Harry Potter fans(movies)

[GooseGaws]

Entroper said:

GooseGaws said:
@Entroper:

I'm not expecting the films to live up to the books, but I AM expecting them to stand on their own as films. The last two have not done so, and as mentioned, the fifth was a total embarrassment. The story is screamed through so quickly that the characters barely have time to be seen on screen, let alone to say anything that isn't in specific service to the ridiculously truncated plot.

Well, I respectfully disagree. I thought the fifth movie was the best so far. I had no trouble with the story pacing, and I actually thought it moved quickly enough to stay interesting without going too fast to know what's going on. There was enough time for character reflection, and I thought Harry's frustration with Dumbledore and struggle with Voldemort were both well played out. The "I feel sorry for you" moment at the end was incredibly powerful. Also, you say you're not expecting the movies to live up to the books, but you call the plot "ridiculously truncated." Like I said above, if you haven't read the books, then you don't know the original plot, so there's nothing for it to be "ridiculously truncated" from. It just is what it is.

I hadn't read any of the books before seeing the first four films, but could easily tell that many elements were missing from the fourth.  Watching the fifth, this seemed even more apparent.  There is no time to develop the relationships between the characters (especially the one between Harry and Sirius), and they don't properly explain many of the events that occur.  In particular, the archway is never spoken of; it simply shows up, and Sirius falls through.  Some of the people I watched it with (who hadn't read the book) weren't even sure what had happened to him; was he dead, or had he simply gone somewhere else?  The wizard "dueling" in the Ministry of Magic was wildly inconsistent with both the other films as well as the books; they fly around in mist-like form and mysteriously defeat each other?  What the hell was that?  It smacks of laziness and poor design choices.

Just my two cents, of course.  I suppose it's good that the film was enjoyable to some.