Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[Sachsen]

Just got home. Flippin' sweet!

[Helghallen]

Just got home. Flippin' sweet!I got home about the same time, but well, sleep looked more important. And flippin' sweet is an understatement. Very well done movie.

[Ghost]

I hated this movie. It's probably because I can't stand the movie Potter, because he's lazy and not much of a hero, as he's always being bailed out by others. I think it helps to be a Potter fan for this one. It helps to care about who is dating who at Hogwarts. But maybe I'm wrong.

[Felixx219]

I havent been a fan of the movies so far but I have heard this one is the best so far in regards to staying true to the books. I am looking forward to it.

[iDiveStevieG]

Very disappointed, after hearing all the praise I was expecting something a lot better. Too much was left from the book, but hey, whats new? The first one is still the best imo. No excuses next time, the seventh one will be made into two movies.

[Hendrixforpope]

Half-Blood Prince breaks Dark Knights midnight record (http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/07/harry-potter-and-the-halfblood-prince-breaks-midnight-record.html)($18.5mil) (http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/07/harry-potter-and-the-halfblood-prince-breaks-midnight-record.html)with estimated $22.2 million (http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/07/harry-potter-and-the-halfblood-prince-breaks-midnight-record.html)

It has a legit shot at the opening day and 5-day record but it won't come close to sniffing 500m.

[Hungry Dave]

I liked it a lot even though most of the people I went to see it with didn't.

"All hands on deck, Grangier"

[Felixx219]

Very disappointed, after hearing all the praise I was expecting something a lot better. Too much was left from the book, but hey, whats new? The first one is still the best imo. No excuses next time, the seventh one will be made into two movies.


The first one was easier to adapt being that it was only 250 pages. These books are three times that size.

[DoctorJones24]

I think one problem with this one, and the book had the same issue, is that it's the one that feels least like a self-contained entity out of the whole series. It starts out right in the middle of action from the last one, and it ends without any closure at all.

And plotwise, I remember feeling like the whole horcrux thing wasn't as huge a revelation as it seemed intended to be.

Anyway, well done enough movie, but it's just my least favorite of the books I think.

But I can always watch Broadbent in anything.

[NHRef]

Went with the family and everyone liked it!

Ya they left some stuff out, added some stuff in and adjusted some stuff to make up for leaving small things out, but all in all I felt it followed the book pretty well.

Hopefully nothing here counts as a spoiler!

Acting jobs I loved:
- Ron on love potion, his comedic ability is great!
- Harry on "liquid luck"

Well done parts:
- ron's quiditch tryout and first game!
- Lavendar - Ron
- ron's Love potion experience!
- Harry and Dumbledore getting the horcrux/locket

glossed over somethings:
- other horcruxes
- Ginny-Harry relationship, changed it a bit and downplayed it, but its there

Skipped
- big fight at the end in the castle, I was looking forward to this
- the house elf and grimwald place
- Derstley's

Added
- Burning the house down? What's with that, other than giving a chance to show the Ginny-Harry connection and that they can hold off two death eaters.

[Helghallen]

Added
- Burning the house down? What's with that, other than giving a chance to show the Ginny-Harry connection and that they can hold off two death eaters.
This bugged me too. Seriously, what was the point?

[Hendrixforpope]

Sixth ‘Harry Potter’ Posts Franchise-Best Opening Day (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2604&p=.htm)

It made $58.2 million yesterday (counting record $22.2 million from midnight showings), giving it the 3rd biggest opening day of all-time ($67mil for Dark Knight, $62mil for Transformers 2). It also has the 2nd biggest opening Wednesday of all-time (Transformers 2).

It looks like it will follow a similar box-office pattern as Transformers 2 given that they both opened on Wednesday's and with similar numbers (only +3.8mil for TF2). HBP had the disadvantage of not opening on any IMAX screens like TDK and TF2 did which would have likely put it over TF2 (for 2nd all-time opening day and all-time Wednesday gross). It is unlikely that it will break the 5-day opening record at this point (TDK: $208mil), but it should get pretty close to 200mil (TF2). You never now with all the crazy Potter fans though (and word of mouth) :p

[Sachsen]

This was actually one of my favorite books (along with The Prisoner of Azkaban) and probably my favorite film. I really think these kids are getting to be much better actors the older they get. I really didn't like them in the earlier films; I think it took them some time to grow into the characters and not be so wooden.

