Somewhat agreed. It was much worse*** than in the book, abbreviated and the impact stripped away, but I actually thought it was done well by JKR (rare words from me). It showed just how far Harry was away from being anywhere near competent, showed what a real wizard duels like, gave us a little insight into Snape's very complex character. None of which, of course, translated to the movie version.

I'm pretty positive you're wrong here. I definitely remember a flash of green. It wasn't as pronounced as the few AKs in the GoF movie, but I'm pretty sure I would have noticed had it been anything other than the signature green. So maybe you were a little sleepy at 3 in the morning?

 

Honestly, now that I think back on it, it looked blueish to me too.

 

I saw the movie twice and am pretty positive that the flash is more blue than green.

 

Ring him up, get her number, make her preggarz then make her pay money to keep the baby. Tis' what I would do.

Just don't keep the baby.

 

At the end of the day, if you take anything away from this mess, it's that it is more fun to troll than watch.
And isn't that all we'd ask of it?

 

I stayed after with my brother and a friend, letting the credits roll(some rather amusing names on the staff of the film), and one random thing random thing that struck me as odd was that Fenrir Greyback was the third character listed:
Harry Potter
Albus Dumbledore
Fenrir Greyback
...Hermione, Ron, etc.

...weird... Oh, and Cho Chang was still listed there at the very end. I suppose they specifically had the actress again, instead of an extra in the background(or, you know, not showing her) or something, because I don't remember her having any lines in the movie.

Other than that, a few odd things struck me.

First and foremost, is that transportation method that the death eaters use. I guess they can all fly, because that is not apparating. Not only do they directly interact with objects mid-transit, but they are visible... or are they!? The particular scene when they are taking Ollivander it has the death eaters 'fly' down Diagon Alley without anyone noticing them at all, when they are seemingly semi-visible in all other instances that they travel that way.
It is certainly an interesting effect... but I still don't like it.

Dumbledore's hand... isn't very skeletal and near-decayed looking like what I think I remember it being depicted as in the book, but I may be wrong. That said, it gets back to healthy looking for a moment after he moves it through the liquid of the pensieve during one scene. The inconsistency annoys me more than the lack of decay, but... meh.

The alteration of the cave scene to be appearing on a flashy shot on a rock out cropping, then when in the cave, Dumbledore looking at the wall and just cutting his hand. If I recall in the book, they appeared on top of a cliff, climbed down, went under water a bit, then Dumbledore waved his wand around to sense the magic before cutting himself. (might be addled by fanfiction though)

It was an interesting enough movie though, and 'high' Harry, innuendo McLaggen, and love potion Ron, and such were entertaining. I also agree with a previous poster that Tom Riddle was creepy as heck. I suppose it worked for him, but he just exuded a feeling such that I don't see why everybody loved him. Some people just go for 'creepy and oddly-but-not-quite effeminate' I suppose.

 

@Fenraellis: my guess is that they did the credits by order of appearance in te film - not importance.

 

Okay, just finished seeing the movie and...

Well, it could have been a hell of a lot worse, let's just say that. But it could have been a hell of a lot BETTER too.

For starters, is it just me, or is Radcliffe's acting actually getting worse? I mean, it seems that in every subsequent movie, he has less emotion. He's more detached than anything, and I really think that hurts the scenes. Grint was hilarious, and for one, he seemed to be one of the few characters that actually seemed like he was in a fucking Harry Potter movie. I wouldn't have cast Ron any other way.

And Watson... well, I'm devoting a little rant here, because she was ridiculously OOC. Come on, the scene at the Three Broomsticks, anyone? Her portrayal was schizophrenic, and she didn't act half as well as I thought she would. Maybe it's because I loathe Hermione as a character now, but I don't even think Watson played a recognizable Hermione.

Broadbent... once again, not the Slughorn we all wanted, but whatever. He's a decent actor, and he was brilliant when drunk (and stoned!Harry was pretty sick too, not gonna lie), but he wasn't memorable. He wasn't the iconic Slughorn we all were looking for, and that's a damn shame.

Lynch was an entertaining character, but I'm going to echo the sentiment she was overutilized in areas and underutilized in others. Not good at all - she reminds me too much of Rose from Two and a Half Men. And I'm not wasting a paragraph on Wright, so I'm going to say that she at least made all the little fangirl dreams come true and made me throw up in my mouth just a little.

