I wanted it to be better somehow

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2010)

I've seen all of the Harry Potter films and read the first 3 books. Going to the films has been a big movie event for us ever since the first one was announced all those years ago. I really enjoyed the first couple of "innocent" romps.
For my money though - and I have to say this - Rowling had no way to foresee the immense success of the first couple of books. They are fun, fresh and you want to find out more - so you keep reading/watching. Then it started getting serious - and a worldwide audience grew and required satisfaction. This is where the writer began to search for deeper issues, more complexity, more "poke". The plot lines begin to get stretched deep and moody, the author is trying to get to things which she never anticipated ever having to write about, because she never thought there would ever be any demand for any later works. She tries hard with the elemental Good Vs Evil thing and through interesting characters and connections manages to get to the 4th book out. I put Book 4 down because the whole concept had run its course by then. I didn't need to read anymore.
Book/Film 4 is the point where my patience wears thin. So you can imagine that by this film I'm going along because Harry Potter films have become a habit - they have punctuated my life.
I didn't really enjoy this film - it's not there to be enjoyed. It's a bleak, dark, thankless watch which has not one jot of the joy and fun of the early works. Sure - there's a war, sure, the badies are winning, sure - our heroes don't look so bright and shiny now that they don't really know what they are doing. But I found that I hardly cared; I wanted to, but I didn't.
I'm assured that the film is very true to the book; and this film will satisfy devotees of the books (like my wife...). But it just didn't do it for me. I watched it as someone who has seen all the films and felt the need to watch this out of a sense of completeness. I'm not going to say I was disappointed - I like the screen Harry Potter and want to see how he and his friends develop and perform as characters. Given the content I don't think that the film could have been any different to how it was; I just wanted it to be better somehow.