completely crazy idea: I suspect that with two movies devoted to the final book they have a LOT more time to do justice to various scenes. It also seems like it would serve a few thematic purposes. The first would be to let you know that zero time has passed between the two films (that is, 6 and 7.1) so there hasn’t been a whole summer of lazing around on Harry’s part. Secondly, it could provide some exposition in the form of Harry’s flashbacks: we can review Malfoy’s disarming of Dumbledore, refresh the idea of Snape’s betrayal, and just generally bring the audience back up to speed.
One other interesting way the funeral scene could serve the plot is to bring back the characters we’ve “forgotten” about but will be important in the final book. Fleur could make her reappearance with or without Madame Maxine. Since we’re still at Hogwarts, Dobby could even show up, which would bring him back into the narrative.
I think all of this could be accomplished without being at all forced, and would do a lot of good for the plot and pacing of the film. We’ll see in a year or so, I suppose…
I think you may be on to something, there. It does make sense, although having The Trio watch Fawkes fly away does undermine the theory somewhat. Perhaps they will do flashbacks to the funeral as a start to film 7.
I just got back from a second viewing. This time around, I was awake and not with a huge crowd of cheering/booing teens. It is a good movie, but most of my criticisms of it stand. I could see some more subtle touches this time around, like how Harry hugs Ginny before they go back to school. I also noted the de-wanding of AD this time. I think I “get” that whole scene a bit better now: Harry has been castigated by Lupin (the only remaining friend of his father’s whom Harry trusts) for not trusting Snape. AD had told him to do explicitly what he says and Harry promised. (also, it must be admitted that the odds against Harry were formidable and he is old enough and pragmatic enough to realize that). Would I have preferred AD to petrify Harry so that he could not move? Yes, but this way adds to Harry’s guilt which will fuel his anger at AD in the next film, which will also help make comprehensible the things Harry says about AD in book 7 (if those are included).
I think Bonnie Wright does not get enough credit for her subtle acting. She’s lovely and does bring a certain warmth to the screen. I also admired the actor who plays Lavender–she does a great job.
-Visually delicious.
-Jim Broadbent was great.
-Ron got his due as a quiddich player, solo glory, not just a sidekick.
-The girl playing Ginny held her own nicely and made the character somebody you care about.
-The joke shop was wonderful. Can’t wait to see it again to pay attention to the little Umbridge doll shrieking “I will have order.”
Negatives;
-Harry should really have been restrained for the big death scene, but twice in one movie was probably too much.
-Harry and Snapes run and gun at the end needed more anger.
-If McGonigal (sp) would have made a face or gesture or said, “I will not have that mark over this castle” before she held up her wand in the freebird moment would have made it much more powerful. Almost make up for the lack of a funeral.
-Neville having one line I remember, and that as a waiter was criminal.
-Narcissa just looked wrong, not the pure blond vapid beauty I expected.
-Dumbledore wasn’t nearly tortured enough drinking the horocrux martini.
random thoughts,
-Is Maggie Smith really 105 as she looked?
-Why did the Slytheryn dorm room look like the hospital ward redressed?
-Changing props from movie to movie drives me nuts. Pensive as a stone bowl/floating silver dish… Or the potions classroom.
And finally, am I misremembering the book, wasn’t the Half Blood Prince Snapes mother?
The Half-blood Prince is Snape. Snape’s mother is a muggle, whose last name is Prince. Therefore, Snape is a half-blood, like Harry and Voldemort, and his muggle half is a Prince.
I agree that as a non-reader of the books, you’re at something of a disadvantage. Point-by-point, then.
Agreed, actually. The book made much more of a mystery over the HBP’s identity. The movie treated it more like a Macguffin, which I suppose it was.
Well, the point is that the Half-Blood Prince was such a gifted potioneer (one might use the term prodigy) that he was able to improve on the text. But, also being somewhat antisocial, he preferred to keep his improvements to himself.
