You have not known what you are.
You have slumbered upon yourself all your life.
Your eyes have been as much as closed most of the time.
What you have done is already in mockeries.

The mockeries are not you.
Underneath them
And within them,
I see you lurk...


-Walt Whitman



27.7.09

praise for the 'prince'

I SHOULD'VE WRITTEN THIS POST AGES AGO, but given the crisis (I’ll probably talk about this one on my next post which will be posted only God knows when) my family and I are going through, I wasn’t able to do so. This blog is very lucky to be alive. If it weren’t for my drafts saved on my hard drive, which once included the last three entries you see here, this blog would’ve been rotting at this very moment—dead without any guarantee of immediate resuscitation.

If you’re a Harry Potter fan or just simply a curious fellow updated with the most recent flicks and blockbusters, you probably have already seen the Half-Blood Prince. You may have already written your own review of the movie but thought writing one would only be a waste of time because you found it ‘depressing’ and ‘sleep-inducer’. Well here is mine. I just can’t watch it and set my opinions aside. But I have to warn you that this post maybe a little biased, and way different from most movie reviews floating around. I’m a fan of the books (no longer a purist! Hurray!) and the movies, and thus, I just couldn’t get myself to hate this one. Or perhaps the long waiting and fanaticism for the ‘Prince’ somehow clouded my objective sense. But whatever! I like the Half-Blood Prince. Watched it twice in Promenade Greenhills and once in IMAX-SM North Edsa.

Here’s some ideas which I think would’ve made the movie better:

  • They should’ve made the ending a little less ‘hanging’. It’s just a little disappointing to not see the wizard fight between the death eaters and Dumbledore’s Army.
  • They should’ve explained why Snape became the Half-Blood Prince; I will not be surprised if non-readers would think of Snape as some sort of a wizarding royalty. Producers probably wanted them to think that Snape just took the title for personal use.
  • They should’ve extended the cave scene, where Dumbledore conjures a firestorm to fight off the Inferis. I was just about to open my mouth to say “WOW” when the scene suddenly ended.
  • They deleted the other Horcrux memories (i.e. the one concerning Ravenclaw’s cup.) I just wish they’d have a clever way to insert the missing pieces in the last two movies.
  • They should've distributed the 30-minute (or less) 3D scenes all through the movie. I would've liked to see the Quidditch match and the "Firestorm" in 3D.

Here are the positive points of the movie:

  • The dark tone of the movie reflected the ominous plot. The tone is somewhat reminiscent of Azkaban. I think it’s very artistic and dynamic. Harry Potter is no longer a kiddie movie.
  • The visual effects were brilliant! The cave and Quidditch scenes were stunning especially the opening were where death eaters flew over the London streets and Apparated in Diagon Alley. I felt a little queasy watching this on IMAX which is probably the point. Bloody cool!
  • The movie is teeming with hilarious romantic and comical sub-plots. I love the Luna-Lavender tandem. They somehow made the movie multi-layered. The train scene with Lavender was my favorite. Won-Won! :P
  • Nicholas Hooper did a fantastic job with the musical score. Select tracks were very dark, but less dark than the Lord of the Rings’. But I somehow miss John Williams’ style.
  • I applaud Helen Carter’s (Bella) nasty hag performance and Alan Rickman’s (Snape) ‘snake-acting’. Maggie Smith (McGonagall) and Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) were just stellar with their craft. The young Tom Riddle was really creepy. And how fitting that the child actor was Ralph Fiennes’ (Voldemort) nephew.

The Half-Blood Prince, I think, is the best Harry Potter movie yet, just next to the Prisoner of Azkaban. My brother and I share the same sentiment. :P

I opened a new poll by the way. Which Potter movie do you think is the best so far? Kindly check the sidebar. See you later! :P











26 comments:

RJ said...

I've noticed the dark tone of the last two Harry Potter movies, too! The first two were very colorful and comical, especially the second. o",) I actually thought it's because David Yates have directed the last two movies, and it's his style. ...good you've reminded me that, "Harry Potter is no longer a kiddie movie."

I missed Moaning Myrtle! I was expecting to see her in ...the Half-blood Prince.

Angelo said...

Hey Luke, I'm surprised you really liked the movie. All my die-hard fan friends either hated it or thought it was just meh.... I personally liked it because I hadn't read the book, now that I just finished reading the book, I can understand why my friends did not like it.

