Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince *SPOILERS WITHIN* — Page 6

Tom Riddle and Harry Potter are basically the same person, one used his powers for evil, one used them for goodness.

That's a very good--and true--point. Both Tom Riddle and Harry are orphans who had lousy childhoods growing up. They have similar personality traits: determination, resourcefulness, etc. The stuff that Slytherin values.

Of course, the thing about Tom Riddle is that we barely see him make that choice, even in the books. He's pretty much a rotten egg from birth, as far as we know.

wow this movie was great.

Oh, she said quietly, slinking back into the corner and burying her deep admiration for the girlish-looking actor who played Tom Riddle and his creepy, creepy voice.

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Finally saw the movie today after re-reading books 6 & 7 this week. I was warned that I shouldn't re-read the books before viewing because it would make me focus on the negative, but oh well.

Really, I have no problem viewing the books and the movies as two separate animals. Added scenes, when done well, can definitely breathe new life into the magical world we've all come to know and love. However, I take issue when changes are made for seemingly no reason, especially when they leave a hole in this or future movies.

*spoilers*

Added things I liked:
1) Turning the movie into an awkward teen sex comedy at moments. I laughed harder at some of these bits than I have in any full comedy I have seen lately. They really lightened the mood and showed non-readers how enjoyable this world can be.

2) Slughorn's story about the fish he gets from Lily. This never happened in the book, but it worked to establish just how special Lily was and explained Slughorn's motivation for giving Harry the memory.

Changed things that made me want to throw my shoe at the screen:
1) The ridiculous attack on the Burrow. It's almost as if the filmmakers were thinking, "This stretch of film is a little boring, so let's spice it up by burning down the Weasley house. Nevermind the fact that Bill & Fleur get married there in the next book. We'll solve that problem later." But I wasn't that upset by it until they cut the battle scene at the end. While I can understand that two Hogwarts battle scenes may seem redundant, I think everyone who's read the books would agree that they're not. At least, I wasn't bored in the 7th book because the fight took place in the same location as the 6th. But my biggest beef about it was that it made the ending seem completely anticlimactic and unrealistic. Are we supposed to believe that the biggest Deatheaters would work that hard to get into the castle just to run into the night afterward? Besides, the only two who acted in that scene were Draco and Snape, who have been at Hogwarts for THE ENTIRE FILM. It made no sense to even bring the others there.

2) The sense of mystery. There are two big mysteries in the book. What the heck is Draco Malfoy up to? and Who is the Half Blood Prince? The movie spends absolutely no time with either of these questions. Instead, they show Draco with the cabinet in one of the first scenes and then have Mr. Weasley very clearly tell us what it is about halfway through. There is also no mention of the identity of the Half-Blood Prince until Snape blurts it out in the end, at which point, nobody even cared anymore. I guess that Christmas Burrow Fire was supposed to add the to the tension of the film after the filmmakers sucked it dry by these omissions. Whatever.

3) Having Ginny hide Harry's book for him. This complaint is extra-spoilerish because it reveals info about the 7th book, just fyi. But when Harry hides his potions book in the novel, he marks the location with a tiara he finds in the room, which just so happens to be the long-lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw and one of the horcruxes that leads to Voldemort's undoing. So, it would have been nice for the filmmakers to have not cut that out. I think their job as storytellers would be made a heck of a lot easier if they just stuck to what J.K. Rowling wrote instead of struggling to fill the plot holes they made by changing things around for no good reason.


Whew. Feels good to get that off my chest. Sorry it was so long.

Why does everybody talk about this like it wasn't already a huge part of the book? The book is either OOH VOLDEMORT MEMORY or OOH PEOPLE MAKING OUT or OOH PEOPLE WISHING THEY COULD MAKE OUT.

while this is true, I think most people have a different way of viewing it in their minds when they read the book. or skim through it to get to what they think is the interesting part of the book. But when it comes to life on screen, it's there and they have to watch it and can't ignore it and they complain that there is too much when, like you said, the novel was full of it.

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<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.

-Dre- You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree.
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel.
~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known.
~A Tale of Two Cities ~