More Chicago screening reviews

[Carol]

Cabal wrote:
>
> On second thought, I take it back, I don't want them to release
"this" movie in November. I want them to do re-shoots and re-edits and
release it next year so that it resembles the book it was based on!
 
> What really shocked me is the 2hr 45min running time, HPB is not as
densely plotted as Phoenix or Gobet, so I'm thinking in that time
frame they could do a hell of a job.
 
> I think reducing Tom Riddle's life to 2 events is just crazy. The
films and the final film would be so much richer if, like the book, we
learn more about Voldy. <snip> This movie should have been cleverly
edited with the flash-backs and main story criss-crossing. Especially
since the main story is the flashbacks. There's not much other than
hormones and Slughorn in the book except the flashbacks and Malfoy.
 
> Sounds to me like the dropped the ball, stepped on it, popped it,
threw it in the trash.

Carol responds:

I know that each person's interpretation is different, and I'm not
arguing with yours, but I don't see the flashbacks (Riddle's story) as
the main story at all. It's backstory, preparing Harry for the Horcrux
hunt in DH, but the main story (IMO) is that set up in "Spinner's
End": Draco's mission, Snape's Unbreakable Vow, and Harry's
determination to find out what they're up to. Ironically, he's forming
a bond, almost a friendship, with the HBP, the brilliant boy who wrote
all those helpful Potions improvements and invented all those clever
(and, in the case of Muffliatio, useful) spells at the same time that
he suspects the adult HBP (Snape) of helping Draco do some evil deed
for the Dark Lord.

I do think that Quidditch and hormones and all that are just
atmosphere, an illusion of normal Hogwarts life as Voldemort plots in
the background, using Draco (and, so he thinks, Snape) as his tool(s).
But I can fully understand eliminating the Gaunts if they can find
some other way of establishing the locket as Slytherin's and bringing
in Hufflepuff's cup. (Harry has to know what the cup looks like for
the Gringotts robbery scene in DH to work.)

Anyway, the book is called "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
for a reason, and that double-edged, ironic relationship between Harry
and the Prince on the one hand and Harry, Draco, DD, and Snape on the
other is (IMO) the key to the book and ought to be the key to the film.

I don't like the added scenes, and some of the alterations may prove
problematic (though I understand why, for the sake of filming, they
did away with the Invisibility Cloak in the cave and tower scenes). I
can also understand why they omitted DD's funeral which, while moving
for readers of the books, would just slow down the films.

I'm not sure that I agree about HBP not being as densely plotted as
OoP or GoF. I think it's intricately plotted, with, for example, love
potions leading to poisoning tying in with bezoars (first introduced
by Snape in SS/PS and brought into a Potions lesson so that one just
happens to be in Slughorn's office and Snape's teaching, as adult and
HBP, enables Harry to save Ron) leading to Hermione's and Ron's love
coming out into the opening and Lavender being discarded. That whole
incident stems from Draco's attempt to poison Dumbledore, which ties
in with the Katie Bell incident and Snape's attempt to deter Draco
from foolish plots that could easily go astray and, of course, to the
Vanishing Cabinet plot that brings the DEs to Hogwarts and the scene
on the tower which ends in DD's death. That, IMO, is just one
illustration of HBP's densely and intricately constructed plot, in
which all the subplots, even Quidditch (which is tied in with Felix
Felicis, romance, and Sectumsempra, not to mention Ron's problems with
self-confidence, which will be critical in DH) are interwoven and all
the minor characters, from Slughorn to Romilda Vane, exist for a reason.

It's impossible to include everything, but we have, to name a few,
Spinner's End, Slughorn turning into a chair/couch, the HBP's Potions
book, Felix Felicis, Slughorn's party and the Snape/Draco
confrontation (indicated by online photos, not the reviews of the
screening), glimpses of young Tom Riddle in the Pensieve visits, the
cursed necklace, the poisoned mead, the ring Horcrux, Sectumsempra,
the cave (complete with Inferi), the tower, and the duel in which
Snape deflects Harry's spells. I may have forgotten something, but
that's a pretty good indication, to me, that the screenwriter and
director *do* recognize the key elements of HBP's very complex plot. I
agree that it would be better to include more scenes from the book
rather than adding scenes like the one at the Burrow (or Harry
flirting with a waitress!), and omitting Kreacher seems unwise, but
overall, I think they've done a good job. I can live with changes in
the story (such as Harry hiding behind a plank instead of his
Invisibility Cloak) if they serve a cinematic purpose (I hated the
prolonged encounter with the dragon in which the dragon got killed in
GoF, but that was just to show off CGI, not to help tell the story for
a film audience).

Carol, still expecting HBP to be the best of the HP films and
certainly better than OoP, which cut too many crucial elements