So last night I went to the 12:01am showing of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” It’s been a long time since I read the book, and I did not re-read it prior to the film. Therefore I can’t really make too many comparisons. I know I’ll be seeing it again with John, so I might re-read before that (but I doubt it, I’ll probably just watch “Order” again).
First up, a very good movie of course. I don’t think I haven’t liked any of the Potter movies. Of course with these longer books, the problem comes with what they have to cut out to fit everything in. In comparison to “Order,” I think this one was much truer to the book (again from what I remember). Not that “Order” wasn’t, but a lot had to be cut, and a lot of what was cut was actually important. There are, from what I recall, some major omissions in this book to movie as well. For example the importance of Voldermort’s mother’s ring and Dumbledore’s hand/health is only just mentioned. Again I can’t remember how much this book went into what the ring did, I think that was a memory in the final book. Snape and Dumbledore’s “conversations” were severely cut short as well. Probably the major omission, which is kinda stupid given the title, is the importance of the potions book and the Half-Blood Prince. There is no build up or mystery as to who he is as there was in the book. In fact watching the movie you basically forget it’s important until the crummy reveal at the end. Speaking of the end, Dumbledore doesn’t get a funeral in the movie. What what what! Though come to think of it, they’ve screwed up the ends for a lot of the films lately.
After seeing this film though, it’s clear WHY they had to split the final book into 2 movies. One clearly will deal with finding the Horcruxes, the 2nd with the major and final battle. For example the pendant at the end of the movie that Dumbledore and Harry fought for, that RAB already got . . . well the clues to where it is and who has it was not even in “Order,” so when they have to find it in the next movie . . . well if you didn’t read the books . . . The same goes for the back story between Snape and Potter’s parents, which was cut out of “Order” and is very important in the final installment.
The one thing that the movie unfortunately did horrendously was the love story between Harry and Ginnie. Oh lord, I’m not going to give anything away, but what seemed sweet and innocent in the book seems to be made dirty by little sexual innuendos in the film. We were groaning because of them, and we weren’t alone. Don’t be shocked either if you see various conservative and family groups panning this film because of that (instead of the usual witchcraft crapola).