Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Full Disclosure: I am not a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Yes, I read every book and have seen every movie. I even went to see this iteration at midnight (comments about whether I am too old for this should be withheld). All this to say, I don't really care if the movie doesn't follow the book exactly or what gets left out or added in. In fact, I haven't read these books in the 4 years since their release, so it was new to me. The film? It was good. But to be honest, it felt like the film was a set of talking points, which would be filled in by the book. Every once in awhile, a line would pop out that was just connected enough to make sense, but was clearly a sound bite intended to cause the viewer to say "Oh, and that is where .... happened which lead to the next step". The story arc was flat (no big battles, no on screen tension that was not hormonally originated) and for the first time felt like the set up for the finale that it was. At this point, the enjoyment of the films for me will happen in July 2011 when the full series is complete and I can dedicate a day to watching the thing in its entirety. Then I won't care who is setting up whom.
3-stars (out of 5)

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