My review of HBP (SPOILERS!!)

[julie]

My review of HBP...
SPOILERS!!

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The Good:
1. Lots of humor, easily the most laugh-out-loud moments of all the Harry Potter movies. I especially enjoyed Harry high on Felix Felicis, and the first Potions class (Hermione's hair, LOL!). 
2. Great CGI and effects, an overall great look to the movie.
3. Acting was great all around. Jim Broadbent, like Imelda Stauton in OotP, embodies the character he plays (Slughorn) despite little physical resemblance to the description in the books. Tom Felton especially did a nice job portraying Draco's disquiet with--and eventual anguish over--his given task. 
The Trio is greatly improved, especially Dan, IMO, who really emodies Harry in this movie. Alan Rickman is fabulous as movie!Snape (and I've come to view the movie versions of the adults in HP as separate in most cases from the book versions, given that they are almost all decades older than they should be, often physically dissimilar, and generally lacking the visible signs of seriously damaged pysches--Snape's often barely controlled hatred/fury, Sirius's emotional outbursts, Lupin's passive/aggressive words and actions--as the book characters). Helena Carter is a treat as Bellatrix (and the exception, as she does embody the book character to me).
4. The added bit with Slughorn telling Harry the story about Lily and the fish, which was very touching.
5. The opening scene showing Muggle London being affected by Voldemort's rise to power, and then Harry in the London cafe. I know the cafe scene was a bit random (not to mention that Harry is away from Privet Drive and its protective wards), but I think it set the tone for Harry's character in the movie, a boy on the cusp of becoming a man, ready to assert his independence. Not to mention his appeal to the opposite sex ;-)
6. Ginny. I think. She is another character markedly different from the book version. In the movie she is quieter, calmer (downright rock-steady in fact), and lacking the slightly mean edge of the book!Ginny. Less tigress, more, er, doe. Hmm. Yet I still don't see any real connection or passion (emotionally speaking!) between Harry and Ginny, in the books or movies.

The not so good:
1. The end, from the Tower to the final credits. In the Tower scene I was fine with Harry staying below during the confrontation, not because he deeply trusted Snape, but because he trusted Dumbledore's judgment (and was keeping his word to Dumbledore). I did think it was odd that Harry didn't confront Snape and the DEs as they headed down from the Tower, but only chased them afterward. But the real annoyance was how the four DEs faced no opposition whatsoever, from Aurors, professors, or students. Not one single person impeded their escape! Bellatrix even had time to blow out the (deserted) Great Hall's windows! I'm not one to demand lots of fighting action in a movie, but it really needed to happen here, IMO. The scene made little sense without it. And instead we have the whole school standing outside raising their lit wands at Dumbledore's passing like they are at a rock concert or about to sing "Kumbayah."
Then there is the final scene with Harry and Hermione talking on the Tower, and Ron inexplicably loitering nearby instead of standing with them (??). It was all very anticlimatic. Let's just shoot the breeze for a bit, and then watch Fawkes fly away at the appropriate moment (appropriate in that the Trio was there to watch him--Ron having finally gotten off his butt to join Harry and Hermione--not appropriate to the plot, as why didn't Fawkes fly away the moment Dumbledore died, or at the moment he was entombed, or some other actual significant moment?).
I wouldn't have minded no funeral if it didn't add anything to the movie, but it would have added a lot, IMO. It would have ended the movie on a poignant note, rather than a very flat note.
2. I didn't expect the movie to lavishly follow the book, but I would have liked to see more about the main storyline from HBP, which was about, you know, the Half Blood Prince, as well as more Tom Riddle. As it was we got nothing about Merope and Tom's heritage, the very thing that drove him to become Voldemort. And no clue, nor any interest from the Trio, as to who the Half Blood Prince is/was. Snape does announce his identity during the brief confrontation with Harry after he's killed Dumbledore, and no doubt Snape can reason that Harry's prodigious performance in 6th year Potions, and Harry's use of Sectumsempra against Draco (the first mentioned and the latter shown in the movie) could only have been possible if Harry had possession of his old Potions book, but the revelation has little impact (what in the movie would make the audience who hadn't read the book care?).
3. Some of the scenes were a bit choppy, including the cave scene, and the final confrontation between Harry and Snape. In the latter scene, some actual cuts were made, including the "I am not a coward!" line. It hurt the flow a bit.

The "huh?" moments:
1. The Burrow attack. Not sure why this was even included, except to show Ginny's devotion to Harry, and to show that Tonks and Lupin are an established couple (skipping all the leading up parts from the book, understandable with time constraints). We also get to see Bellatrix flexing her psychotic muscles, and Fenrir in action, though there is never any mention in the movie that he is a werewolf as I recall (why not?). 
2. The Sectumsempra scene. Interesting that Harry and Draco are trading nonverbal curses (learned presumably in Snape's DADA class, though we never see Snape teaching DADA), and Harry throws the Sectumsempra curse without Draco first throwing a Crucio curse. And when Snape shows up he merely gives Harry a venemous glare and Harry runs away. No demand for the HBP potions book, no punishment for Harry ever mentioned (and Draco didn't even Crucio first!), no follow up at all except for the Trio and Ginny agreeing that the Potions book has to be hidden away so Harry can't use any spells from it again (and Ginny hides it, not Harry).  
3. The scene in DD's office where they discuss horcruxes, and Harry touches the ring. It moves for him, and Harry does that little neck stretching thing from OotP (that indicated he is being influenced by Voldemort). DD then jumps around his desk and stares at Harry's scar, giving the impression (to me anyway) that he has just realized Harry's scar is a horcrux. Did anyone else interpret this scene the same way? Foreshadowing for Deathly Hallows, methinks.

Good things to come:
I've already heard of several cuts scenes/moments, and they seem like odd cuts to me, being either pivotal lines or poignant moments that could have added a lot to the movie. A good part of the Harry/Snape confrontation at the end was apparently cut, including the above-mentioned "I am not a coward!" line, as well as Snape saying "It's over" after killing Dumbledore. And the mutual exchange between Harry and Dumbledore, "I'm not worried, I'm with you (sir, Harry)." Plus an exchange between Luna and the vampire Sanguini at Slughorn's party. Lots to look forward to on the DVD (or could there even be a Director's cut? Please, please!).

Grade:
Overall, I give the movie a "B." I don't think it will go down as my favorite. I really think it would have been an "A" movie if there had been more focus on the Tom Riddle backstory/Half Blood Prince storyline, and less on the romantic subplots (even though there were some very funny moments there). The movie could have ratchited up the tenision-and earned a PG13 rating for impending dread--as befitting the penultimate lead-in to Deathly Hallows. 

All IMO, of course. I will be seeing the movie at least once more on the big screen, when it comes out on IMAX (July 25 in Southern Cal), and I am always open to revising my opinion after a second viewing, where I often catch things I previously missed.