And I feel this is worth saying: the portrayal of Tonks in this movie was SHIT. But then again, the book's portrayal of her was shit as well, so what can you expect? And Lupin, if anything, was WORSE.

Other Weasleys, for the most part, were good. Ironically, I actually liked what they did with Arthur, and even though he doesn't really seem like the one I envisioned, at least he does fairly well in his role.

Felton as Malfoy, I think, was one of the best portrayals of the character I've seen in a long time. At least he bloody shows emotion, unlike Radcliffe. Frankly, I'm liking Malfoy's character a hell of a lot more than nearly every other one.

Dumbledore, in my opinion, was done well and realistically, but once again, the movie cut a lot of the scenes in HBP that made me like Dumbledore as a character, and that disappointed me. McGonagall, as usual, remains excellently cast and very well acted.

McLaggen and Lavender, despite being annoying characters, at least played their roles well. McLaggen, in fact, earned plenty of lulz, because he reminded me so much of a lot of my friends looking for girls. Honestly, good casting there.

Bellatrix's inclusion in the movie was good, and at least she knows how to act, but if you're going to bring in a character like her, a bit more screentime WOULD be nice, really. Same with Fenrir. Good casting (although a little bestial would have been appreciated, but whatever), but he was underutilized. I don't even think anybody knew his name in the movie, and I'd like to see a few lines of dialogue here and there.

And this brings me to the final character: Rickman as Snape. Honestly, Rickman's the best actor on the set, and any scene with Snape actually in it is surprisingly good. Once again, he seems to be one of the few characters that realizes he's in a Harry Potter movie, and he plays his part to a tee. But honestly, I want to see this guy get angry. Mad, livid, furious, and you don't see that. Disappointing, indeed.

But honestly, I think the majority of my issues with the movie come from two main problems: the source material, and the director. Honestly, I don't think Yates knows what the hell he's doing directing these films, and by skipping out on the exposition, he's doing a lot of damage to the plotline. I don't know how on earth he can properly direct the DH movies, considering all the MASSIVE plotholes. Other issues include:

Spoiler

-the lack of casualties on the Millennium Bridge collapse: say what?

-the Harry/Ginny romance: honestly, it was more developed than it was in the book, but it didn't make it forgivable

-the constant implications of Harry/Hermione: honestly, if you want to torture the Harmonians, you don't have to make things so blatantly OBVIOUS

-the lack of subtlety: more of a problem with HBP (the book) than anything, this movie suffers a particularly bad case of it

-the ending scenes: the battle should have been there. And Snape should have RAGED. That fucking made the end of HBP half worth it, and losing that bit was resoundingly disappointing.

-scene lighting and color - this might be a personal thing, but does anybody actually like that half the scenes in the movie are exceedingly badly lit, compared to the first two movies. I mean, ominous darkness works to a point, but it got to the point that the lighting was just meant to encourage melodrama

-the lack of a PG-13 rating: this irks me more than most things, because I think the actors could have done more with an expanded rating. With that we could have some genuinely good violence, some actual DEATHS, and a bit of dramatic acting

-the plot/screenwriting/dialogue assignment: this is where I think the film falls apart, because the pieces ARE there. There were some solid actors and the plot had potential, and with better writing (and to some extent better acting), there could have been so much more. One of the biggest problems I'm having with the Potter movies that Yates is directing is that none of his characters are allowed to get truly INTO their roles. If Rickman was allowed to rage, it would be a relatively sick scene. If Bellatrix was allowed to go psycho and torture whoever gets in her way, there could be some awesomeness there. If Fenrir was allowed to become the cannibalistic rapist he was in the books, he could be FUCKING AWESOME. But there was no room for that in the movie, and that genuinely disappoints me.

-the lack of exposition: it was shit, don't even begin to say otherwise. The movie leaves plotholes extraordinaire, and I can only wonder how on earth Yates will be able to patch them.

I went to this movie with two people: a hardcore HP fangirl (who dressed up and everything, regardless of anything I said to the contrary) and one of my buddies who hasn't followed Harry Potter since Prisoner of Azkaban. He came out of the movie a bit confused and a bit disappointed, wishing the rating would have been higher. The fangirl came out squeeing at the romance, but even she was questioning how the hell they could make DH after this movie. I just came out with a vague feeling of disappointment at the wasted potential of the movie, knowing that it could have been SO MUCH BETTER.

