‘Half-Blood Prince’ is strong warm-up for finale

MSNBC ^ | July 14, 2009 | Alonso Duralde

[ccmovrwc]

Battling the dark forces takes a back seat to romance and Quidditch

By Alonso Duralde Film critic msnbc.com contributor updated 4:25 p.m. ET, Tues., July 14, 2009

Call it the calm before the storm, but “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” goes out of its way to balance its own dark doings — to say nothing of the dire events to come in the two upcoming movies based on “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” — with more character and atmosphere than we’ve seen in the last few movies.

If you’ve been missing Quidditch matches, love triangles, hanging out in the Gryffindor common room and general Hogwarts-iness, you’ll have a great time with this latest sequel.

[ccmovrwc]

To me, the only jarring thing was the “reveal” at the end about Snape being the Half-Blood Prince. Maybe they plan on pushing that into the first half of #7, but I think they could have spared one minute to go into Snape’s background a little bit more, as it’s an important clue into his character and motivations.

I couldn't agree with you more. I thought it a real shame that they omitted the "Don't call me a coward" line there at the end, too.

[ClearCase_guy]

In line with what you said about the missing plotlines ...

Harry now knows the basic concept of what a horcrux is, and he knows there are probably 7 of them. That's it. The idea that Tom Riddle is obsessed with artifacts of the great people of the wizarding world has been lost. In the book, Harry suggests that a horcrux could be an old boot (like a portkey) but Dumbledore explains that it is far more likely to an object of great significance. Well, all of that got left out of the Half-Blood Prince (film) and so Harry has no reason not to go off looking for old boots.

But I'm sure they've figured out some way to tell the story in the next movie.

[Tanniker Smith]

I think it was Orson Scott Card who called her a coward because if she really pictured Dumbledore as gay, why didn't she put in the books?

Maybe because it was ancillary to the story? Dumbledore didn't need to be involved in any romantic entanglements. There was enough going on as it was.

Btw, as far as Dumbledore's alignment goes, I'll ignore it.
Likewise, Hermione's cat is just a cat for all that I care, and not some strange magical creature, which would actually take away from the story.

[aft_lizard]

If only.

Or perhaps we should put more people on welfare in the hope that they become the next JK Rowling.

[CholeraJoe]

Funniest scene in the movie was in the library. Hermione tells Harry that Romilda Vane has the hots for him because she thinks he’s the Chosen One. He says, “But I am the Chosen One,” and Hermione smacks him.

The Harry/Ginny kissing scene in the Room of Requirement wasn’t near as hot as Harry’s kissing scene with Cho in OOTP. I was left wondering whether Ginny had been there at all or whether it was Harry’s imagination. There was also no, “Ginny, for your own safety, I can’t see you anymore,” after Dumbledore’s death.

Quidditch scenes were great in my opinion.

[alwaysconservative]

I’m guessing that #12 was omitted because it will play such a large part in the next movie, as will Kreachure (sp?).

In the last scene, I thought I saw some of Dumbledore’s Army clustered in the shadows at the base of the stairs, but it went by too fast for me to be certain.

The movie set it up for a more detailed explanation of the locket and RAB in the next film (which is where I remembered the explanation occurred in the book?).

And I thought Fenris Greyback was PERFECT: perfectly dreadful and menacing. I was also glad they didn’t hex Professor McGonagal (sp?), since she is looking pretty frail even without the wizard attack.

[Tax-chick]

now i understand
i’m a few years past forty
too old for Twilight

[Sloth]

Speaking of Orson Scott Card, what books would you recommend for a new reader of his works?

IMO, Ender's Game is his best work.

[kevkrom]

Before our screening of The Half-Blood Prince, they were showing a trailer for the new Twilight movie. There was a technical glitch, and they had to stop the trailer to fix it, bringing up the house lights. The wail arising from the teenage girls in the audience was the funniest thing I'd heard in WEEKS!

[ccmovrwc]

They cut a lot of the material in the book about students whose families are suffering under the attacks, so this illustrates the issue without the distractions from the main storyline.

That sounds plausible. I feel much better about it now. ;)

[grellis]

bookmarked, going to see it later this week

[alwaysconservative]

LOL, great tag!

[Politicalmom]

NO DURSLEYS??

I am flabbergasted. They cut out the ton-tongue toffee in Goblet, and now they cut out Dudley telling Harry he wasn’t a waste of skin and shaking his hand?

Bleah.

[Politicalmom]

My daughter’s been wandering around saying “But I am the Chosen One. SMACK!” for months just on the basis of the trailers. :)

[kevkrom]

they cut out Dudley telling Harry he wasn’t a waste of skin and shaking his hand?

That's #7. In this one, we miss Dumbledore dressing them down for their mistreatment of Harry

[Miykayl]

Regarding Harry and Ginny: This was more profound to me than any of the other romantic parts of the movie. Ginny got down and tied Harry’s shoe. This was powerful to me. It would be corny if observed by another, but they had privacy. This was a powerful and intimate gesture by Ginny. It was more powerful than the kiss. This was an act of devotion. I thought it was well done.

[Buck W.]

What’s your point? Are you denying that it is preferable to have the drive to leave the welfare system once on it?

[WV Mountain Mama]

Hoping to see it this week too, mark!

[Buck W.]

On a second reading, I see that I may have misread your response to my post.

[Politicalmom]

Oh, right. I got confused. Phew.