Harry Potter preview

[JasonEvans]

Just so folks know where I am coming from on this. I have read all 6 books so far and adore them. I was not much of a fan of the first two movies but think Prisoner was fabulous and enjoyed GOF too. I will be buying my copy of book #7 at midnight when it is released and plan to read it as quickly as possible.

Ok, with that background in hand... here is what I thought of the new movie for Order of the Phoenix which I saw at a sneak screening last night.

It was pretty bad.

I knew this story would be a tough one to translate to the screen. For those of you who read the book, you know this is a story without very much action at all for the first 3/4 of the time. Much of what happens that matters takes place in the characters heads (litterally). As a result, we get a movie that is really slow at times. The director did a dreadful job of translating the stuff in people's heads onto the screen. Dumbledore's explanation for why he is dismissive of Harry and stays away from Harry is rushed and does not carry any resonance. Harry's Occulmency lessons with Snape also felt rushed and there was not much emotional resonance when Harry gets into Snape's mind to see why Snape hated Harry's father. We spend almost no time at all at Grimmauld Place, the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, and Kreacher is barely in the film. Everything feels rushed and there is rarely any dramatic buildup. About the only thing the film does well is make Umbridge into a hateable villian.

Moreso than any of the earlier movies, this one suffers from the rush to put so much story onto the screen in 2 hours of time. Nothing has any depth to it. The Room of Requirement is never explained though the scenes of the D.A. training with Harry are well done. Harry is moody and brooding and angry throughout the entire film but we don't get a feel for why. It really only serves to make him less likeable. Speaking of that, there is almost no emotional connection between Harry and Cho Chang. Ron and Hermione have their smallest roles yet and Hermione in particular was less likeable and interesting than she has been in any movie. The girl that plays Luna Lovegood does a very good job and you almost wish Harry would start to fall for her. Ginny Weasley is not aging well and the notion that Harry will fall head over heels for her in the next movie seems impossible to imagine at this time. Fred and George are fun and their exit from Hogwarts is one of the few moments of fun in the movie.

Everything I have talked about so far is the leadup to the big finale. Frankly, if they had pulled off the confrontation between the D.A. and the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries and the subsequent battle with the Order and especially the epic confrontation between Voldemort and Dumbledore... if they movie had succeeded in these parts then it would be a success. But I cannot even tell you how rushed and confusing these scenes are. It was just depressing to watch.

There is very little sense of a duel between the various Death Eaters and the good guys. Everyone flies around like whisps of black or white vapor, teleporting to wherever they need to go. The fight is quick and just consists of sparks flying out of wands and hitting people. There is no sense of why the Death Eaters want the prophesy or their fear of failing in their mission. The destruction of the other prophesies makes almost no sense. The shot from Bellatrix that killed Sirius Black happens so fast it has no emotional connection. The film had tried so hard to make us care about Harry's relationship with Black, but it just was not there.

Finally, the confrontation between Dumbledore and Voldemort also happens too fast. I think Dumbledore is one of the biggest problems with the film. I am now of the belief that Michael Gambon was a horrible choice for the role. His acting is just flat and every scene he is in is rushed. Dumbledore needs to have an air of confidence while not seeming arrogant. He needs to be loving and caring for Harry while remaining distant from him. We, as an audience, need to have unflinching confidence in Dumbldore while also not understanding what he is doing. None of this works. So much of the motivations of the characters in this story are explained by Dumbldore at the end of the book. In the movie, we get maybe :30 seconds of explanation from Dumbldore and the significance of the prophecy is tossed away in one line. The fact that Trelawney made the prophecy, that Dumbldore heard it, and that Vodlemort only knows part of it are all left out. It is beyond frustrating to someone who knows the story.

As an aside, I sometimes worry that my view of Potter movies is skewed by reading the books. I wonder if my opinion would be shared by someone who had not read the books. Well, that is why I bring my wife with me to watch the films. She has seen the first 4 movies but not read any of the books. She hated this movie. She found the plot and character motivations almost impossible to follow. she had no idea what was going on. Afterwards she said it felt like things just happened for random reasons. She said she has no desire to ever see another Harry Potter movie.

In fairness, I should note that my 8-year-old enjoyed it. I also think I was especially hard on this film because I love the books so much. To be clear, this was not a terrible movie. It is a movie based on a wonderful, fabulous story and there are still some elements of that great story in this flick. My distaste for the film largely comes from my desire for it to be great. If you read the book, you probably want to see this flick regardless of what I or any other critic says. Go for it, I say. It is not like this is so terrible that I urge you to stay away. It kept my attention for the most part so it was not all bad. I think many of us love Harry Potter's story so much that we have to see the films-- even if they come up woefully short in living up to our expectations.

Well, I have droned on and on. Maybe this post has done some good in lowering your expectations a bit which may allow you to enjoy the movie a bit more. I hope you like it more than I did.

-Jason "I still think this will do big boxoffice business-- though I think it will be the lowest grossing of any of the Harry Potter movies" Evans

[gethlives]

Thanks for the preview Jason. I too love the books but have been supremely underwhelmed by the movies. Don't you wish that instead of feature films they had opted to do a TV series on the books? Imgaine how well the story would have played out in 12 episodes (to use BBC model) or 22 episodes to use the American model each year. I realize that money was the driving factor in making these feature films but I still wish they had taken the TV path.

I am very excited for Book 7. I am convinced that Snape will be proven innocent of being a traitor, even though he is still a jerk.

[Windsor]

I also loved the books and am so so on the movies. A TV series would have been a better choice - there is too much going on to compress into 120 minutes.

I believe that Snape will turn out to be a good (or at least not bad) guy in the end. I also wonder if we have seen the last of Dumbledore...when you have phoenix as a pet and its your patronis...hey, I can hope can't I? Perhpas he died as Dumbledore the Grey and will return (at the turn of the tide) as Dumbledore the White...or maybe Gandalf will save the day...

[JasonEvans]

If money is a motivating factor (and it always is) I wish they would have made this book into 2 movies. Shoot them at the same time and you can save a ton on filming costs (and salaries) that way. Release one 2-hour movie in late-May or early-June and then release the second 2-hour film about 6 weeks later in mid-late July. Or, if you want a winter release do one at Thanksgiving and one at Xmas.

This way you'd have time for more nuance and storytelling. Frankly, cramming 600-800 pages of book into 2 hous is impossible and should not even be attempted. You could have ended part-1 with Dumbledore being removed as Headmaster.

Can anyone think of any reason this would not work?

-Jason "grrrrrrrrrr" Evans

[JasonEvans]

I believe that Snape will turn out to be a good (or at least not bad) guy in the end. I also wonder if we have seen the last of Dumbledore...when you have phoenix as a pet and its your patronis...hey, I can hope can't I? Perhpas he died as Dumbledore the Grey and will return (at the turn of the tide) as Dumbledore the White...or maybe Gandalf will save the day...

Snape is a good guy-- I am convinced of it.

Dumbledore is dead and will not come back to life. But, I suspect that Harry will get excellent counsel from Dumbldore's portrait in book 7... and I am betting Fawkes plays a role in book 7 as well.

-Jason "there is a cool moment in the film with Dumbldore and Fawkes" Evans

[gethlives]

One thing I am curious about as well having just re-read Book 6 (Oh dear I am almost 40 and I'm re-reading Harry Potter books), is whether Harry will indeed make good on his threat not to return to Hogwarts for Year 7. I find the day to day stuff at the school my favorite part of the book so if he doesn't come back I'm not sure how that will play out.

Yes, I definitely agree that Dumbledore is dead. So many questions to answer like is one of the Horcrux in a person? could it be someone close to Harry or even Harry himself?

[The Gordog]

Snape is a good guy-- I am convinced of it.

Dumbledore is dead and will not come back to life. But, I suspect that Harry will get excellent counsel from Dumbldore's portrait in book 7... and I am betting Fawkes plays a role in book 7 as well.

-Jason "there is a cool moment in the film with Dumbldore and Fawkes" Evans

Dumbledore will come back. Re-read his confrontation with Malfoy near the end of HBP. To paraphrase:
Malfoy: He (Voldemort) will kill me if I don't (kill you).
Dumbeldore: He can't kill you if you are already dead. We can hide you more thouroughly than you can possibly imagine.

To me that is a clear indication that Dumbledore has a foolproof way to fake death.

[JasonEvans]

Dumbledore will come back. Re-read his confrontation with Malfoy near the end of HBP. To paraphrase:
Malfoy: He (Voldemort) will kill me if I don't (kill you).
Dumbeldore: He can't kill you if you are already dead. We can hide you more thouroughly than you can possibly imagine.

To me that is a clear indication that Dumbledore has a foolproof way to fake death.

JK Rowling has said Dumbledore is dead. In her words, "he won't pull a Gandalf."

He is dead. He will exist only as a portrait from now on. Though it should be noted that it appears to me that the portraits are every bit as good as the real thing when it comes to giving advice. Frankly, what did you expect Dumbldore to do beyond advising Harry? Did you expect him to fight Voldy on Harry's behalf? No way.

-Jason "I need book 7-- NOW!!" Evans

[gethlives]

I must wholeheartedly disagree with the Gordog about Dumbledore. Remember that Snape made an unbreakable vow to Draco's mom that he would look after Draco and if he couldn't do what he was asked i.e. kill Dumbledore then Snape would do it instead. If he just "faked" killing Dumbedore then by rules of the Unbreakable vow, then he himself would die.

[Cavlaw]

I'm in the minority as far as order of preference on the books goes; I really enjoyed the first three for what they are, but didn't much care for the subsequent volumes. It seemed to me that the lack of a strong editor's hand allowed the later works to bloat out of control and distract from Rowling's excellent storylines and well-paced scening that had made the first three such wonderful reads. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to pickup book 7 when it comes out and have read it through by the following evening, however...

On the movie front, I'm with the majority in that I enjoyed 'Prisoner' the most. However, I again found 'Goblet' least satisfying (largely due to its unconvincing and contrived plot), and would rank 'Sorceror's Stone' second and 'Chamber of Secrets' third.

[Udaman]

I was telling some friends that I predict the opening chapter in Book 7 is Harry at home and he gets a letter from Dumbledore.

The letter is one of those, "If you are reading this...then something bad happened, blah, blah, blah." Then he goes on to say that there are two things Harry must do - he must go back to Hogwarts to finish his last year...and he must trust Professor Snape.

Harry will agree to go back, but he'll lament at how Dumbledore was wrong about Snape (even though I, as others do, feel that Snape is indeed on the good guys side).

Am re-reading Book 6 right now, cannot wait for Book 7.

[DevilAlumna]

I've read all the books, but have found I enjoy listening to them even more. The narrator, Jim Dale, is excellent, and listening really allows your imagination to put better pictures to the story.

Not that I'm one to advocate illegal media copying, but it's pretty easy to find the audiobooks from your close personal friends on BitTorrent networks.

As for the movie, I really disliked book 5, so I can't see watching it in the theaters. I'll enjoy reading Deathly Hallows instead.

Oh, and good call, Udaman -- that's exactly the first chapter I expect as well.

[bluebear]

I've read all the books, but have found I enjoy listening to them even more. The narrator, Jim Dale, is excellent, and listening really allows your imagination to put better pictures to the story.

Agree completely..I have read all the books as well but started listening to HBP earlier this year during a long roadtrip.. I've since listened to the rest of them and really enjoy Jim Dale..I feel like I've picked up a lot that I missed during my initial reads..

[JBDuke]

...(Oh dear I am almost 40 and I'm re-reading Harry Potter books)...

