The movie hits Australia!

[professor_monkshood]

It's MMM here and her weird YahooID that no one has seen.
First, a me too -- finally got to see it twice over here in New 
Zealand.

The soundtrack -- my mother said JW has stolen from Swan Lake.  There 
were several instances of soundtrack invasion when we were just 
supposed to marvel at the imagery on screen but nothing major.  I was 
humming the Hedwig theme when I came out of the theatre.

> but I have to agree with the waves of protest about Richard 
Harris.  He really annoyed me.
Richard Harris wasn't as bad as I feared but I think only he could 
have screwed up the comical line 'Alas, earwax.'  Give someone else 
the job.
 
I quite like Emma -- surely some overacting but otherwise fine.  
Hermione, afterall, was supposed to be a bit hysterical in the first 
book.
 
> I have been preparing carefully for my next comment.  Not only have 
I donned my bullet-proof vest and suit of armour, I have also erected 
a electrified barbed wire fence around my concrete bunker and hidden 
inside it bearing a can of Mace.  Because... I didn't find Alan 
Rickman particularly sexy!  (gasps of horror and fury and cries of 
vengeance from all and sundry Snape fans).

I'm joining you and Amanda in the bunker.  Snape is not supposed to 
be the subject of fantasy and Rickman did well enough here to hide 
his 'sexiness'.

>However, he didn't do it for me physically at all.  Too old, too 
chunky, too stiff around the neck (I agree with the high collar 
comment).  Neither did he fit my mental image of Snape.  Snape is 
younger, more gaunt, his hair is shoulder length and greasy.  Plus I 
didn't go for the "no foolish wand waving" speech while striding 
briskly into the classroom.  Feels all wrong to me.  If I were CC, 
I'd have had him pause silkily, one eyebrow raised, in the doorway, 
while the students fell silent, and then make his way slowly and 
deliberately to the front of the room and *then* quietly, coolly 
begin his speech.  I know the film was long and they had to hurry 
along what they could, but CC's version lost a lot of Snape's 
gravitas IMO.

The first reaction after the movie was -- what on earth was Snape 
doing, wishing Harry luck?  What was Steve Kloves doing and has he 
really read the book?  Or does he skip the part with Snape in it?  
The scene was jarring and Snape was acting totally OOC.  Snape would 
never, ever under any circumstances, wish Harry Potter luck.  Would 
anyone care to defend that scene?

Physically, Rickman fits my mental image of Snape.  Not perfectly -- 
the robes are too aristocratic and elaborate.  I have always imagined 
Snape to wear plainest possible robes.  Snape is the type that 
are 'young but not youthful looking' so Rickman's age did not bother 
me.  Anyway, Snape was never, never described as 'young' anywhere in 
the book.  Go ahead and check it.

When they first talked about the movie, I pitied the actor that's 
going to play Snape.  You have to appreciate how tough the job is -- 
Snape is a different character to different people, ranging from the 
Sexy!Snape to the Evil!Snape and some group is bound to be 
disappointed.  He has to play the hidden side and whatever tragic 
history without being too revealing, play the red herring when 
majority of the audience knew the plot twist.  Then Steve Kloves and 
CC cut half of his scenes in the book and inserted a baffling scene 
instead ... Considering all that, Rickman still pulls it off.

Next question: Is the life debt thing important?  It seems to be an 
obsession in PoA.  But why wasn't it mentioned at all in the movie?  
Did Steve Kloves make the cut or did JKR make it herself?  Snape 
seems to have undergone a transformation in the movie -- he wasn't 
nasty or spiteful, just sad and sarcastic.