I loved every book and have been very pleased with all the movie adaptations up till now but this one was simply a disgrace. I don\'t know if the director and screenwriters had a very successful career before this but I doubt they will have much success after murdering this epic tale and crucial piece of the saga.
There was simply no flow or continuity to the movie (and now the series) and the tone/mood of the entire thing was far off point.
Pretty much like ellis said, two hours of predictable/not funny humor and silly teenage love drama (not even the way it was in the book) and twenty minutes at the end of the movie dealing with what the whole story should have been centered around and a pretty weak attempt at it.
The Borough Scene was totally out of left field and really made no sense and did nothing to push the story forward. Just a random pointless edition.
The whole movie you learn virtually nothing about who Voldemort actually is and his life and how he rose to power and became so demented and became the most dangerous and terrible evil dark wizard ever. That is probably my biggest gripe with the whole thing because to me that is what was what was most fascinating about the book and what really set up the final chapter.
The whole Half-Blood Prince thing came off wrong/incomplete/insignificant.
After preparing for battle through the entire last movie and fighting the enemy head on and suffering major casualties none of the characters seem even remotely aware of the fact that Voldemort is actively trying to take over the world, cursing and controlling people, spreading fear, at least partially controlling the wizard and muggle governments, torturing people, killing people, gaining power and just bringing back DARK, DARK, TIMES, and threatening all their lives and their families lives and everything that is good. Even the performances by the actors were completely uninspiring and disengaged from the larger plot line.
So two hours of making a mess out of the meat of the book and focusing on the wrong elements and even twisting those, then all of a sudden, wait, here we go to the cave and looking hoar-cruxes with virtually no build up of why or the importance of the mission.
And then The Death Eaters just walk out of Hogwarts and smash the place up and only have to zap ONE RANDOM dude to escape after Killing and throwing Dumbledore off the Clock Tower?? ARE U SER?
No Funeral?
?? Come on. That was one of the best chapters of the entire saga even though it was incredibly sad. They paid no respect to Dumbledore in this film and the way they set up the next movie was really so anti-climatic and crappy compared to the real deal.
I cant help but wonder how JK Rowling could let it go down like this?
NO WAY she could be pleased with this.
Reading the book I was amused, intrigued, astounded, scared, enthralled, shocked, amazed, saddened, angered, etc. Everything a book should be.
Watching the movie I was mildly interested, kinda bored, kinda indifferent, rather disappointed, confused, and anticipating a lot cool stuff and great story telling that never materialized.
Just a big time failure on a whole. Had tons of potential and was portrayed in the trailers like it was going to be bad ass and live up to it but this was clearly targeted at bringing in an even wider (and younger) audience than the film already has. Even the previews they showed before the picture were noticeably one silly kid movie after the next and the movie was basically on the same level aside from ~20 mins of semi-good film making that didn\'t mesh with the rest of the piss poor production at all. I understand the book (and the whole series) is a dichotomy of them growing up and the larger story but it was just really poorly done this time and off balance. This is the second to last book and there is just so much history between the characters and built up epic storyline that is supposed to be present and deepened moved forward but none of that comes through.
Granted the bar has been set very high by the illness of the last two or three films and obviously the books but it is a shame to see the film series lose steam and mar the whole series in the 8th inning like this. I hope they can bounce back with the last two films and make up for this one but it is not going to be easy after that train wreck.