In any case, how does it compare to the book? My verdict: well, about the same, really. The book was a piece of shit, and so was the movie, but for different reasons. Both, in the end, leave you disappointed.

 

Off the top of my head, I can think of three times Fenrir showed up: Borgin and Burkes, the Burrow attack, and when they killed Dumbledore. It would've been awesome had the movie included the scene where Fenrir attacks Bill. Yes, movie Fenrir looked creepy, but the movie didn't really have any examples where he acted creepy/dangerous, you know?

I'm afraid that's canon Harry for you. In the book Dumbledore even tells Harry to use fire against the inferi, and yet he sticks with stunners. That scene was pure JKR.

I think Tom Felton should've been listed at the top. Certainly, his role was much more important than Greyback's.

Cho? Was she even in the movie at all?

The transportation effect is definitely non-canon, but I love it. IMO, it makes the scenes more excited. I'd much rather see that than just have death eaters appearing (like they're supposed to).

Did they use the smoke effect in the graveyard scene in Goblet?

Mmm, yes, the cave scene was all about making it a better movie. Look at the actual cave, for example. There's no way a few eleven-year-olds could make it into that cave - magical or not. Tom alone might've been able to do it, but as young as he first was when entering the cave, he couldn't have been able to apparate the other two children in there as well. However, the cave used did make for some great visuals... which is pretty much all the screen writers care about.

Movie Riddle was polite and all, but he was still creepy as shit. He looked like a disturbed girl.

--

EDIT: I agree with all the comments on Snape. If there's one thing that pisses off Snape - besides Potter and Black, of course - it's calling him a coward. What did Harry do? Called him a coward. And he just flipped his hair a bit and stared! That's so out of character it's fucking unbelivable! Snape just killed his mentor and father figure; he's going to be emotional and off-balance. Having Harry - who looks so much like his father - chase after him and call him a coward should've sparked mass torture. (Which I would've been all for, by the way...)

 

Eh. The movie just didn't really live up to my expectations. Many of the concepts featured simply made the flaws of HBP worse in my opinion. Wasn't worth my money.

 

Going to see the movie soon but skimming over the comments Radcliffe's acting seems to be a consistent sore point. Iirc he's sick of playing Harry Potter 'had no idea what he was getting into', not so much a lack of acting skill as a lack of effort at the part.

 

I mentioned that to a friend of mine in the previous movies. Ever since the Second/third movie, Radcliffe's acting has persistently gone from bad to worse. I mean when he was in the first 2 movies he was a better actor, maybe its cause he was less self conscious then than he is now.

Aside from that, most notably the lack of anger In Snape at the end really annoyed me.

Credit to them for reducing the number of awkward scenes as compared to 5th movie.

I also agree with previously mentioned comments about Malfoy. Honestly it seems as if in both the movies and the books, Malfoy developed more than Harry's character. Its a shame since its supposed to be about Harry but Its become much more clear now that Malfoy's character came farther in terms of development than did Harry.

Not to mention Felton did a brilliant job as douche bag malfoy in the previous movies and now serious and emotional in this one.

I was not satisfied that they cut out all the memories Dumbledore showed Harry except for 2 of them. I thought they could have cut down on the useless shit scenes that were dispersed through out to show more memories but meh.

I would have liked to see A Dumbledore funeral thing, would have been pretty sick.

On a side note, wtf was Dumbledore's wand doing on his Desk after he died? is that not supposed to be buried with him?

 

I don't know what you guys are talking about...

I liked this movie. I think it may have been the best of the series.

And I'm one of the ones that gave up on the series after book 6. The deathly hollows forum is littered with my distaste.

This movie was well done. Aside from radcliffs acting which is what it always is. The rest was pretty damn ok.

But radcliffs pincer imitation had me chuckling.

I got to say I really liked the foreshadowing in this movie. Especially the part with the ring and harry. That was excellent.

This actually makes me excited to see the next movie if only because yates has out done himself.