Don't worry - you're not alone. I just turned 40 a few weeks ago, and I just re-read Books 5 and 6 in preparation for Book 7. And Evans is in our age group, too, and I'm betting he's read them more than once as well.

[Highlander]

Dumbledore was Harry's mentor. In any story, the hero must step out of the shadow of his mentor and face his demons alone. It's a classic growth ritual that every hero has to go through. Mentors serve a purpose, but in the end, they have to leave for the Hero to grow. Luke did it without Obi-Wan and later without Yoda, Rocky Balboa did it without his trainer, Alex Logan did it w/o Centauri (right DukeUsul?), Happy Gilmore did it without Chubbs, and Spidey did it without Uncle Ben. Surely Harry can do it without Dumbledore.

Besides, do you really want to see Dumbledore fight Voldermort instead of Harry? Of course not.

And yes, I got all this from the "History of Star Wars" special on the History Channel the other day.

No way Snape is truly evil. Dumbledore doesn't make mistakes of that magnitude. My personal theory is that Snape's friendship with Harry's mother and guilt over her death is his achillies heal, and the reason he will not betray Harry, no matter how much he dislikes him because of his father.

I'll second the recommendation to listen to the books on tape. Dale is excellent.

[Windsor]

Dumbledore was Harry's mentor. In any story, the hero must step out of the shadow of his mentor and face his demons alone. It's a classic growth ritual that every hero has to go through. Mentors serve a purpose, but in the end, they have to leave for the Hero to grow. Luke did it without Obi-Wan and later without Yoda, Rocky Balboa did it without his trainer, Alex Logan did it w/o Centauri (right DukeUsul?), Happy Gilmore did it without Chubbs, and Spidey did it without Uncle Ben. Surely Harry can do it without Dumbledore.

Given your 'handle' I can't believe you didn't included 'Connor without Ramirez'

[JasonEvans]

Alex Logan did it w/o Centauri

Given your 'handle' I can't believe you didn't included 'Connor without Ramirez'

I am not sure which is worse-- the fact that I got both of these immediately or the fact that there are probably a huge percentage of folks who do not

Lets play what could be an interesting "name the movie" game:

1. Alex Logan did it without Centauri
2. Connor did it without Ramirez
3. Ness did it without Malone
4. Tony did it without Frank (this one could be hard)
5. Bartleby almost did it without Loki
6. Chief did it without Randle
7. Norman did it without mother
8. The Narrator did it wiithout Tyler
9. Martin did it without Quint
10. Saleh did it without Jimmy (another hard one)

--Jason "this could go on all day" Evans

[JasonEvans]

By the way, back on topic of the movie--

When folks go see it, please post your thoughts. I want to know what others think. Maybe I am alone in being really disappointed. It would be kinda nice if I was.

-Jason "despite my review, I think most die-hard Potter fans should see it... just to satisfy their own love of the series" Evans

[Windsor]

I think I got them...highlight for my answers (didn't want to spoil anyone elses fun)
1. The Last Star Fighter
2. Highlander
3. The Untouchables
4. Scarface
5. Dogma**
6. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
7. Psycho
8. Fight Club (?)
9. Jaws
10. The Air Up There **

** I cheated - I could remember the movie, the actors but not the title

Clearly I need a life...

[dcarp23]

This will be one of the more interesting things to see how it is handled in book seven. Clearly, the portraits can talk, but how much do they really know? I think there has to be some limitation to their abilities. Otherwise, wouldn't Dumbledore have been awake in his office at the end of Book Six to tell the crowd, "Hey, I know Snape killed me, but I had a deal worked out with him so that he would off me and Malfoy wouldn't have to do it. Now, per our plan, he and Malfoy are off in hiding so as to protect this coverup."

But, he didn't--and I don't think he CAN in this book either, else you'd ruin any type of suspense. So I think Rowling has some 'splaining to do vis-a-vis the portraits.