Saw the new Harry Potter film last night and with the exception of the packed theatre, it was a mostly enjoyable experience. The film is, as most reviewers have pointed out, considerably darker than previous entries, but given the tone of the book is that any surprise? I thought the real highlight was Imelda Stauton as the prickly, prissy Undersecretary-cum-schoolmistress, Dolores Umbridge.After all, true evil comes not in meancing facades, but in pink hairy jumpers. The reveal of her Hogswart office caused me to laugh right out loud.
Unfortunately, with all the intrigue and, let's face it, plot, many of the secondary characters, who flesh out Harry's universe, are lost in the shuffle: young Malfoy, Potter's long time foil, is reduced to mere utilitarian role as an Inquisitor; Professor McGonagall has just one or two good scenes.
4 comments:
It was pretty good, wasn't it? I thought they hit the important points rather better than I expected. If people want the whole story they should read the books... it's not like they take a long time to read...
Also, the ending was sweet
I dunno, do you mean the actual ending? cuz that bordered on 'cheesy enough to choke'.
but the rest of the movie was pretty good - I agree about Imelda and all. and the kids have gotten slightly better at acting over the years - particularly our dear Daniel...
the fight at the ministry was good. not by the book, but I thought it worked really well
I really liked it. I thought they did a good job adapting such a huge book into a regular length movie. I was just disappointed with the ending. I was really looking forward to the scene where Harry and Dumbledore have it out. It's so cathartic. Instead it was kind of bland and Harry doesn't get to vent any of his pent up rage. Actually, he didn't even seen that torn up about Sirius... But I did like it. Really.
I saw an interview with DR about the hardest thing in shooting this film and he talked about channeling his emotions for grieving Sirius and how he had no personal experience to drawn on, but that the director had grief counsellors on set to explain the ways people experience loss... after seeing the film, it seems like that was a lot of work for nothing. Besides an obligatory scream, there isn't much grieving present. Maybe they cut stuff out.
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