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Jul. 20th, 2009 06:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damkiannaFirst, just to get this out of the way: overall, I think I liked it. The first half more than the second half; they felt very different to me, almost disconcertingly so, but it was nowhere near, say, Hancock levels of "... did they just switch to the second half of a totally different movie?" The first half was a comedy with a few serious spots; the second half was a tragedy, with a few funny bits. (Since I generally prefer humor to a lack thereof, it's probably no wonder I liked the first half better, really.)
I've wibbled back and forth a little, but I'm starting to come down on the side of liking the attack on the Burrow. One of the gripes I've always had about the HBP book is that very little seemed to happen in it, so I didn't mind that they added another action sequence, and it sold me on the war starting even better than the bridge collapse at the beginning. However, it did feel a little weird that we didn't know what happened after - the way that scene ended made me think the Burrow had to be nothing but a big pile of ashes, but ... they're wizards! They must have been able to put that fire out! (Unless the part with the weird fiery ... serpent heads? was supposed to be a clue that this was some kind of impossible-to-douse magical fire.)
I liked the bits of Harry/Ginny in the first half, but the "resolution" was weird and awkward and forced. I would almost rather they had left us with a bunch of clues that Harry liked Ginny, but no actual kissage. I kind of love Harry/Ginny in the books - maybe partly because I was glad that it meant the craziest of the Harmonians were wrong, I admit it, but also on its own merits, because Ginny's awesome and funny and smart. So it's a shame that they bungled it a bit.
I really wish they had managed to include Bill and Fleur, because I loved them, they were very nearly my favorite part of HBP, and also I think it would have made more sense for the Death Eaters to ... y'know, actually attack once they had a sekrit back door into Hogwarts, instead of walking all the way upstairs to watch Draco not manage to kill Dumbledore, walking all the way downstairs to set Hagrid's house on fire, and then just ... leaving. o.O
Speaking of Draco, he was one of my favorite parts of the movie; my affection and sympathy for him even managed to survive the transition from funny to somber, and there were definitely times when I liked him better than Harry. (I get that the casting of Sectumsempra is a valuable moment of character development for Harry, but I really, really don't like him in that scene, in both the book and the movie.)
tl;dr: There were parts I liked, and parts I didn't like. The former managed to outweigh the latter, thankfully, and I think that, overall, I genuinely enjoyed watching it.
In other news: I had my first interview today! \o/ And I didn't throw up or faint or cancel at the last minute or anything. I managed to get a full hour of talking out of my interviewee, and I even caught him doing interesting things with glottal stops a couple of times, although most of the time I was actually listening to the (very interesting) things he was telling me. I love Norwich more than I can possibly express, and I love listening to people talk about their memories and their childhoods; it feels like a dream job, like cheating, to be able to make a thesis out of listening to people tell me fascinating things about its history, and their lives in it.
I've wibbled back and forth a little, but I'm starting to come down on the side of liking the attack on the Burrow. One of the gripes I've always had about the HBP book is that very little seemed to happen in it, so I didn't mind that they added another action sequence, and it sold me on the war starting even better than the bridge collapse at the beginning. However, it did feel a little weird that we didn't know what happened after - the way that scene ended made me think the Burrow had to be nothing but a big pile of ashes, but ... they're wizards! They must have been able to put that fire out! (Unless the part with the weird fiery ... serpent heads? was supposed to be a clue that this was some kind of impossible-to-douse magical fire.)
I liked the bits of Harry/Ginny in the first half, but the "resolution" was weird and awkward and forced. I would almost rather they had left us with a bunch of clues that Harry liked Ginny, but no actual kissage. I kind of love Harry/Ginny in the books - maybe partly because I was glad that it meant the craziest of the Harmonians were wrong, I admit it, but also on its own merits, because Ginny's awesome and funny and smart. So it's a shame that they bungled it a bit.
I really wish they had managed to include Bill and Fleur, because I loved them, they were very nearly my favorite part of HBP, and also I think it would have made more sense for the Death Eaters to ... y'know, actually attack once they had a sekrit back door into Hogwarts, instead of walking all the way upstairs to watch Draco not manage to kill Dumbledore, walking all the way downstairs to set Hagrid's house on fire, and then just ... leaving. o.O
Speaking of Draco, he was one of my favorite parts of the movie; my affection and sympathy for him even managed to survive the transition from funny to somber, and there were definitely times when I liked him better than Harry. (I get that the casting of Sectumsempra is a valuable moment of character development for Harry, but I really, really don't like him in that scene, in both the book and the movie.)
tl;dr: There were parts I liked, and parts I didn't like. The former managed to outweigh the latter, thankfully, and I think that, overall, I genuinely enjoyed watching it.
In other news: I had my first interview today! \o/ And I didn't throw up or faint or cancel at the last minute or anything. I managed to get a full hour of talking out of my interviewee, and I even caught him doing interesting things with glottal stops a couple of times, although most of the time I was actually listening to the (very interesting) things he was telling me. I love Norwich more than I can possibly express, and I love listening to people talk about their memories and their childhoods; it feels like a dream job, like cheating, to be able to make a thesis out of listening to people tell me fascinating things about its history, and their lives in it.