I agree, there should have been an epic battle scene with the Death Eaters, and they didn't even explain "the half blood prince" thing. Oh well, I still liked the movie, glad you liked it too.

cheers!

Adrian Mendizabal said...

Wow! i haven't seen this one... I wonder what is happening in the mainstream industry of today's... Yesterday i just had coffee with a friend and we talked about the film industry of today's (such a big topic over coffee) and how it has affected our locale. Have you been to any Cinemalaya event? anyway, what our talk have concluded, for he was a bit partial with the mainstream Hollywood and i have been a bit partial to 1900s primitive cinema and that of Renoir, one has to say that the all of these movies, Harry Potter, Transformers, have cultivated the type of film culture we have and if viewed on the historic scale, i have to say, that we Filipinos do love the spectacle of Hollywood Mainstream cinema. Spectacle has always been central to our mainstream film culture, it has affected our local independent films to almost a level of clamor...

Though our coffee went cold upon reaching the aspects of special effects and the thoroughly confused cinematography of today's Hollywood, we still acknowledge its presence for giving jobs to millions of people in cinema.

Ciao!

Team7 said...

inggit ako...manonood na din ako :D

gentle said...

iisa lang ang alam ko.. lavender brown character is irritating, the way she follow's ron around, haha!!

yes, azkaban alsp tops my list of harry potter films.

Yas Jayson said...

half-blood prince is undoubtedly cool. i simply love the cinematography. had it in platinum cinema sa gateway. haha. nakakaloko kasi isa ako sa mga unang nanood nung july 16.. puro grownups ang naghihintay. :D

i was really waiting for the battle at hogwarts and dumbledore's funeral. tsk. i was also hoping to see the "other minister" and the talking portrait. dameet.

well, it's good to know you still manage to stay afloat. don't worry too much. the rain will be over soon. :D

poot poot.

Anonymous said...

ay ako, baliktad. the movie for me was just so-so. na-underwhelm ako. haha. though i have to say that the comical scenes were quite good. benta.

hope you and your family are ok. *hug*

ShatterShards said...

I have no doubts that you'd like the movie, given the way you are waxing superlatives over the book! haha!

There are scenes that I would've liked to see in this film, but I guess the final output is, in essence, faithful to the source.

I like one scene in particular: the one where Dumbledore explains about the diary and the ring being horcruxes, and Harry, upon touching the ring, experiences something unsettling. I guess they'd make use of that plot point to make it easier to identify the other horcruxes.

Chyng said...

ay.. sorry abnormal ako. im not even interested sa HP series.

Chyng said...

ay, im not a fan. abnormal ako..

Anonymous said...

They should’ve made the ending a little less ‘hanging’.- yeah, the ending was really hanging. i was kinda waiting for the next scene when it suddenly ended.

They should’ve explained why Snape became the Half-Blood Prince - i was actually surprised when he revealed that he's the half-blood prince. i did not read the book and i was thinking that Lord Voldemort was the half-blood prince.

They should’ve extended the cave scene, where Dumbledore conjures a firestorm to fight off the Inferis. - it was good enough for me though

They deleted the other Horcrux memories (i.e. the one concerning Ravenclaw’s cup.) I just wish they’d have a clever way to insert the missing pieces in the last two movies. - ok, i should wait for this

They should've distributed the 30-minute (or less) 3D scenes all through the movie. - good suggestion

Here are the positive points of the movie:

The dark tone of the movie reflected the ominous plot - you know what, it also reminded me of the azkaban installment.hehe.maybe because of helena bonham carter?

The visual effects were brilliant! - Bloody cool! Perfect! Amazing!

The movie is teeming with hilarious romantic and comical sub-plots. - I love Luna too!

Nicholas Hooper did a fantastic job with the musical score.- it's good enough

I applaud Helen Carter’s (Bella) nasty hag performance and Alan Rickman’s (Snape) ‘snake-acting’. Maggie Smith (McGonagall) and Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) were just stellar with their craft. The young Tom Riddle was really creepy. And how fitting that the child actor was Ralph Fiennes’ (Voldemort) nephew. - really? it was his nephew in real life?wow. the boy kinda reminded me of 'the omen.' i so love helena bonham carter. c'mon, she's the female version of johnny depp!

yoshke said...

Azkaban pa rin ang pinakamagandang movie. ehehehe.

