One Man's Review - possible, but hopefully, few Spoilers

[Steve]

First let me say that I think that David Yates is a stunning director.
Previously he has done mostly TV and a few made for TV movies, but he
has really shown his skill in Harry Potter, and I foresee the makings
of  a great director.

That said, what is the unnatural obsession of every director with
making the movies as absolutely short as possible? Trust me if the
movie runs 10, 15, (30) minutes long, we are not going to get up and
walk out. I would much prefer they take some time to develop the plot
and the characters. 

I do think Yates did a good job of sticking to and adapting the
central story of the movie. But why should I care about these
characters? Why should I care if Sirius dies? Why should I care that
Mr. Weasley was injured, if he is just some undeveloped character who
comes wandering through? There are many moments and opportunities for
heartwarming, as well as drama and tension, that would have really
fleshed the characters out.

Give me some drama, give me some characters to care about, and give me
a reason to care. Like I said, Yates found the central story and
played it out nicely. There was very little from the many subplots
that I missed, but I did miss some.

For example, and we are touching on Spoiler territory here, I was very
 disappointed that Ron and Hermione being made prefects wasn't shown.
That may seem unnecessary, but it gives us a window into the many
characters, who they are, how they feel, what they think, how they
react. It's called character development. Also, Ron being made prefect
gives him much more authority when, after the initial confrontation
with Seamus, Ron asks if 'anyone one else has a problem with Harry' or
word to that effect. 

An expansion of the Mr. Weasley story (being injured by the snake) was
a chance for all the main characters to become more human and more
sympathetic. 

There were a few points in dialog where I think the director was off
base. When Ron asks if anyone had a problem with Harry, there should
have been a note of threat and challenge in his voice, even a hint of
anger. Ron/Rupert did what he did well, but I think it is up to the
director to guide him to the proper response. 

Again, when Harry challenges Umbridge when she asks who he imagines
might want to harm children, and Harry replies '...Lord Voldemort...',
I think Harry's voice should have had a clear note of sarcasm in it.
In the movie, his tone of voice is intense and reasoned, as if he is
trying to convince her of something. I don't think Harry is trying to
convince her, he knows she will never believe him, and he knows she is
taking a blind unreasonable attitude, so sarcasm, which is what I got
from Harry in the book, is what was called for. It also makes
Umbridge's detention more meaningful. She and Harry are not having a
debate where they are trying to convince each other. This is a test of
wills between to stubborn determined people. 

There were several points, for example, when Harry first meets Ron and
Hermione at Grimmauld Place, where I did get a sense from Dan's
performance that Harry was experiencing a degree for frustration, and
while he needn't have shouted as Harry did in the book, what I wanted
was more of a sense of Harry's pent up anger. I wanted a sense that
Harry had been bottling up his frustrations and anger all summer, and
that it was bursting to get out. 

Definite Spoiler now -
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. warning, this gives away an important part of the movie
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I was very disappointed that Harry relented and gave Lucius the
Prophecy Orb. He should have held out to the very end. This doesn't
reflect well on our hero, that when the odds are against him, he just
gives in and gives up. I think it would have been much better if he
had remained defiant until the end. 

I did think the battle scenes were well done. It would be next to
impossible to do it the way it is in the book, and I was really
worried about how they would accomplish this. I mean, people hopping
around pointing little sticks at each other, from a cinematic
perspective that whole business could have been horribly schlocky. 

Yet, I think the captured the power and danger of wizard's dueling
very nicely. It was short enough, yet long enough, and once again, the
sense of POWER was really there. 

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End of nasty spoiler section, and back to more general stuff.
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One last note, I think Grawp, a marginally love and mostly hated
character, was done well. He came off as very sympathetic.

Too short, too little plot and character development, and a few dialog
moments that were off base but overall I was very impressed with Yates
ability as a director. I'm looking forward to what he does with
Half-Blood Prince, which strikes me as a very difficult book to make
into a movie.

For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn