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John Orquiola
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#1 Posted on 15.7.09 1112.32
Reposted on: 15.7.16 1113.17
Entertaining but ultimately underwhelming. Saw the midnight show in a packed theater (of frankly, ridiculously hot girls) but there was no applause at the end. It was 2:40am but still. This is was the core, diehard Potter audience and they didn't seem to be blown away. I certainly wasn't.

Full review with SPOILERS here:

http://www.backofthehead.com/entertainment/2009-07-15.halfbloodprincereview.html
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The King of Keith
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#2 Posted on 15.7.09 1149.47
Reposted on: 15.7.16 1150.29
I disagree with your review. I thought the Inferi were extremely creepy. My wife (who has not read the book and had no idea they were coming) nearly jumped out of her chair. I don't think the scare was cheap.

I thought the ending was extremely well done. Had the result of the climax been dwelled upon more it would have brought the movie to a screeching halt. It was perfectly paced.

I really liked this movie and think that David Yates is THE director for the HP movies. Gambon as Dumbledore did some of his best acting to date and the rest of the cast was on point too.

How this movie got a PG rating I'll never know.
John Orquiola
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#3 Posted on 15.7.09 1224.18
Reposted on: 15.7.16 1224.27
Thanks for reading. I seem to be in the minority regarding David Yates as the steward of the Harry Potter movies. It's funny because I thought the BBC miniseries State of Play that Yates directed was awesome. But his Harry Potters just haven't moved me. I'm much more of a fan of what Alfonso Cuaron did with Azkaban and Mike Newell did with Goblet of Fire. I just feel like those movies have more energy to them. I feel like Yates gets swallowed up by the density of the material. But regardless, it's not that I dislike Yates' Potters, I like them just fine. Just don't love them.

Agree about the PG rating though.
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#4 Posted on 15.7.09 1254.00
Reposted on: 15.7.16 1254.06
I haven't seen it yet. (Taking the kids to the matinee on Saturday morning...)

In terms of this particular part of the series, the book itself was a little underwhelming. It is really a set up book for the last one, which will now be 2 movies. It won't surprise me that the movie is that way too...
jfkfc
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#5 Posted on 15.7.09 2257.43
Reposted on: 15.7.16 2257.48
I just went and saw it tonight - enjoyed it way more than I'd thought. I breezed through (and really liked) all 7 books in about 2 months, watching the movies right after I finished each book. Looking back, I probably liked the movies less because they were fresh in my head and I nitpicked the differences and parts from the book missing in the movie. HBP was more hazy, and I thought the movie was a lot of fun, and the run-time felt like a breeze. Ron Weasley = hilarity!
Lexus
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#6 Posted on 16.7.09 1433.27
Reposted on: 16.7.16 1433.47
I went to the midnight showing by way of free ticket. The best part was the streaker who showed up midway through and had to announce he was naked due to the fact he was in a darkened theater.

Otherwise formulaic for a Harry Potter movie. Hour and a half to two hours of angst with a final half hour of intrigue that really didn't require any of the buildup it recieved.
drjayphd
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#7 Posted on 16.7.09 2059.00
Reposted on: 16.7.16 2059.01
RT @drjayphd

LUNA LOVEGOOD (clap clap clapclapclap)
LUNA LOVEGOOD (clap clap clapclapclap)
LUNA LOVEGOOD (clap clap clapclapclap)
LUNA LOVEGOOD (clap clap clapclapclap)

But yeah, as someone who hasn't read any of the books (and yet, this is the fourth movie he's seen) I quite enjoyed it. Girlfriend said they inserted a bunch of stuff that didn't make any sense, but it still came off coherent and enjoyable.

Oh, and Ron's bit with the chocolates could've stolen the film entirely. Could have.
Torchslasher
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#8 Posted on 16.7.09 2225.00
Reposted on: 16.7.16 2226.15
See, I thought fans of the book would perhaps enjoy this one more than the others. They really left a lot more of the book in this movie, although there are obvious cuts (funeral for Dumbledore, the Dumbledore lessons with Harry about Riddle's origins and about Voldemort stealing the Hufflepuff cup). It also felt weird that Luna became the Tonks character (finding Harry on the Hogwarts Express), and then halfway through Tonks just shows up at the Burrow.

