Harry Potter & the Half-Good Film

You know you're desperate to see a movie when you pay to see a Harry Potter flick in theatres. I'll be honest, I don't hate the flicks, I just don't like being one of three adults in the theatre either. But with Public Enemies delayed release to theatres in Hong Kong, I didn't really have any other choice, so HP6 is what I peeped.

Although to say I actually saw anything would be kind of a lie. NOTHING happens in this movie. It is so damn uneventful that it blew me away. I could have told the story of this two and a half our movie in 15 minutes... easily. I really don't feel like that's being arrogant, but so much of what happens in this movie is unimportant. The Potions book thing belonging to the "Half-Blood Prince," I don't get why it was in there, other than the fact that it caused Harry to perform a crazy violent act on that very Nazi-esque looking enemy of his, thus revealing a possible dark side to our hero. But seriously, the story really had nothing to do with the book, so what was the point? Not to mention all these teenaged hormones getting thrown around left, right and center, causing girls to cry and boys to be emo and lame.

Speaking of which, I can't think of more awkward flirty moments in a movie than the ones that were in these ones; like Hermione always panicking in front of Ron (Ya I know their names, leave me alone) when she has toothpaste or beer on her lips... actually come to think of it they played that joke out a lot. Or the whole Ginny feeding Harry? That like... embodies awkwardness. And then she ties his shoes! Tie your own shoes Harry! I thought you were The Chosen One! Can't even tie your shoes? So much for saving the world...

But you know, at the same time, this wasn't a terrible movie. It had some excellent qualities. For one thing, I think it was the funniest of all the HP movies I've seen. The liquid luck scenes in particular where Harry is constantly giving Jim Broadbent(who is always brilliant)'s character a hard time are especially funny. And the closing scenes with the mourning of Dumbledore was pretty moving, but don't tell anyone I said that.

The cinematography of the flick was really cool too, done by one Bruce Delbonnel, who actually just rocked his first Harry Potter film, and rocked it indeed. I thought it looked great.

Broadbent and Michael Gambon were the acting prominents of the movie in my opinion. I hate saying whether or not the kids were good or bad because who actually knows? They were like 10 when they started these, and how often do you get a 10 year old who blows your mind on-screen? Not often, so I guess they're consistent. Who knows? Maybe one day they'll do something really exceptional, win an Oscar, and HP will be nothing but a magical memory for all of them. Probably not. Daniel Radcliffe, the one and only Harry Potter himself, was hilarious on Extras though.

Fans of the books probably hate this movie. Fans of the movies probably love this movie, or hate it. It kinda goes both ways. Like a pendulum. But because I don't re-watch or re-read the Harry Potter adventures often or ever, it's hard for me to keep up. This movie makes the mistake of thinking that everyone who sees it will remember exactly what happened in the last one. I didn't, couldn't. Maybe it's my mistake, but in my books it still loses some points for that.

I give Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince 3.5/6, so I guess I'm just gonna let it keep swingin'.

P.S. - Apparently this movie just broke like every box-office record ever. The fans have spoken. What side did they choose?