Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my thoughts on the new HARRY POTTER flick.
David Yates returns, but changes up his visual style dramatically from THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, with the newest Potter installment which is the darkest entry to the series yet and arguably the best since AZKABAN, which as far as I’m concerned is still the high water mark of the series.
That said, it’s not flawless. I’ll never have the opinion of someone experiencing these stories for the first time as they unravel up on the silver screen and that’s both a blessing a curse. It’s a curse because there’s always going to be something that I feel is crucial that just can not be included in a 2 ½ hour film and I’ll never be able to see one of these movies without feeling like a nitpicker afterwards. The blessing is, of course, that the movie experience is enriched by the books, things glimpsed or left unsaid carry more weight because I know the full story.
Technically it’s one of the best crafted of all the films, with an amazing cold, grey, nearly black and white at times, visual style and some of the creepiest imagery from any of the films. The Death Mark formed in the clouds can justifiably strike fear into the enemies of the Death Eaters, the agents of Voldemort.
And all the kids… well, I guess now I can’t really call them kids anymore, can I? Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are so relaxed in the roles that there’s an easiness to their friendship that can only be earned by growing up together, which fits these characters perfectly.
These films are an amazing achievement in that respect. Forgetting the technical greatness, the fact that Warner Bros had the faith to set upon this road with only half the books of the series finished, that Chris Columbus had the vision to cast the three perfect unknowns for the leads (and his perfect casting of the staff… can you imagine anybody else playing Snape after seeing Rickman in the role?) and that we’re seeing these people grow up in front of our eyes.
I was on the Reject Radio Podcast Sunday night (click here if you wish to subject yourself to my stuttering gibberishand Cole Abaius and I were talking about just how remarkable and unprecedented this is and just how the movie gods seem to be watching over this series. Alfonso Cuaron came in at just the right time, with the right book of the series and elevated it out from kiddie fare and Yates is proving to be a good judge at finding that balance between real and fantasy.
The stakes are real in this film and that’s felt immediately as the Death Eaters attack London on their kidnapping rampage. The darkness is growing, but screenwriter Steve Kloves still finds ways to inject humor through the characters.
One of the best examples is the new teacher Horace Slughorn played with brilliant timing by Jim Broadbent. Slughorn’s a complicated character… all the more complex in that on the surface he’s easy to peg. He’s a man who forges his own identity by the famous, wealthy and powerful that he associates with. In short, a very superficial man. At least that’s the front. He’s goofy, but there’s a deep emotional core to this man and the scene where Harry finally gets what he’s after from the professor is one of the best scenes in the whole series, emotionally speaking. It really resonates with me hours after seeing it.
If nothing else, this film succeeds in cementing the friendship between Hermione, Ron and Harry… and the budding love that could drive them apart or bond them even closer together. Like I said above, it’s a camaraderie that can only be earned by years of real, deep friendship and one of the fringe benefits of how this series is being approached by the studio.
I think HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is going to be looked back upon in the grand scheme of the Potter films as the tonal bridge to the 7th (and 8th, I guess) horrifically intense and dark final entries. For those who haven’t read the final book… you have no idea what you’re in for. You think you know dark after seeing this movie, but you don’t. Not yet you don’t.
And therein lies some of my problems with this film. I feel the big dark finale wasn’t handled as well as it could have been. Yes, I very much miss the big Death Eater fight from the book, which makes so much more sense and opens up the scope of this particular story. As it stands now, the bad guys feel slight, none of them doing anything that couldn’t have been done without the intricate plan to invade Hogwarts.
In the book there’s a big battle between the Aurors, The Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters and considering there’s precious little action in the film it could have been exactly what was missing for me after the absolutely fantastic and perfectly realized cave sequence.
I’ve heard two different stories… one, that Yates shot the battle stuff and cut it, and the other being that he didn’t. I hope the truth rests in the former because I’d love to see them have real LOTResque Extended Editions of these movies that can fill in a lot of the character stuff and nuance that has to be chopped to make these stories even fit into the 2 ½ hour long movies.
Like the entire Half-Blood Prince storyline, which is indeed in this film… it kinda has to be given the title, right? But what they don’t show is just how much Harry hero worships the Half-Blood Prince. I was discussing this with my Pothead friends (that’s Potter fans, not weed smokers) Kraken and his wife after the movie and we all felt it diminishes the impact of the reveal not having Harry holding up this unknown person, previous owner of a beat-up potions book to the same degree almost as he does Dumbledore.
As it stands in the movie it’s pretty painfully obvious who the Half-Blood Prince is anyway and when the reveal happens I was left with “Yeah, so?” feeling. That should have been the upper-cut that follows the powerhouse right hand we all just experienced.
And speaking of Extended Editions… I just want more time with these characters. I want to see more of Bonnie Wright’s Ginny Weasely falling in love with Harry. I want more badass Fenrir Greyback being a scary asshole. I want to see more development of Tonks and Remus as husband and wife. I want more Looney Lovegood. I want more of the twins and their awesome magic jokeshop! And for Christ’s sake, I want more Alan Rickman. He’s the one I always feel cheated out of losing screentime for. The dude is so great in the role that his time onscreen is never enough.
I’m hoping that with the decision to break the 7th book up into two movies that we actually retain a lot of that stuff in the final films. I’d love to see the Battle of Hogwarts last for 50-60 minutes. Lord knows there’s enough character work and action that goes on in the book to fill that time and it’d make for the perfect payoff to 7 movies worth of build-up.
I honestly have no complaints with the movie until Harry and Dumbledore return to Hogwarts from their adventure in the cave. It just feels the movie is building to a point, which could have been my own expectation from knowing the ending of the book, that it never achieves. The staging of the big, climactic emotional scene is different from the book… not worse… in fact, I think they add something to it by giving Harry a little more freedom of choice, but the pacing felt wrong, choppy even.
There’s also the decision to not end on the funeral as the book does, which I don’t understand at all. There is a great scene in its place that is beautifully done (the removal of the Dark Mark scene), but I still am not convinced it was a good idea to abandon the funeral altogether.
The review might read as mixed, but I’m really not mixed. Like I said upfront… as a fan of the books I can’t help but get nitpicky, play armchair director, with these films. I’ve liked ALL the films and this one I feel is just under PRISONER OF AZKABAN, the high point in the series so far.
Half-Blood Prince will make a bazigillion dollars and deserves every penny of it. There’s more heart, adventure, magic and excitement in this film than any other big summer tentpole since UP.
Now I gotta get to packing. New York City here I come… gonna see God of Carnage on Broadway and go with my moms to see Paul McCartney play Citi Field, a historic return to the grounds of Shea Stadium. Gonna be a fun trip that gives me only one 24 hour period of turnaround time before I’m headed down to San Diego for Comic-Con. Gonna be a crazy two weeks. Fingers crossed I survive it.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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