HBP: the Good, the Not So Good, and the Ridiculous (Spoilers)

[sartoris22]

The Ridiculous:
> >
> > We all know Tom Riddle is a raging psycho, but he's also supposed to be a charming sycophant...
> 
> I see what you are saying.  Tom Riddle did come off as pretty disturbing in the flashbacks, but I think that might just be because of the encounters we were being shown.  He probably looked completely normal and charming when he was in charms class or eating lunch with his housemates.  The child Tom Riddle was disturbed, but he was also "the weird kid" at an orphanage.  Not a pleasant experience for a child and definitely one that would draw out some of the darker emotions.  I can believe that Dumbledore expected that Hogwarts would be really good for Riddle and he would grow out of his problems.
> 

sartoris22:

I agree--Riddle was an outcast child who learned charm as a way to get what he wanted, which makes his portrayal in the book all the more chilling. According to the sixth book, Riddle holds down a respectable job and does it well so that he can hunt down objects of the founders to use for horcruxes. He charms that silly witch then frames the elf for her murder. After he gets what he wants, he vanishes. My one regret in the portrayal of Riddle in the film  is that we don't get enough scenes of his handsome charm, which would make his transformation into the the serpentine Voldemort even more gripping. 

 By the way, I still don't know how I feel about the sixth film. I'll have to see it again. My favorite remains the third film, and the one I like least, the fifth film. I don't know where to put the sixth film. It seemed disjointed to me, somewhat clumsily stitched together. It was the first film in which I didn't get the sense of the trio as a unit. I suppose Yates wanted to foreshadow the seventh film, in which I think he plans to play up the jealous, disgruntled Ron. Nothing else seems to explain the weird last scene, in which he foregrounds, literally, Harry and Hermoine's unity. Funnily enough, even though Ron has scenes with Harry, it seemed as if Ron was in a separate film. That is one reason I plan to see the movie again. I left the first viewing feeling somewhat disoriented by the experience.