Saturday, July 18, 2009

A Princely Tale

Today, I caught the latest film installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I remembered really liking the book on which this one is based, both the first time around, and the second time I read it, just days before the release of the final book. But the more I started to think about how it would adapt to film, the more I began to wonder how it would really come off.

To be blunt, not a lot happens in Half-Blood Prince. Oh, sure, there's the Big Event that caps the story, the spoiler everyone tried to avoid before finishing the book, a shocker at the time and a truly powerful piece of writing. But when you really get at the plot of this story, there's not much there. Dumbledore is going on an historical fact-finding mission through memories related to Voldemort, and tasks Harry with securing a key memory from the new Hogwarts professor. That's it. The goal is to gather exposition. No mysterious attacks at the school, no death threats from escaped criminals, no wizard tournament... basically nothing to truly drive the action.

When you get down to it, though Half-Blood Prince was an expertly written character piece (assuming you were actually attached to the characters by that point; I know I was), it has classic "middle chapter" syndrome. The last three Harry Potter novels really are a dark little trilogy of their own, kicked off and wrapped up in exciting fashion with lots of action and adventure. And for the middle book that is book six? Laying tracks for the next book.

And so it is that Half-Blood Prince makes for an occasionally boring movie. The screen writer seems keenly aware of the issue. Almost every time there's a long stretch where you're just about to check your watch, some whiz-bang moment comes along to jolt your interest... though they do sometimes feel a bit artificial.

But that said, when the movie is working, it does so exceptionally well. The acting in these films remains superb, as it always has been. There are several key scenes that really pack a powerful emotional punch in this story, and they really do as presented on film. Emma Watson is particularly good as Hermione in this film, playing a teenage love story with great skill and empathy. (And to think, she's considering giving up acting after her Harry Potter run is concluded!)

And of course, that final revelation -- the one that at least one person I know somehow is still blissfully unware of to this day (and I can't wait to hear his reaction to the movie) -- is perfect. The entire cast makes you feel the weight of it.

David Yates, the director who so capably handled the last installment, Order of the Phoenix does another brilliant job here. Beyond his obviously great work in capturing such good performances, there's a great style to the visuals. At several points, there's a brilliant use of depth and levels, for both humor and drama. There are plenty of striking visuals that have nothing to do with with the computer effects (though they are, once again, strong).

Overall, I'd rate this movie a B. There's a lot of really great work here, and the faults are really just the problems of having a book that couldn't really be adapted well for the screen.

Speaking of which... we'll see in a while how an adaptation challenge of an entirely different kind is tackled, when Deathly Hallows arrives in Kill Bill-esque, two-volume fashion.

3 comments:

Roland Deschain said...

Yeah, part 6 does kind of have that Eddie Izzard ending of "Well, I like to leave my audiences with kind of a...huh."

I enjoyed the final 3 books immensely. Having only read them about 2 months ago, they were fresh in my mind. I had somehow managed to miss the movie of Order of the Phoenix and watched that earlier in the week...and was fairly unimpressed by that one.

It felt like they spent way too much time following an event checklist (Occlumency training, check. Umbridge takes over Hogwarts, check.) But most of the events inbetween seemed randomly chosen and not only didn't provide any kind of fluid connection between events, but allowed even less time to expound on the big events - including the battle at the end.

After seeing Half Blood Prince, I think I figured out my problem with Order of the Phoenix as a movie. Order had way too much story that was important and not enough time to tell it - and consequently, the movie seemed rushed and haphazard and incomplete. By comparison, Prince had very little story and mostly character moments - making what was cut or added of less consequence and much more able to flow and seem enjoyable.

Here's hoping they find a happy balance with their split of Deathly Hallows.

Sangediver said...

Personally I found this one the best of the series so far. It's easily the darkest so far, but managed to introduce a lot more humor than past movies.

Anonymous said...

I finally got around to seeing this movie after a few weeks of missed opportunities I just caught a solo matinee after work...

having never read any of the books this movie is all "new" to me, and for the first time I am really tempted to grab that last book to find out what happens!

major spoilers ahead as I speculate on what's going to happen... which is weird because you will already know if I'm on the money or expecting something different. I'm not really looking for "was I right" spoilers, but I thought you might be interested in what a muggle thinks not knowing the rest of the already-published story (which I have managed not to be exposed to.)

first of all, it was painfully obvious that Snape only "fake-killed" Dumbledore in order to get street-cred and acceptance into the Valdemore's Gang. Had they not shown the conversation between those two ("you promised so suck it up and do it!") I would have thought otherwise. I think Dumbledore is the one who placed the message in the amulet, it's the only reason they finally said his first name earlier in the movie to throw you off on who's initials were at the bottom of the note.

I like the fact they now have to search for the 7 Triforce pieces, er.. soul things. but if Valdomore is "back" can't he just keep making more of those? anyway it sounds like a fun journey I just hope the last piece is in Hogwarts I always imagined that place as the big final battle scene.

the highlight of the movie was the ultra cheesy but somehow still awesome "I never gave Ron the steroids he did that all himself" moment. eye-roll and tear at the same time!

the mole