The actors have finally all come into their own, especially Rupert Grint as Ron. I have thought that Grint has been mostly terrible, but he is pretty great this time around. Broadbent is exceptional as Slughorn. All the actors feel much more comfortable in their roles, with one exception. Bonnie Wright just doesn't have the acting chops to portray Ginny Weasley.

I thought the saddest thing about the movie was the fact that there was exactly one scene inside a classroom during a lesson. We couldn't have gotten maybe one look at a Snape-run DADA class? Or anything like that?

Also, I thought the ending was not good. Ron relegated to background player was silly, and no Ginny? I will assume that they will save the Harry/Ginny "breakup" scene in the next movie.

Overall though, and minus the many nitpicks you will get from a big fan of the books like me, the movie is great. I would put it just below OotP in terms of the HP movies thus far. Plus, I went to a 7pm showing, and there were loud cheers in my theater when the movie ended.
jwrestle
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#9 Posted on 17.7.09 0013.51
Reposted on: 17.7.16 0014.06
Ok, I went to a matinee showing on Wednesday.

Once again, I haven't read the books so I'm not a core crossover. This was a good movie.

I think it was the 3rd or 4th one that really had me wondering if they should turn all of the ones into movies. Then the last two, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, got it back on track for me.

Finally the heel turn for Snape who's been the "snake" in the grass the whole time letting good ole Dumbledore fall into trusting for countless years.

The biggest laugh in the movie theater was the Ron/Snape, or was it that other guy, Chocolate's thing. Gosh, they could have let go few more seconds with the awkwardness of the moment.

At lot of boy/girl stuff in this movie to with the ages finally coming into play more prominently.

I liked it, pretty good summer move. I think it was worth the wait.
The Guinness.
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#10 Posted on 17.7.09 0240.35
Reposted on: 17.7.16 0241.02
    Originally posted by jwrestle


    Finally the heel turn for Snape who's been the "snake" in the grass the whole time letting good ole Dumbledore fall into trusting for countless years.



Speaking as somebody that read the series, this quote right here just pumped up my desire to see this. I already wanted to see this movie, I hate the crowds though. I thought I'd wait two weeks.

Highlighted in this quote is one of the most pivotal parts of series. Sounds like they pulled off the slow burn of the heel and that it translated well on film.

There is no doubt that throughout the series that Snape would be the bad guy. It was obvious, his pure hatred of all that is Potter and subtle revelations of his true desires. However by the end of each book it turned out to not be him. Yet, he was still a questionable character at the beginning of the next novel.

Then everything was finally revealed in HP&HBP. Great book and am looking forward to watching it play out on film. I'm already looking forward to part 7.1 & 7.2.

I really wanted to know how that specific scene played out. Thanks Jwrestle! Off to the movies for me!
StaggerLee
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#11 Posted on 19.7.09 1843.13
Reposted on: 19.7.16 1843.41
Saw it today. Never read the books, so I went in with just the "gonna watch a movie" mindset. And, to tell the truth, it was about an hour too long.

Okay movie, but nothing mindblowing. Guess you have to be a fan of the books to REALLY get into it.
Big Bad
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#12 Posted on 20.7.09 0009.43
Reposted on: 20.7.16 0010.10
Was there a reason it was always 'snogging' this and 'snogging' that? Is there some embargo against the word 'kissing'?

    Originally posted by John Orquiola
    Thanks for reading. I seem to be in the minority regarding David Yates as the steward of the Harry Potter movies. It's funny because I thought the BBC miniseries State of Play that Yates directed was awesome. But his Harry Potters just haven't moved me. I'm much more of a fan of what Alfonso Cuaron did with Azkaban and Mike Newell did with Goblet of Fire. I just feel like those movies have more energy to them. I feel like Yates gets swallowed up by the density of the material. But regardless, it's not that I dislike Yates' Potters, I like them just fine. Just don't love them.


