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Harry Potter 5
Aug. 19th, 2007 06:38 pmSo we finally saw the fifth Harry Potter film. And as the designated Haven't Read the Books person in the audience, I must report on my experience.
It has much to recommend. The acting is very good, with Daniel Radcliffe having improved yet again and with most of the young cast holding their own. (Was disappointed with Gary Oldman, though.) Some of the effects are quite well done. There are two or three really powerful scenes. There are a good number of laughs. And it's hard not to like Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville.
But there are pacing problems, the script wavers in several scenes, the big finale seems to come from nothing we've seen before, and there are (as usual) things that are clear in the book and opaque here. (Batya gets to spend half an hour filling me in every time.) Yet again, the filmmakers are not making a movie that can be distinct from the books. Yes, I know that it's safe to assume that the vast majority of the audience read the book. But you make a movie to be its own entity. Otherwise, why bother making the movie?
This could have been a great film. The development of Harry has impressed me, even if I still find the world he lives in to be not my taste. And I think that with some slight change of a few scenes, with just a little more exposition and some more emphasis on some of the character dynamics, we would have had a film equal to the third, the only one that felt like a complete film to me.
Still, the good here outweighs the bad. It's not something I think I would have been upset to miss, but it was fun enough.
Which means that I'm four for four in summer movies (as I liked Spidey, Pirates and Ratatoullie as well). Not bad, I'd say.
It has much to recommend. The acting is very good, with Daniel Radcliffe having improved yet again and with most of the young cast holding their own. (Was disappointed with Gary Oldman, though.) Some of the effects are quite well done. There are two or three really powerful scenes. There are a good number of laughs. And it's hard not to like Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville.
But there are pacing problems, the script wavers in several scenes, the big finale seems to come from nothing we've seen before, and there are (as usual) things that are clear in the book and opaque here. (Batya gets to spend half an hour filling me in every time.) Yet again, the filmmakers are not making a movie that can be distinct from the books. Yes, I know that it's safe to assume that the vast majority of the audience read the book. But you make a movie to be its own entity. Otherwise, why bother making the movie?
This could have been a great film. The development of Harry has impressed me, even if I still find the world he lives in to be not my taste. And I think that with some slight change of a few scenes, with just a little more exposition and some more emphasis on some of the character dynamics, we would have had a film equal to the third, the only one that felt like a complete film to me.
Still, the good here outweighs the bad. It's not something I think I would have been upset to miss, but it was fun enough.
Which means that I'm four for four in summer movies (as I liked Spidey, Pirates and Ratatoullie as well). Not bad, I'd say.
