Harry Potter and the Second Chance
10/08/09 17:20 Filed in: Film
I just needed a little distance.
The first time I went to see the newish movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was very disappointed. You can read my disappointment in my blog of 21/07/09. In anticipation of seeing the movie, I had re-read the book and, with Rowling's powerful prose fresh in my mind, I went to the cinema with high expectations.
It turns out, I approached the movie with the wrong mind-set. I went in looking for the ways in which the movie version stayed faithful to the book and the ways in which it diverged. Though Half-Blood Prince is likely my least favourite of Rowling's seven, I still respected it for its consistency of tone, its psychological and emotional depth and the new directions in which it took the characters. I also knew it would be tough to make this deeply introspective, tone-poem book into a successful movie.
This time, I went to the cinema on the spur of the moment Sunday afternoon, now three weeks separated from reading the book, intent on judging the film on its own merits. Well, my opinion of it has improved significantly. Yes, I still think it is a pale, shallow, hollow imitation of the book but, as a film, it works. (Now that's a back-handed compliment if I ever wrote one!).
I will never like what Steve Kloves did to the book in making it into a film script. I will never like the liberties he took not only with Rowling's scenes and story but also with her characters and their motiviations.
I do, however, have a strong appreciation for the look, tone and atmosphere of the film. David Yates and his crew have done exceptional work at creating an artistic film, filled with beautiful images and interesting visual constructions. Yates is especially creative in finding visual ways to show Draco Malfoy's despair as he languishes in his efforts to fulfill the Dark Lord's orders to him. Rowling used the literary device of having another character (Moaning Myrtle) tell the reader (and Harry et al) about Malfoy's torment; Yates isolates Malfoy in the corners of frames, pans from scenes of youthful frivolity to images of Malfoy alone and lonely, pens him physically in the architecture of the school.
Yates also does a very nice job with the "Wizards in the Muggle world" scenes, particularly when the sisters visit Severus Snape in Spinners End. The image of Peter Pettigrew seen through the fogged glass of the home's front door is stunning and Snape seems right at home in the dusty library.
I would (and no doubt will) watch this movie again, not simply because it is an adaptation of one of Rowling's books but also because it is so beautifully filmed and beautifully acted, at least by the veteran back-up cast. I can't say any of the three leads particularly impressed me with their acting skills but they do have a nice chemistry and the film's emphasis of the growing friendship between Harry and Hermione (a steadfast, unquestioning, rest-of-their-lives friendship) is a nice touch in preparation for the final films.
The first time I went to see the newish movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was very disappointed. You can read my disappointment in my blog of 21/07/09. In anticipation of seeing the movie, I had re-read the book and, with Rowling's powerful prose fresh in my mind, I went to the cinema with high expectations.
It turns out, I approached the movie with the wrong mind-set. I went in looking for the ways in which the movie version stayed faithful to the book and the ways in which it diverged. Though Half-Blood Prince is likely my least favourite of Rowling's seven, I still respected it for its consistency of tone, its psychological and emotional depth and the new directions in which it took the characters. I also knew it would be tough to make this deeply introspective, tone-poem book into a successful movie.
This time, I went to the cinema on the spur of the moment Sunday afternoon, now three weeks separated from reading the book, intent on judging the film on its own merits. Well, my opinion of it has improved significantly. Yes, I still think it is a pale, shallow, hollow imitation of the book but, as a film, it works. (Now that's a back-handed compliment if I ever wrote one!).
I will never like what Steve Kloves did to the book in making it into a film script. I will never like the liberties he took not only with Rowling's scenes and story but also with her characters and their motiviations.
I do, however, have a strong appreciation for the look, tone and atmosphere of the film. David Yates and his crew have done exceptional work at creating an artistic film, filled with beautiful images and interesting visual constructions. Yates is especially creative in finding visual ways to show Draco Malfoy's despair as he languishes in his efforts to fulfill the Dark Lord's orders to him. Rowling used the literary device of having another character (Moaning Myrtle) tell the reader (and Harry et al) about Malfoy's torment; Yates isolates Malfoy in the corners of frames, pans from scenes of youthful frivolity to images of Malfoy alone and lonely, pens him physically in the architecture of the school.
Yates also does a very nice job with the "Wizards in the Muggle world" scenes, particularly when the sisters visit Severus Snape in Spinners End. The image of Peter Pettigrew seen through the fogged glass of the home's front door is stunning and Snape seems right at home in the dusty library.
I would (and no doubt will) watch this movie again, not simply because it is an adaptation of one of Rowling's books but also because it is so beautifully filmed and beautifully acted, at least by the veteran back-up cast. I can't say any of the three leads particularly impressed me with their acting skills but they do have a nice chemistry and the film's emphasis of the growing friendship between Harry and Hermione (a steadfast, unquestioning, rest-of-their-lives friendship) is a nice touch in preparation for the final films.