The point here is that in order for Harry to get the crucial memory from Slughorn, Slughorn pretty much had to be drunk, and vulnerable to Harry’s emotional manipulation. Aragog’s wake provided that circumstance in the book, so they kept it in the movie. It wouldn’t have hurt for Hagrid to have had a smallish scene earlier in the film where he is worried about the health of his old friend. Thiry seconds is all it would have taken, and they could have cut one of the Lavender/Ron snogfests.
I’m gonna pass on this one, because I don’t have any rebuttal to make (I’m a fan, but I’m not too big on fan-wanking).
They showed a bunch of first-years bumbling around in the scene where McGonagall instructs Harry and Ron to enroll in advanced Potions. Beyond that, they weren’t crucial to the story.
I’m going to spoiler this one:We learn in Deathly Hallows that the curse which disfigured Dumbledore’s hand was also killing him slowly. Snape’s killing of Dumbledore was actually euthanasia, as well as a.) preventing Draco from becoming a murderer, and b.) depriving the other Death Eaters of the opportunity to execute him ignominiously.
Agreed.
I suppose, but they’ve (the movie producers) been so stubborn about NOT letting the audience know that Dobby’s been there since Goblet of Fire that there’s really no plausible reason to bring it up now. They could have him Apparate into the Malfoys’ basement without bothering to mention where he’s been.
He’s the Chosen One because Voldemort chose him, not because of any intrinsic magical talent he has. It could have been Neville, who is also no great shakes magicwise, but Voldemort chose Harry so Harry’s the one. This isn’t general knowledge in the wizarding world, but also remember Harry’s the only wizard ever to have survived the killing curse. What’s more, he survived a killing curse from Voldemort, one of the most powerful wizards in history. Not only that, the failure of the killing curse was believed to have caused the death of Voldemort at the time. That’s enough to make him a big deal before all the stuff he does at Hogwarts.
The movies haven’t done a great job of explaining all this, but then… they don’t need to, do they? The books are there on the shelf if anyone is really curious.
I think that *was *the hospital ward…Draco was supposed to be recovering from his Sectumsempra wounds.
Little tidbit for anyone going to see it again…in the scene in the library after Ron and Lavendar hook up, and Hermione is explaining to Harry that she’s made other arrangements for the Slug Club party, watch the foreground. They pass Cormac, who’s looking at a girly book hidden in a textbook.
Ditto for Miss Wright. When she stood next to Radcliffe I whispered to my companion, “My God, Ginny’s gotten big.” and she did a fine bit of acting, too. Don’t forget Evanna Lynch’s Luna Lovegood. Definitely off-center without being a total, um, loonie.
We commented on her appearance as well. IMDb’s trivia section mentions she was undergoing radio-therapy for breast cancer during the filming; that can’t have helped.
What were the things called again, that Luna saw whizzing through Harry’s head? A friend called them “Nargles” and now the real name has vanished on me. Wharflumps? Harworts? Ugh!
Re: What makes Harry special. AD would tell you it’s his ability to love, despite the hardships and neglect he has suffered. I would also remind you thta he did produce a corporeal Patronus at an incredibly early age, and that he has never run from danger or responsibility far beyond what should have been expected of him.
He also made an incredible catch his first time on a broom.
I’m still holding out hope that the Dursleys are going to get their asses chewed out by someone, and I hope Maggie Smith does it. She was there when Dumbledore dropped Harry off as a baby, after all, it’s just a matter of her arriving in Little Whinging to explain how the charm protecting Harry is about to expire, they all need to be evacuated, oh and by the way, I saw the letter Dumbledore left for you 15 years ago, and let me tell you a thing or two…
Oh, please, PLEASE, let her make it until the end of the series. Maggie Smith is one of my all time favorite actors. I still get upset that her great scene with Umbridge was massacred by the writer and director for HP5. She like a female Michael Caine–she may be surrounded by total ham and cheese, but somehow she comes off well, no matter the film.