Yung Prince, okay lang sya saken. Kulang sa aksyon pero enjoy naman.

lucas said...

RJ:the first two are introductory in terms of the plot. The transition happened in book three. The complexity and maturity of the story materialized in book 4-6.

like Jo said, Harry potter is a story about death-- a concept i think is too abstract for youngsters...

Angelo: well, i can't blame your friends. i suppose hindi pa nila naoovercome those book purists in them. the books are too good for movie adaptations...

like i said--i couldn't get myself to hate the movie... hehe!

thanks, man. Cheers!

adrian:
about your comment,

i agree that the local indeoendent films are in clamor because of the mainstream hollywood movies. i think the colonial mentality has clouded our passion for our own industry. i think they should make the indies more advertized... what i love about them is the artistry and quality of the stories.

leslie:
sige panoorin mo! hehe! sana magutuhan mo rin :)

gentle:
lavender is so annoying, i agree. exactly the way she's supposed to be.. hehe! and i like her... Won Won! hehehe!

elyas: sa platinum ka nanood? wow! libre dun lahat right? tapos ganda pa ng seats. well i considered watching it there pero iba pa rin ang IMAX.. hehe!

noong pumila nga ako sa bookstore nung paglabas ng HP7 matatanda rin ang mga kasama ko...hehe!

lucas said...

moonsparks:
---
it's ok. hindi ka nagiisa...hehe! sobrang fan lang ako siguro. if i wasn't, i'd probably have the same opinion. :P

thanks, moonsparks :)

shatts:
[I guess the final output is, in essence, faithful to the source.]

i agree. i think half-blood prince is the movie adaptation 'closest' to the book.

chyng: hindi ka abnormal. kanya-kanyang trip lang yan! hehehe! :P

yoshke: MORE!

---
I TOTALLY AGREE! Cuaron's interpretation of the book was just perfect.

flamindevil: yeah! she's the female johnny depp! comical but really nasty! i love her!

tomato cafe said...

with "kulang sa aksyon" i totally agree. haha pero hindi ko rin kasi binasa yung book. :D

Abaniko said...

I'm not a Harry Potter enthusiast but I enjoyed its previous movies. This last episode's boring to me I left the cinema 30 minutes into the movie. :D

Anonymous said...

haba pala nung unang comment ko.haha

anyway, napadaan lang at nagparamdam ang isa sa mga fans mo parekoy..ako..hehe

lucas said...

tomato cafe: hindi nga compared to the previous movies. you should read it. plot builder kasi ang 'prince' for the final book.

abaniko: that's how unbearable it was for you? hahaha! hindi mo kinaya ang powers ni harry potter! haha! but that's understandable. kanya-kanyang trip lang yan, :)

flamin devil: salamat sa pagpaparamdam! hahaha!

Ysh ♥ said...

I hope your family get past through whatever crisis you're going. :)

About Harry Potter, I think I am one for the very few who doesn't get amuse with it. I've only watched the first installment in theater, the others I didn't bother to watch, be it on TV or DVD.

Anonymous said...

wahhh

hanggang ngayon

di ko pa rin napapanood ang

harry potter bloody prince..

panoorin ko na lang ng paulit ulit muna
ang chamber of secrets sa bahay..

Anonymous said...

kuya coffin

pumasok po ba comments ko??

heheheh

next week
paramis papanoorin ko na to..

bat kasi ice age pa inuna ko

LOL

haleyjames said...

i love this one,Ü

but, it would have still been better if I was able to watch it with you.

i miss you.

KRIS JASPER said...

I wanna be that scary kid. I love his eyes and hair style.

Scary than being an english vampire.

duke said...

i haven't watched it yet. the dark tone of the HP movies started when it changed directors, i think.

anyway, my blog is nilalangaw na but thanks for dropping by every so often.

Team7 said...

yey...i watched it last wednesday...i am not an HP fan, really...

it's just that, upon watching this one, i realized that the "magic" is really contained in one's heart...in many different ways this truth manifests, for better or for worse

nga pala, my fave character is ginny...kinda weird...

Anonymous said...

'di ko pa rin napapanood 'yung movie kaya 'di ko pa alam ang ikokoment..hihintayin ko na lang sa DVD..though para sa akin isa 'yung book six sa pinakadisturbing next to "deathly hallows" saka sobrang nalungkot ako noong namatay si ano..hehe.. ^.^