Agreed. Yates is a step up from Chris Columbus, for sure, but I've found his two films to be somewhat slow-paced. They're oddly edited, too --- scenes seem to linger just a second or two too long, whereas a quicker cut might've been more efficient to leave out some of the awkward pausing.

Maybe the now-scrapped 'new director for every movie' plan was just the producers nice way of getting Columbus off of the franchise and turning it over to someone else (Yates) that's more their speed. And in the interim, they got two good movies from Cuaron and Newell for street-cred purposes, so everyone wins!

(edited by Big Bad on 20.7.09 0118)
Greymarch
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#13 Posted on 20.7.09 1059.18
Reposted on: 20.7.16 1059.18
    Originally posted by Big Bad
    Was there a reason it was always 'snogging' this and 'snogging' that? Is there some embargo against the word 'kissing'?


Because they're British?
MoeGates
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#14 Posted on 21.7.09 2141.23
Reposted on: 21.7.16 2141.33
This should have been called "Harry Potter and the Hormonal Teenagers." Did Judy Blume write the screenplay or something? Half as much emo teenager angst, and twice as much magic and you'd have good flick.

Luna ruled. More her and less Lavender would have been great.
Oliver
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#15 Posted on 5.8.09 1049.57
Reposted on: 5.8.16 1051.51
Saw it last night...too bad the entire "Half Blood Prince" part of the book was more or less entirely ignored.

I agree with most of the posts here; it was fairly underwhelming, but a decent movie altogether. I'd give it an eight out of eleven, I think.

The good:
-they gave Alan Rickman more screen time. Good.
-Malfoy's near breakdown. He is human, after all.
-Harry acting like a dick after the luck potion. He showed more personality in that scene than he did during the entire series.

The bad:
-I was hoping to see the Dursleys one more time. I was looking forward to seeing Dudley and Harry at least somewhat get along. The entire scene in the book would have been a great addition to the movie.
-The chick who was fawning over Ron was very, very annoying.
-No Cho. She was adorable.
-For a move that's overly saturated with the teen romance angst thing, there was a surprizing lack of it in some cases.

All in all, typical Summer fare. Definately a better summer movie than Transformers 2.
odessasteps
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#16 Posted on 6.8.09 2132.25
Reposted on: 6.8.16 2132.42

I too could not help but thinking of wrestling booking when watching the movie, especially regarding Snape's "heel turn" (Russo like as it might be) and the like.

And, if this were not a kid's movie, I'd wonder about some of the undertones involving Jim Broadbent's professor and some of his students, especially the Tom Riddle scenes. gave me a creepy vibe.

Those casting people were lucky years ago to end up with Emma Watson being such a cutie-pie. And the kid who plays Draco to end up so menacing.



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#17 Posted on 12.8.09 1142.53
Reposted on: 12.8.16 1143.05
The 2 dunkettes loved it despite the omissions from the book but I thought it was lacking in a lot of ways. I have no hope for Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 since the same director is in place.
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#18 Posted on 14.8.09 1226.44
Reposted on: 14.8.16 1226.45
    Originally posted by Oliver
    Saw it last night...too bad the entire "Half Blood Prince" part of the book was more or less entirely ignored.

    I agree with most of the posts here; it was fairly underwhelming, but a decent movie altogether. I'd give it an eight out of eleven, I think.

    The good:
    -they gave Alan Rickman more screen time. Good.
    -Malfoy's near breakdown. He is human, after all.
    -Harry acting like a dick after the luck potion. He showed more personality in that scene than he did during the entire series.

    The bad:
    -I was hoping to see the Dursleys one more time. I was looking forward to seeing Dudley and Harry at least somewhat get along. The entire scene in the book would have been a great addition to the movie.
    -The chick who was fawning over Ron was very, very annoying.
    -No Cho. She was adorable.
    -For a move that's overly saturated with the teen romance angst thing, there was a surprizing lack of it in some cases.

    All in all, typical Summer fare. Definately a better summer movie than Transformers 2.



Isn't the final scene with the Dursleys in Deathly Hallows?
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