Finally saw it!

[Carol]

Jen wrote:
> Glad you liked the movie, Carol.  I'm curious to read your impressions about the death sequence and the run across the grounds.  I was somewhat disappointed in those particular scenes as a DD fan, so I'm curious what you thought about the scenes as a Snape fan. 

Carol responds:

I was expecting them to be altered and was trying to watch them with an open mind (and not think too much about getting to the restroom at the end of a long film!) so I wasn't as angry and crushed as I would have been if I hadn't read the spoilers. I actually think that Snape's revelation that he was the HBP after Harry tried to hit him with Sectumsempra worked fairly well within the context of the film; it wasn't as melodramatic as JKR's "I, the Half-Blood Prince!" which would have been hard to deliver with a straight face. I still think it was a bad choice not to have Harry Petrified, but I think I understand why they did it. They want to intensify his sense of betrayal by Snape and his own guilt, as if it's his fault that DD died. The one part that didn't really work for me (aside from how everyone knew to go to the Astronomy Tower) was Dumbledore practically inviting Draco to Disarm him, which he most certainly would not have done because he didn't want Draco to be master of the Elder Wand. Rickman did a brilliant job with the lines he was given (thank goodness for the brief scene with DD before he and Harry leave for the cave in which Snape gets to say that DD takes too much for granted and maybe he doesn't want to do it anymore). And I was glad that they left in "Fight back, you coward!" and Snape telling Bellatrix not to kill Harry (instead of stopping Carrow from Crucioing him) because "he's for the Dark Lord"). I had hoped to get the reactions of other film goers, but everyone in the half-full theater was unnaturally quiet.

One thing, though. I don't know whether it was because I was thoroughly prepared or because the scene was less effective as filmed than as written or because my feelings for Dumbledore have changed dramatically since DH, but I wasn't moved at all by his death and only slightly by the wand-raising scene. I kept thinking, "The locket, the locket. RAB!") I didn't feel any compassion for Snape or Harry, either. I just wanted to see how they ended the film.

I did think it was odd to see Ron sitting by himself while Harry and Hermione talked, but I actually felt that his reaction was more natural than theirs. He was stunned and shocked, unable to chatter about RAB (or whatever--I don't remember the details), in marked contrast to Hermione (and Harry). I don't think it was clear that Fawkes was leaving forever, and there was no sense at all (IIRC) of the Phoenix song expressing their grief through beautiful music.

My sense right now is that if I hadn't read the books, I would have liked the film but found some parts confusing. At this point, though, I need to see it again. I still think it has significant gaps and has caused problems for the filmmakers through the addition of the Burrow scene and that stupid remark by DD that a Horcrux could be anything. (If only Gambon had read the books!)

Jen: 
> Re: Regulus and the Inferi in DH, I believe they will give that moment to Kreacher.  I can imagine a very poignant moment as Kreacher watches Regulus dragged into the lake, listening to his last orders reverberating in the cave.  At least that's how I'm imgaining the scene at the moment. After all, the story is Kreacher's. 

Carol responds:
True. That could be very poignant, and you're right about the PoV. But I still think they overdid the scene with Harry and the Inferi in the HBP film, just as they did with the dragon in GoF.

Carol, who at this point would call HBP a good film but not a great one