Sunday, July 19, 2009

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince : My Review

British actor Daniel Radcliffe at the London p...Image via Wikipedia
Saw the movie today and here's my review.

With the Potter series being well and truly "over", its hardly expected that a movie would rekindle the magic which it had once upon a time managed to create. For me, Harry Potter was all about the books and Pottermania ended the day I read the last page of the Deathly Hallows. So, I hardly expected anything from this movie.

I was so so wrong!

I'll admit it, this is the best Potter movie yet. Period.

Where do I start? The opening sequence of the movie is mind blowing to say the least! I was just stunned and totally at a loss for words! The death eaters wrecking havoc all over the city, the truly outstandingly dramatic collapse of London's Millennium Bridge...the first few minutes is enough to make you realise that this movie is gonna be different.

Brilliant brilliant performances from all the leads. Daniel Radcliffe has truly come of age. He has become such a natural in his role as Harry Potter. But a special mention must go out for Helena Bonham Carter. Her menacing smile, the awesome "destruction scene" (not giving away too much in case you havent seen the movie yet) gave the killer punch!

The movie has its share of light moments, which is a refreshing change. And in the final 15 minutes you wont feel like uttering a word. The movie is truly a journey through a huge range of emotions.

Some of the scenes in this movie are truly truly breathtaking. And in the wide screen of a theatre they look all the more so. The cinematography is consistently brilliant and so is the music.

Now you might say they missed this and they missed that when you compare it with the novel. But the thing is, this aint the novel. This is the movie adaptation and there's bound to be changes. Let us accept that and then judge this purely as a movie and not as an adaptation or a page by page reproduction of the oh so awesome novel. For me the charm of Harry Potter always was the books, and it still is. The intricacies, the sub plots, the emotional upheavals of characters are very difficult to reproduce on screen. However this is as good a job any director could've done given the length and breadth of the novel.

A truly wonderful movie and I might venture to say, one of the better movies of 2009. It has well and truly created the ground for two awesome sequels.

Pottermania is alive and kicking, all over again!

4 comments:

  1. Totally agree with your review Arnab.. I saw it on Friday and despite the rubbish reviews i'd heard I absolutely loved it!

    I knew what was coming cos of reading the books and it didn't disappoint... although as you say bits obviously had to get left out and I thought the 'cave' part was quite lame compared to the tension created in the book.

    All in all a great film... bring on the next one!

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  2. same here. cant wait for the next one!

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  3. Same here. I totally agree with you. :-) And I really liked that the treatment for this film was dark. Some say that its too dark for a movie for kids. But I think, it was just perfect!

    Can't wait for the next two!

    PS. Thanks for the comment on my blog. :-)

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  4. Glad that you liked it , but I hate anything Potter !!

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