Saturday night was a magical night at the movies; right off the bat you knew there was going to be something different about the 6th Harry Potter film. The tone for the film was set instantly and instilled in the audience that this film was going to be dark and also bring something new to the epic saga that the HP films have become. The obvious focus on romantic teen urges was established early on, with Harry’s stumbling albeit successful attempts to flirt with a muggle waitress. With this little bit of fun, littered with some joyful bantering between Dumbledore and Harry the movie jumped forward. Saying this I quite liked the pace of the film, yes those who have not read the books may miss out on the smaller details that were alluded to, although this is the case with all the films. Jim Broadbent’s addition to the cast as Professor Slughorn was magnificent; when announced I was surprised, but expected something different to what was delivered – but nonetheless brilliant. Kudos to Broadbent for his continued eagerness to dip into his bottomless pit of talent.
Michael Gambdon finally delivered a Dumbledore that I had no issue with. I have always found his delivery of the role to be too forceful, loud and temper mental. Whereas in this film he finally found the stride that Richard Harris had come into so readily in the first and second films and as a result he shone brightly in the film that required Dumbledore’s presence and figure to be gloriously understated. The main cast of Radcliffe, Grint and Watson have grown as actors in leaps and bounds over the course of the films and with this film it is obvious that they are no longer the unknown child actors that they were almost 10 years ago. Watson in particular has grown since the previous film – her slight looks and expressions regarding the love interest between her and Ron were incredibly expressive within the 3 seconds that they were apparent on screen. Despite the dark tone to the film it was by far the funniest of the saga so far – the cast were finally allowed to stretch their comedic wings, Radcliffe a little underplayed but shone through in the funeral scene with Hagrid and Slughorn but Grint clearly stole the scenes that he was allowed with his comedic timing.
The supporting cast was both rewarding and disappointing, with Robbie Coltrane pushed even more to the sidelines to the point where he was awarded next to no screen time, whereas I had hoped that they would start to boost his inclusion more considering his smaller role in the final book. On the other hand Alan Rickman was finally rewarded with much deserved screen time that has been missing in the past few films. Looking a little bigger around the stomach, Snape oozed his way into the crucial points of the story with ease – particularly effective in the bathroom scene with Draco and surprisingly expressive in the final scenes with Dumbledore. I had hoped for slightly more in the confrontation with Harry, I felt that particular speech required more grandeur than it received. The end in general felt anticlimactic to a point and was very much like the end of a Star Wars movie; it was a prelude to a larger journey. This was emphasized by the removal of the final fight so that the end of this film did not feel repetitive with the end of the final film. This was the only moment in the film that made me pause and think less of the film as a whole, otherwise I felt that the film was well balanced for the most part with the exception of towards the end where as a result of removing that final fight scene all other characters seemed pushed aside in favour of Potter, Dumbledore, Snape and Malfoy. I certainly look forward to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts One and Two wholeheartedly.
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