I gave myself an advantage this time. Previous films, I read the book just before seeing the movie. I think that's a mistake. This time, it has been a couple years since I read the Half-Blood Prince so I was purposely going in trying to enjoy the movie as a movie and not worry about if they got everything exactly correct, and I think I enjoyed it more as a result.

[Val1]

I havent been a fan of the movies so far but I have heard this one is the best so far in regards to staying true to the books. I am looking forward to it.
Actually, it is the worst for "true-ness" to the book. Really, the aforementioned attack on the Burrow, what was the point of that? Just to show that Ginny would blindly run through fire to show that she loved Harry? Really a waste of screen time.

Didn't like the movie as I watched it, and I like it less with a night's sleep and half a day's thought.

The point of this book is Harry and Dumbledore learning who Tom Riddle was, and that is sorely lacking here. No exposition with Harry after viewing the orphanage memory about how Tom had no friends and liked to collect trophies. No collecting of Founder artifacts. No Gaunt history. No sense that Hogwarts was the only place Riddle ever called home (like Harry Potter). We have no further sense of Voldemort even after this movie.

What I liked: Hogwarts looks incredible, very bright, very vibrant. When Harry says that he loves the place at the end of the movie, it really makes sense. I loved when the camera pulls away from Ron the morning of the big game, and Luna is sitting there serenely with a lion's mane... and there's no need of further explanation (though I wished she had called the game in the movie). Draco's descent is wonderfully done, too.

Overall though, I am NOT looking forward to 2 Book 7 movies. And I'm a big Potterphile.

[QuakeAttack]

Not a big Potter movie fan. However, my wife and kids are huge fans. We watched the previous five movies before watching Half Blood. I actually found myself enjoying the series more than when I originally watched them.

As far as Half Blood, I enjoyed the movie. Nice to see the trifectuve mature and grow up. However, I thought Jim Broadbent as Prof Horace Slughorn stole the movie. He was outstanding. Also, while I miss Richard Harris, I have finally grown comfortable with Michael Gambon as Dumbledore.

Also, the style of the movie was excellant and the special effects much improved. However, as a movie, it was stuck in between and didn't really have a satisfying conclusion...

[Felixx219]

Sixth ‘Harry Potter’ Posts Franchise-Best Opening Day (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2604&p=.htm)

It made $58.2 million yesterday (counting record $22.2 million from midnight showings), giving it the 3rd biggest opening day of all-time ($67mil for Dark Knight, $62mil for Transformers 2). It also has the 2nd biggest opening Wednesday of all-time (Transformers 2).

It looks like it will follow a similar box-office pattern as Transformers 2 given that they both opened on Wednesday's and with similar numbers (only +3.8mil for TF2). HBP had the disadvantage of not opening on any IMAX screens like TDK and TF2 did which would have likely put it over TF2 (for 2nd all-time opening day and all-time Wednesday gross). It is unlikely that it will break the 5-day opening record at this point (TDK: $208mil), but it should get pretty close to 200mil (TF2). You never now with all the crazy Potter fans though (and word of mouth) :p


Those numbers are worthless unless they are adjusted for inflation. Ticket prices keep going up so of course recent movies get the records. With the trend of increasing ticket prices, those records will fall every time a big movie comes out.

[DoctorD]

Finally saw it. Good movie. The folks complaining about stuff cut out of the book (like my daughter) don't understand what it takes to make a good movie.

[jamison]

And plotwise, I remember feeling like the whole horcrux thing wasn't as huge a revelation as it seemed intended to be.

Yeah, call me a slacker, I alwyas thought the horcurx thing was just a way to give them an itinerary to string the last book's 'tour of england to kill he who must not be typed' across. It, along with the wand issue, seemed kind of less important after finishing the books than you thought they would be while reading them.

Oh well.

[Sachsen]

Yeah, call me a slacker, I alwyas thought the horcurx thing was just a way to give them an itinerary to string the last book's 'tour of england to kill he who must not be typed' across. It, along with the wand issue, seemed kind of less important after finishing the books than you thought they would be while reading them.

Oh well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macguffin

[Ringo]

I thought it was as good as the other Potter movies, which is to say it was average and forgettable. big fan of the books/audiobooks, but the movies have been lacking.