July 18, 2007
Very much an action film. 768 pages boiled down to a mere 138 minutes of stuff happening. Each character is afforded just barely enough screen time for you to be able to work out who they are from their kooky signature characteristic (eg hair and face changing in the case of Tonks). You can see why the screenwriters have done it, but it does tend to detract from the humanity of the book and make for a certain flatness of characterisaton. It's a shame to have glorious scenes like the exit of the Weasley twins or the grim depths of Sirius's house foreshortened in this manner, but we should at least be grateful that they got included, I suppose. It just lacks the spaciousness and the wonder of the first and third films. At least, however, it avoids the American high school hideousness of the fourth.
The big exception to all this is Umbrage - these compressions have all been made for her, and I have to admit, albeit grudgingly, that this was probably the right decision. Imelda Staunton is deliciously horrible as the villainous bureaucrat, viler than your least favourite teacher. The squeaky little Disney "Mm hm" of satisfaction she gives as she pulls off her unusually nasty stunts goes right down my spine and triggers hot teenage memories of gross injustice in snot-coloured classrooms. Her sugar-pink ensembles and dainty rose heels set off her tantrums to perfection.
She gets much more screen time to herself than any of the other actors. Harry in particular has nothing much to do except sweat his way from one cliffhanger to the next. This is a bit of a shame, since the kids' acting seems to have got a lot better, especially Hermione's (Emma Watson). And, thank God, they've stopped trying to get Michael Gambon (the new Dumbledore) to talk in American.
There's also a sad lack of the evil Snape (Alan Rickman). He has about five lines in this film, but they're all superbly effective. Evanna Lynch as the new girl Luna Lovegood gets quite a bit of attention, and while she and the character merit it, I missed the development of the central characters we've all come to know and obsess over. Maybe one day we'll get a 5 hour director's cut version. I'd definitely sit through it.
The big exception to all this is Umbrage - these compressions have all been made for her, and I have to admit, albeit grudgingly, that this was probably the right decision. Imelda Staunton is deliciously horrible as the villainous bureaucrat, viler than your least favourite teacher. The squeaky little Disney "Mm hm" of satisfaction she gives as she pulls off her unusually nasty stunts goes right down my spine and triggers hot teenage memories of gross injustice in snot-coloured classrooms. Her sugar-pink ensembles and dainty rose heels set off her tantrums to perfection.
She gets much more screen time to herself than any of the other actors. Harry in particular has nothing much to do except sweat his way from one cliffhanger to the next. This is a bit of a shame, since the kids' acting seems to have got a lot better, especially Hermione's (Emma Watson). And, thank God, they've stopped trying to get Michael Gambon (the new Dumbledore) to talk in American.
There's also a sad lack of the evil Snape (Alan Rickman). He has about five lines in this film, but they're all superbly effective. Evanna Lynch as the new girl Luna Lovegood gets quite a bit of attention, and while she and the character merit it, I missed the development of the central characters we've all come to know and obsess over. Maybe one day we'll get a 5 hour director's cut version. I'd definitely sit through it.