 

Not an awful film. Liked it enough, considering the book its based off.
- Dumbledore: Well portrayed in this one, actually felt a bit more Dumbledore-ish.
- Draco: Tom Felton did good here. I'm not a huge fan of the guy for reinforcing the idea of Draco In Leather Pants to the fangirl crowd, but he did good here - nice and flexible (And on an unrelated note, the fangirls are going to redouble their swooning because their Draco is all emotional. -_-)
- Harry: Radcliffe you nut. Seriously, I was laughing during his Felix Felicis scene, but was a little awkward during the rest.
- Ginny: No comment. Except that she obviously spiked the pastry she fed Harry with Love Potion. And used a spell to reinforce it while she was on her knees, tying Harry's shoes. Seriously, I don't think much of the ship while reading it, and watching it reminds me of a awkwardly acted train crash.
- Ron: Usually don't care for Ron, but Rupert Grint's Ron was especially brilliant I thought. Easier to watch than read, but we'll see how that translates for DH.

I liked the atmosphere of this film probably the most. Nice and dark in places, rather light in others. Solid blending of the light and dark stuff for sure (For example, Lavender's little scene in the Hospital Wing comes to mind as funny and light, following a dark scene of everyone wondering who was the target of the poisoned mead. Good stuff).

I will be seeing the next movie(s) for sure, because I'm honestly curious on how that works out. I sense a lot of moody tense atmosphere-y stuff during the camping scenes, and that'll be something to look forward to. Besides, if it's bad, I'll have a good laugh.

 

Best of the movies yet, I thought the lack of the fight scene between the teachers/Order and the Death eaters was kind of a let down though. When was Harry under the Felix potion it was the best scene Radcliffe has filmed yet imo.

Also for Radcliffe's acting I thought he did pretty good considering Harry in the books was socially awkward I got the same feel from Radcliffe during the movie.

..and is it just me or did they switch actors for Katie Bell because the scenes with her getting cursed and then when she talks to Harry about Draco seem to look totally different.

 

Was there any Hermione/Slughorn chemistry at all? It'll be a while before I watch the movie, and I really want to know.

 

...

...

No.

General movie thoughts:

The beginning was slightly painful to watch, with all the pairings being rather forcefully set up. Some of the comedy was actually amusing - "She's got nice skin" - and the better Felix Felicis experience.

I did feel distinctly let down in the end; the books made the finale sound like the Death Eaters really fought their way out of the castle, with Harry giving chase. The movie made it feel like they walked in, offed Dumbledore, and simply waltzed out. And that was just disappointing.

A lot of the fight scenes were rather lackluster; Bellatrix and Fenrir raze the Burrow; Harry/Draco was enjoyable; last scene was disappointing - but it did (to a far lesser extent) show how outclassed Harry is.

The latter half was far better than the former; I wouldn't have minded cutting down the Romance (in their attempt to develop it to some extent) in regards to R/Hr, H/G. And the constant nudges towards H/Hr were just unnecessarily included.

Surprising myself, I really enjoyed Malfoy's portrayal. For a few minutes, I really liked Felton's transition when applied to the character - from a snot-nosed, uppity little brat to someone that was tasked with a more trying test and was well cast.

Apropos casting, the established actors - Carter, Rickman - played their roles well, while most others were of lesser quality.

Conclusion: Mixed feelings. Would've preferred cutting out the romance and sticking to the darker elements of HP. But that's why I'm here to begin with.

 

Saw it tonight, liked it.

Lots of laughs in the first half, Watson was still hot, and Dumbledore's death was moving, the way that the Death Eaters get away still very frustrating for the viewer. I felt that Snape running into Harry underneath the Astronomy Tower was a masterful touch that made Snape killing Dumbledore even more bitter.

The image of the Dark Mark over Hogwarts is a visual I've been waiting a long time to see, and it was great to see it. Sent a shiver down the spine.

One thing that the film really succeeded at was making the Death Eaters actually seem evil by the end. Often in HP, and other stuff, the bad guys have a certain glamour about them. HBP film it started that way with Malfoy in his swish suit on the train, supremely confident, but by the end of the film the glamour of the "dark side" has been completely destroyed, and made extremely undesirable.

Felton's great acting is partly responsible for this, as was Snape's, Dumbledore's death, and Bellatrix smashing the great hall.

Romance-wise, I didn't mind it too much. It was well done, and I only cringed because of the amount of bad H/G fanfiction I've read in my life. Ginny, while not hot, had a certain aspect to her that still made her in some way desirable. It was very confusing. I felt like Harry and Ginny's first lingering hug at the start was a bit forced though.

The start was really wtf. Trains? "I like to watch trains, they're peaceful"? WTF.

 

I thought he said he liked to ride on them to help clear his head?

But yea it was sort of random, though I thought it was a nice touch to the Harry being shown more as a teen with the waitress flirting.