Comments on: Movie Review — Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince http://blog.peterkupfer.net/2009/07/17/movie-review-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/ Thoughts and musings of Peter Kupfer Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:59:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Gina http://blog.peterkupfer.net/2009/07/17/movie-review-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-4241 Gina Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:16:51 +0000 http://blog.peterkupfer.net/?p=1393#comment-4241 I have a couple of disagreements with you on your evaluation of the movie. This is definitely a continuation story. It starts as the last movie ended, with Harry being led out of the Ministry looking lost and in shock after his godfather, Sirius Black is killed by Bellatrix. I believe that the scene in the Burrow is more than just showing that Harry is a hothead. Bellatrix already did something to Harry. She killed his godfather. Harry is reacting to seeing her for the first time since then. The scene also establishes the relationship between Lupin and Tonks, lets us know that the Order is still fighting, and establishes Snape's position as spy for one side or another based on what we've seen. And we aren't really sure which side he's on. As for the ending, I agree that there are some problems with Snape and Bellatrix not capturing Harry. However, I have thought about it and I believe they were acting on orders. The "mission" was to kill Dumbledore and ransack the school. The mission was accomplished. They were not told to capture Harry and so they did not. It's not how it happened in the book. It also leaves our minds reeling with doubt about Snape. Is he good or evil? We don't really know. He killed Dumbledore, but he only blocked Harry's advances and did not even try to hurt him. I believe he also stops Bellatrix from attacking Harry as well. I believe that in the end, Snape knows that Harry is the key to ending Voldemort. Whether he is good or evil, I think Snape is very selfish. He doesn't want to be under anyone's thumb. I don't think he really wants Voldemort to succeed but he doesn't want to really help Harry more than he has to either. As for Dumbledore not fighting, Malfoy disarms him straightaway. He does not have a wand and he has Malfoy's wand pointed at him. I have a few theories on the reason why he doesn't even try to get his wand back. First, he doesn't want Malfoy to suddenly grow some and kill him if he goes for his wand. Two, he is pretty sure that Malfoy just doesn't have it in him. Three, I think he told Snape that if Malfoy doesn't do it, he'll have to in order to keep his cover (like you said) but also because he doesn't want Malfoy to be punished by Voldemort. And finally, he was weak after drinking the potion and then fighting off the nasties in the cave with Harry. I also think that the big fight scene getting left out is okay. I think the point was being made about how horrible the Death Eaters are and how much destruction they can wreak when they really want to. And, if it came down to it, there are a lot of kids at Hogwarts. I find it incredibly hard to believe that if there really was a huge battle, that 5 or 6 death eaters would leave unharmed. I didn't feel that they spent too much time on Ron and Lavender. Pretty much every time Ron and Lavender were shown, we saw Hermione's reaction. I think they went a sort of backwards way to develop the relationship between Ron and Hermione. But I agree that they did a lot for developing Harry and Hermione's friendship. I think it needed to be done. We already know how close Harry and Ron are. They have been through a lot over the years. We don't really see a lot between Harry and Hermione to believe that she would leave school and help him with his quest before this movie. Now we can be sure that she feels strongly enough about Harry and his purpose that she would leave school to help Harry in his quest to end Voldemort. I agree that Jim Broadbent did a great job as Slughorn. The character was perfect and exactly what I was expecting from reading the books. Don't get me wrong, you make some very valid points and I value your opinion! I just had a different view of this movie. I have a couple of disagreements with you on your evaluation of the movie. This is definitely a continuation story. It starts as the last movie ended, with Harry being led out of the Ministry looking lost and in shock after his godfather, Sirius Black is killed by Bellatrix. I believe that the scene in the Burrow is more than just showing that Harry is a hothead. Bellatrix already did something to Harry. She killed his godfather. Harry is reacting to seeing her for the first time since then. The scene also establishes the relationship between Lupin and Tonks, lets us know that the Order is still fighting, and establishes Snape’s position as spy for one side or another based on what we’ve seen. And we aren’t really sure which side he’s on.

As for the ending, I agree that there are some problems with Snape and Bellatrix not capturing Harry. However, I have thought about it and I believe they were acting on orders. The “mission” was to kill Dumbledore and ransack the school. The mission was accomplished. They were not told to capture Harry and so they did not. It’s not how it happened in the book. It also leaves our minds reeling with doubt about Snape. Is he good or evil? We don’t really know. He killed Dumbledore, but he only blocked Harry’s advances and did not even try to hurt him. I believe he also stops Bellatrix from attacking Harry as well. I believe that in the end, Snape knows that Harry is the key to ending Voldemort. Whether he is good or evil, I think Snape is very selfish. He doesn’t want to be under anyone’s thumb. I don’t think he really wants Voldemort to succeed but he doesn’t want to really help Harry more than he has to either.

As for Dumbledore not fighting, Malfoy disarms him straightaway. He does not have a wand and he has Malfoy’s wand pointed at him. I have a few theories on the reason why he doesn’t even try to get his wand back. First, he doesn’t want Malfoy to suddenly grow some and kill him if he goes for his wand. Two, he is pretty sure that Malfoy just doesn’t have it in him. Three, I think he told Snape that if Malfoy doesn’t do it, he’ll have to in order to keep his cover (like you said) but also because he doesn’t want Malfoy to be punished by Voldemort. And finally, he was weak after drinking the potion and then fighting off the nasties in the cave with Harry. I also think that the big fight scene getting left out is okay. I think the point was being made about how horrible the Death Eaters are and how much destruction they can wreak when they really want to. And, if it came down to it, there are a lot of kids at Hogwarts. I find it incredibly hard to believe that if there really was a huge battle, that 5 or 6 death eaters would leave unharmed.

I didn’t feel that they spent too much time on Ron and Lavender. Pretty much every time Ron and Lavender were shown, we saw Hermione’s reaction. I think they went a sort of backwards way to develop the relationship between Ron and Hermione. But I agree that they did a lot for developing Harry and Hermione’s friendship. I think it needed to be done. We already know how close Harry and Ron are. They have been through a lot over the years. We don’t really see a lot between Harry and Hermione to believe that she would leave school and help him with his quest before this movie. Now we can be sure that she feels strongly enough about Harry and his purpose that she would leave school to help Harry in his quest to end Voldemort.

I agree that Jim Broadbent did a great job as Slughorn. The character was perfect and exactly what I was expecting from reading the books.

Don’t get me wrong, you make some very valid points and I value your opinion! I just had a different view of this movie.

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