Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer

Frosstbyte · 07-17-2009, 01:17 AM

Now that I can actually post, let me be more specific:

Spoiler: They took out a lot just like they took out a lot from book five and book four (less so from the first three). This is in part because after book three came out, no one bothered to edit J.K. Rowling's manuscripts so the stories became sprawling tomes containing hundreds of pages of superfluous text and all of that is the first to go when you make a movie based on a book.

The "big change" at the end is that there is no battle throughout the halls of Hogwarts. They all show up, Dumbledore dies and everyone runs out as Bellatrix lays waste to the great hall. No one gets mauled by a werewolf, we don't have any Molly and Fleur bonding over broken Charlie (think that's his name) scene and no one else at the school really even seems to notice that they've been invaded by a bunch of bad guys. Which is kind of odd, but the movie's pretty damn long as it is without needing even more crap going on to confuse things further.

They leave out a variety of other things which hardcore fans of the book will claim are "essential" to a coherent seventh movie, but I don't imagine it'll make much difference when we get there, most notably most of the Tom Riddle memories (there are only two shown) and a lengthy discussion of what all the possible phylacteries could be and how many there are.

Basically, the HP movies at this point are having to ride the knife edge between people who have read the books and people who haven't but who enjoy seeing the movies. Hardcore fans (be honest with yourself if you are one) really are going to insist that they see literally every moment of the book, or they're going to be disappointed because the filmmaker left out his "favorite scene" or a "critical plot point." People who haven't read the books need to be able to sit down and watch a movie for two hours and follow what's going along.

I called Yates a hack in the last pst I made because I think he's doing a terrible job of appeasing these two groups. He somehow manages to cut tons of material that the hardcore fans are going to want to see and simultaneously fails to really tell the story in a coherent way. I'm not a huge HP fan, but the basic plotlines of the books are compelling and entertaining. You don't need to fuck with them much to make them make sense and flow. When I watch HP5 and HP6, I basically feel like I'm watching a series of arbitrarily selected scenes from the books which are in the right order but lack meaningful connections and transitions. Because I know what's going on from reading the books, I can fill in the blanks to know what's going on and I can see where he's throwing out little fanservice-y bits here and there, just to have them. Instead of experiencing two hours of storytelling, I feel more like I'm hearing a story from an over-eager friend who keeps saying, "Remember when this happened? Oh yeah, and remember when this happened? OH! And then THIS happened!" Yeah, I remember, I read the books, too, why don't you just tell me the story as you envision it?

For example, he goes PAINFULLY out of his way to get Neville into this movie not once but twice. Neville, likable fellow he is, has no business being in this movie. The 5 minutes taken up by him on screen could've gone to any number of things which would've set up the last movie and made this one fit together. Instead, he chose to put a fan favorite (?) character back in to have him back in. Crabbe and Goyle got the treatment that Neville should've gotten. We see them next to Malfoy on the train and then never see them again. We get the idea that they're still around and you get to say "OMG THERE THEY ARE" but they don't take more than a second of screentime.

Same could be said of the house elf in HP5. While in the book he plays a major role in how the story plays out, that role is completely eliminated (for good reason) in the movie. Yet we still waste time playing lip service to his existence and his excised plotline. People who read the book get excited because they think there's going to be follow through on it and then are disappointed when there isn't. People who haven't read the book wonder why we care that Sirius tells him to go away and why he's talking to a covered painting on the wall and why he's around in the first place when no one seems to like him.

HP3 remains my wife and my favorite movie without much competition. It's meaningfully different from the others in tone and style, but it just holds together the best for me and, I think, I like the darker twist on the world. HP6 I'd put above 5 for sure (in part I imagine because I like the source material better), but other than that it kind of falls into the general muddle of "didn't like it the best didn't like it the least." I'm SURE we'll own it, and I'm SURE I'll watch it again, but it could've been a lot better. Just as I'm SURE most HP fans will have no shortage of reasons to enjoy the movie just to enjoy the ride.

Needless to say, I'm sorry I'll have to endure two(!!) more Yates films to finish out the series.

