[Gemini Cricket]

I really liked Half-Blood Prince. In fact, I loved it.

The filmmakers took great care with this film. I don't think there were any scenes that didn't work for me. I thought about me liking this film alot carefully taking into consideration the enthusiastic first screening audience I was with. Despite the roar at the beginning when the WB logo came on, the audience was quite normal throughout. So that didn't color my viewing experience all that much.

Spoiler:

I thought this film featured the best acting of the series from Grint, Radcliffe, Gambon, Malfoy (I forgot his real name) and Watson. The Harry scenes after he took the luck potion were great.

Although I had pictured the Dumbledore death scene differently, I thought it worked well. There was a good amount of tension there.

There were a couple of moments that reminded me of LOTR: the Dumbledore falling scene, the flashes after Harry touches the ring etc. But it didn't bother me too much.

This movie is definitely a build up to the last two, but it can't very well not be given that the series is coming to a conclusion. The significance of the book and the film is bringing the entire series to the apex. I thought it did it very well. I think the numbers for the last two films will be astronomical. (To use a sentence they used on Sotomayor: outside of a directorial meltdown with the next two films, they will do well.)

Many of the scenes in this film were constructed well. The scenes in the swamp at the Weasley farm were edited wonderfully.

I am glad that the art direction of the 3rd film has carried through to the rest of the series. I like "that look".

I was disappointed that an explaination of what "Half-Blood Prince" means wasn't included in the film, but like it was said before this film is for the people who follow the books and they already know. However, I think there was a missed opportunity to discuss racism in the wizard world.

There was no funeral at the end. I'm thinking they might include it at the beginning of the next film, but who knows. And I could have sworn that the Weasley farm gets burned in the last book. But I could be wrong.

The acting (for the most part - see below), the direction, the script, the editing, the art direction were all good too me. I liked this movie a lot.

I'm still bugged by Helena Bonham Carter's depiction of Bellatrix. It still seems to me like she's acting nutters and not being nutters, if that makes any sense.

And, yes, there was a reason Rickman was cast as Snape. Whoever made that casting decision at the beginning deserves a pat on the back. Yes, we all laughed at his hair at first, but I no doubt believe he will blow us away even more during the next two films. He delivers the performance of a torn soul quite well. His reactions are obscure in the right places and him being the comic relief in certain scenes is quite brilliant.

Whoever played Lavender was great in her role too. She and the girl playing Luna were wonderful in all of their scenes. (I'm glad the lion head hat made an appearance in this film.)