HP: Half-Blood Prince

*** Absolutely Chock FULL of Spoilers about Half-Blood Prince. Don't read if you don't want to know ***

I am a Harry Potter fan. I've read the books a few times each, and really enjoy the movies, having seen each of them (except the newest one just released) a number of times each.

I have defended the movies to my friends who have argued that too much is cut out, that they don't understand the choices made, etc. I have argued that the Potter books are so full of his every day life that it would be boring to have too much of that put on film. I have debated that focusing more fully on Harry, Hermione, and Ron, to the point of even changing which characters in the books do certain things in the movies so-as to keep the focus on them, makes for better cinematic storytelling. I have, however, lamented some of the changes and wished to see, for example, Hermione's quest to free the house elves, among other subplots in the novels that haven't made it to the movies.

Having recently reread the entire series and rewatched all the movies in anticipation of the Half-Blood Prince being released, I was very excited about the movie. It had Kloves back as the writer, the scribe who has written the script on all but one (and arguably that one is one of the weaker entries in the movie series). It had Yates, who directed the last film to good effect, even if the script wasn't as strong as some of the others. The book's story is naturally more focused on Harry than some of the others, so I reasoned less would be cut out or changed for no reason. The subplots of Ron and Hermione intersected nicely with Harry's story, so I figured less of those would be cut out, too.

In short, I figured this would be the perfect coordination between the book's story and the way the screen writing has gone and would culminate in one of the best adaptations of Rowling's work on film yet. The book had a lot of action inherent in it, as things start racing toward a head, but also a lot of backstory allowing you to figure out who Tom Riddle was and what he had done to become the greatest Dark Wizard the world had known. It showed the intelligence and the power of Dumbledore, and allowed us to see some of the teachers at Hogwarts in a new and powerful light.

I hooked up with some friends and we went to see it.

To say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly.

What was action-packed and made for the screen was dumped or changed. The Ron/Hermione subplots that, for once, wouldn't detract and would actually aid in understanding and putting in context Harry's story, were dumped. Much of the back story was dumped.

And it wasn't just little things.

• In the movie, relatively early on, Death Eaters led by Bellatrix attack the Weaseley's house and burn it to the ground. Not in the book. Why have this very action-packed scene that really has no bearing on the story and ignore the actual key scene at the end where the Death Eaters attack the school and the teachers have to protect the students and the grounds?


• Why leave out the entire Ron/Hermione as Head Boy/Girl story, when it plays such a key role in Harry feeling left out and alone?


• Why completely change the relationship issues between Harry and Ginny?


• Why ignore most of the backstory of Riddle, his hatred of his father and grandfather, and how he came to be, yet leave in the barest pieces of it? Why include Dumbledore's black hand at all, with how little time was spent on it and the fact that he says it is "an exciting tale but now is not the time" and never comes back to it?


• Why completely change how Dumbledore is killed, when the way it worked in the book is sufficiently cinematic?


• Why not include the funeral of Dumbledore, as it plays such a key role in the last book/film?

It was frustrating to watch this movie, knowing from a recent rereading of the story that it was one of the most naturally cinematic and had all the elements perfectly aligned to make one of the best adaptations of story to screen, and have what turned out to be a completely different story told.

As I said at the start, I have defended what Kloves and company have done for the first 5 movies repeatedly. I understood the process and why they made the decisions they did. However, Kloves dropped the ball on this film, completely changing elements to the point where (the two movies for) seven will HAVE to be changed quite a bit in order to be filmed and make sense within the world of the movies.

I will purchase this movie to have in the collection, but I doubt I will watch it with the same relish and enthusiasm that I have attended the first five in the series. This is most definitely a case where I'd rather read the book than watch the movie!