07-17-2009, 01:17 AM	#19 (permalink)
Frosstbyte Winter is Coming Location: The North	Now that I can actually post, let me be more specific: Spoiler: They took out a lot just like they took out a lot from book five and book four (less so from the first three). This is in part because after book three came out, no one bothered to edit J.K. Rowling's manuscripts so the stories became sprawling tomes containing hundreds of pages of superfluous text and all of that is the first to go when you make a movie based on a book. The "big change" at the end is that there is no battle throughout the halls of Hogwarts. They all show up, Dumbledore dies and everyone runs out as Bellatrix lays waste to the great hall. No one gets mauled by a werewolf, we don't have any Molly and Fleur bonding over broken Charlie (think that's his name) scene and no one else at the school really even seems to notice that they've been invaded by a bunch of bad guys. Which is kind of odd, but the movie's pretty damn long as it is without needing even more crap going on to confuse things further. They leave out a variety of other things which hardcore fans of the book will claim are "essential" to a coherent seventh movie, but I don't imagine it'll make much difference when we get there, most notably most of the Tom Riddle memories (there are only two shown) and a lengthy discussion of what all the possible phylacteries could be and how many there are. Basically, the HP movies at this point are having to ride the knife edge between people who have read the books and people who haven't but who enjoy seeing the movies. Hardcore fans (be honest with yourself if you are one) really are going to insist that they see literally every moment of the book, or they're going to be disappointed because the filmmaker left out his "favorite scene" or a "critical plot point." People who haven't read the books need to be able to sit down and watch a movie for two hours and follow what's going along. I called Yates a hack in the last pst I made because I think he's doing a terrible job of appeasing these two groups. He somehow manages to cut tons of material that the hardcore fans are going to want to see and simultaneously fails to really tell the story in a coherent way. I'm not a huge HP fan, but the basic plotlines of the books are compelling and entertaining. You don't need to fuck with them much to make them make sense and flow. When I watch HP5 and HP6, I basically feel like I'm watching a series of arbitrarily selected scenes from the books which are in the right order but lack meaningful connections and transitions. Because I know what's going on from reading the books, I can fill in the blanks to know what's going on and I can see where he's throwing out little fanservice-y bits here and there, just to have them. Instead of experiencing two hours of storytelling, I feel more like I'm hearing a story from an over-eager friend who keeps saying, "Remember when this happened? Oh yeah, and remember when this happened? OH! And then THIS happened!" Yeah, I remember, I read the books, too, why don't you just tell me the story as you envision it? For example, he goes PAINFULLY out of his way to get Neville into this movie not once but twice. Neville, likable fellow he is, has no business being in this movie. The 5 minutes taken up by him on screen could've gone to any number of things which would've set up the last movie and made this one fit together. Instead, he chose to put a fan favorite (?) character back in to have him back in. Crabbe and Goyle got the treatment that Neville should've gotten. We see them next to Malfoy on the train and then never see them again. We get the idea that they're still around and you get to say "OMG THERE THEY ARE" but they don't take more than a second of screentime. Same could be said of the house elf in HP5. While in the book he plays a major role in how the story plays out, that role is completely eliminated (for good reason) in the movie. Yet we still waste time playing lip service to his existence and his excised plotline. People who read the book get excited because they think there's going to be follow through on it and then are disappointed when there isn't. People who haven't read the book wonder why we care that Sirius tells him to go away and why he's talking to a covered painting on the wall and why he's around in the first place when no one seems to like him. HP3 remains my wife and my favorite movie without much competition. It's meaningfully different from the others in tone and style, but it just holds together the best for me and, I think, I like the darker twist on the world. HP6 I'd put above 5 for sure (in part I imagine because I like the source material better), but other than that it kind of falls into the general muddle of "didn't like it the best didn't like it the least." I'm SURE we'll own it, and I'm SURE I'll watch it again, but it could've been a lot better. Just as I'm SURE most HP fans will have no shortage of reasons to enjoy the movie just to enjoy the ride. Needless to say, I'm sorry I'll have to endure two(!!) more Yates films to finish out the series.