When Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out as a book, thousands of people lined up for hours to get a copy. Many fans dropped off the internet for a few days to avoid spoilers while reading it, and it turned out to be one of the most successful publications of our age, both critically and financially. Yet, here we are a few years later, and the film fails to bring in more than $200 million on it’s opening weekend, leaving the mindless fodder that is Transformers 2 as reigning king of the summer box-office. Why is this happening to a film that, based on the book sales, should be a “sure thing”?
The film is certainly good enough. It is well shot, well directed, and the actors have grown into their roles solidly. Still, the people that made the book such a success are not turning out in droves, and certainly not as repeat customers. They have realized that strict adherence to cannon is something they cannot expect from a Harry Potter film. In fact, we should look at the films as separate entities, entirely removed from the book franchise.
Many of the best scenes from the book likely weren’t even filmed. This isn’t like Lord of the Rings where scenes were simply cut out to meet time constraints, these were never filmed at all. Dumbeldore’s funeral, Fudge’s meeting with the Prime Minister, and the Death Eater attack on Hogwarts were all nixed from the film version in favor of scenes seemingly deemed more “visually appealing”. At one point, the filmmakers added a Death Eaters attack the Weasley home, destroying it in a massive fire. Clearly, the final installments of the film franchise will not open with a wedding at that location. That the films are not anything like the books is something we have had to grow accustomed to, but we shouldn’t be surprised by it anymore.
J.K. Rowling’s characters are utterly flawed and human. The sixth book sees Harry dealing with some dark stuff, including zombies and twisted politicians. The film, however, is totally Hollywood. The zombies are now almost cute, and the audience has been deemed too young to deal with political intrigue, so it that aspect has been removed entirely. This is sad, because I really think that these more grown-up elements of the books are what kept people coming back. Here, however, we are left with a dumbed-down version of Potter, and it doesn’t quite stand on its own. Sure, there are exciting moments, and it is certainly better than most of its predecessors, but even for those who have only seen the films, this installment is only ho-hum.
More skillful presentation couldn’t save this film from mediocrity, unfortunately. By the time Dumbeldore dies, the audience will have more questions than answers, and none of the secondary characters has enough screen time to please fans looking for more of someone like Snape or Neville. In fact, the final scene is hugely anti-climactic, with the removal of the funeral and thus one of the most poignant lines from the novels. Alas, as I pointed out, the books are barely a guide here, but the end still feels like they ran out of money, having blown it on bad CGI zombies. The film ends without a sense of closure, and it is obvious that Yates and company didn’t even try, knowing that they have another two films coming down the pipeline.
Final Verdict (out of five):
