Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

So I attended the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night, and was very pleased. I must admit, I had to let the movie sink in for a day, but all-in-all, it was a fantastic Potter film! (But since the 3rd movie, what Potter film HASN'T been good?) ;)

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!! (If you haven't seen the film yet, or don't know who dies, I suggest not reading this until you see the movie!!! You've been warned...)

The first 5 minutes of the film threw me off. The Dursley's weren't even in this one, and although I can see them cutting those parts out (especially when the books get longer and longer and something has to go), they are still some fun scenes to see on screen.

Next, I LOVE the 6th book so much because the first few chapters don't even start with Harry Potter in his horrid Muggle home. In fact, the book doesn't start with Harry at all! It begins with the Prime Minister of London, waiting for news from the Prime Minister of Magic. Then we cut to the mysterious unbreakable vow between Snape and Draco Malfoy's mother. Now, even though the Minister meeting is left out, the unbreakable vow scene was in this film, but not until a good 10 minutes or so into the movie. And since the story is largely based on the mysteriousness of this meeting (as well as Draco's "mission"), it would have been a great opener for the movie...but oh well....And then the whole breaking of the bridge scene, and Harry hitting on some hot girl with a fro??? There were a lot of people LITERALLY saying "what the fuck" out loud in the theatre during these first few minutes. I just wish they stuck to the Minister scene. We didn't need to SEE Muggles being affected by Death Eater's. The Prime Minister of England could have shown that through shear fear... :)

Anyway, with that being said, the rest of the film was SPOT ON!!! The Quidditch was beautiful, the love scenes were great, the acting was SUPERB!!! I swear, ALL of these actors get better and better with each film, just like JK Rowling did with the writing of each book. Seriously, SPOT ON!!!

At one point, knowing that Dumbledore is a major figure in this book especially, I was watching Michael Gambon and wondering how Richard Harris would have held up in this film (and even the last one). I know when Richard died, a lot of people gave Michael a hard time for stepping up to the plate. And let's be honest, he was barely in the 3rd movie, and I think for that very reason. But I felt this way from the beginning...Richard Harris was great. Classic. But I don't think his honesty and mysteriousness could have handled the Dumbledore we see in books 5 and 6. The battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore in the last movie was intense, and Gambon pulls off that powerful attitude! And in this new film, he added the perfect amount of vulnerability to the role, and I can only applaud him for that. Of course, I bawled like a little school girl when he died, but the moment was so beautiful and brilliantly captured, it was everything I made it out to be when I was reading it a few years ago. So I must also thank David Yates for being so true to the book, particularly the death scene. Well done. :)

Now, speaking of the direction, one thing David did focus on that I could have actually seen a little less of were all the love interests. I understand there is a lot of LOVE going around in book 6, as there should be. They're 16 now. That's the early stages of Ron and Harry's sexual peek, lol. And all these love scenes were hilarious, don't get me wrong. That adds a lot to any movie. And I do remember when this book came out and everyone was questioning who Hermione was going to end up with. But the most beautiful love moment was when Harry comforted Hermione when she saw Ron making out with Lavender. You could tell there was no sexual interest between Harry and Hermione, but true friendship. I think I cried during this scene, too, lol. :)

And in regards to all the love scenes, I wish there was a tad lass of those, and perhaps one or two more memories of Tom Riddle. One of the reasons why I LOVE book 6 so much is because we learn about who Voldemort was BEFORE he became to be the most evil wizard of all time, and I for one, believe that there is both good and evil in all of us. No one is born evil. It has to come from somewhere. And all those memories showed us just that with Tom Riddle. But by having only TWO memories shown in the film, I was a little disappointed by this. If it were me, I would have added one more to replace some of the lovey-dovey stuff...but that's just me...

With all this being said, I'm only nit-picky because I'm a Harry Potter fan. And I'm not afraid to admit it, even at 26 years old, lol. I still think the movie was phenomenal, and the films just keep getting better and better. At first, movie 3 was my favorite (as was my favorite book), but then the 4th movie came out and it was great. And then the 5th movie came out and it was fantastic. And now the 6th movie is out and it's amazing! Now I just don't know WHICH movie is my favorite.... (well, I don't really count the first 2 movies.....they were bad.....)

I give this movie NO REDBULLS!!!!

(I wouldn't need a single energy drink to stay up to watch this movie again and again!)