Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Adaptation

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. I bet you were not expecting to see a negative review of the new movie, were you? I myself am confused by what I have seen and surprised at how disappointed I feel. I realize you don't care too much about the series so I'll keep it short. This is probably more for myself to get this out than for conversation, so indulge me.

I am possibly not the best to judge the movie, which is getting remarkably good reviews (it has gone down to 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), as I admit that my judgment is a bit clouded. But I'll give it a shot before talking about what is conflicting me. It should be noted that, as is usual for the series, the supporting performances stole the show this movie thankfully allowed Alan Rickman's Professor Snape to step back into the spotlight after having been rather marginalized in the last couple of movies. I even enjoyed Jim Broadent's interpretation of Professor Slughorn, who came across quite differently than J.K. Rowling's character but ended up working in its own way. They main characters continue to grow and I was also happy to see swine-flu patient Rupert Grint get more to work with as Ron. A number of elements, including the connection and conflict with Draco Malfory, Potter's nemesis, were handled quite deftly. Visually the movie was again quite well crafted both from the production design and the camera work. Unlike in the last movie, The Order of the Phoenix, this movie, however, seemed to have a less clear idea of what story it was going to tell and reminded me more of the "series of events" style of construct found in the first couple of movies than the coherent, well-plotted third and fifth movies.

What bothered me about the movie was that it was not at all what I expected. In my previous post I talked about looking forward to both the political background so well articulated in the last movie and a stronger connection to the past through a series of trips into peoples' memories. So much for that. The theme of the book had a lot to do with the nature of evil and how people deal with the threat of it in their lives on both a personal and societal level. Might be pertinent, huh? It definitely stood out on its own and I do not remember ever thinking it was just setting the stage for the last book. I could not say the same for the movie. I could also not say that the movie captured the spirit or ominous tone of the book. I am not a person in general who has expected absolute fidelity to the source material. In fact, I used to have disagreements with a former coworker, Sarah -- who is a new reader of ours, in which I came down much stronger on the side of considering a movie distinct from a book and having different needs in storytelling. This was the first out of 6 where the departures bothered me more than just a few quibbles with favorite scenes I wish had not been cut.

Maybe its a movie better suited for those who have not read the books and it does make me sad that after avoiding this for 5 other movies, it would end up that way late in the game with a director, David Yates, whom I though was reliable. There were some good things going on in the movie but I was so distracted by the lack of existential tension and what a friend described as the PTSD-like trauma Harry has following the events of the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts. I kept anticipating seeing more about the development of Voldemort and disappointed when he the ultimate villain seemed like an afterthought. A coworker liked the movie a lot and brought up in particular an emphasis they put on relationships -- not just the high-school romance -- and I think he has a point. Perhaps if I see the movie again then the shock of seeing an adaption by someone who seems to have had a much different reading of the source material than I did will have worn off and I could appreciate it more.