Last night, Mrs. Lawhawk and I decided to have a date night and we took in dinner and a movie, which happened to be Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Don't worry, there wont be any spoilers here, although I figure that many people are aware that there is a character called Harry Potter, a series of books detailing his exploits, and that there is a movie franchise that has raked in billions featuring Potter and his friends as they deal with the return of the evil Lord Voldemort.
I will say that the packed house was quite taken with the movie. There was a good mix of humor and suspense, and while a major character is killed off you almost expect to see him again in the form of flashbacks and other magical guises.
The acting in this movie is far more sophisticated than the earlier movies, and that can be attributed to the fact that the actors playing the key roles of students are themselves growing up and become more sure of themselves. Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) is perhaps the funniest of the characters, and has a knack for physical comedy and sight gags.
Much of the movie focuses on the coming of age of the students at Hogwarts and it focuses on an attempt to find out about the background of Voldemort, which may prove useful in the coming war against Voldemort and his minions.
The visuals of the movie are quite entertaining and remarkable. The apparation of various witches and wizards reminds me of the techniques used in the X-Men movie franchise to depict the teleportation abilities of Nightcrawler.
It's used to excellent effect.
Altogether, I'd rate this move 4 out of 5 if you consider it a standalone movie, or a 3 out of 5 if you attempt to compare it to the book, which has a slightly different ending and resolution.
However, I suspect that the different endings might be explained in the fact that the final installment of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, will be made into two movies. With two movies to split up all the action and resolution, the director and producers might have shifted some of the details and information from Half Blood Prince into the first part of Deathly Hollows, particularly because some of those scenes involved flashbacks.
In any event, this is a transition movie leading up to the ultimate battle between good and evil.
I can't wait to see how they transform the final book into the movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment