Film Failure

Rating: 2/10 (5 August 2007)

Let's just ignore the books. Pretend they don't exist. Let's just pretend that the film was responsible for the creation of Harry Potter and the word of wizardom. It was still by far the worst film of the series thus far.
I went to see this film with my brother. I am an avid, passionate HP book fan whilst he hasn't even read the first one. It had fewer laughs than the previous movies which for me had been the first, second, third and fourth movies' salvation.
While some may argue that too much was cut out, in a sense, almost too much was left in. The film darted from event to event with little explanation with such dexterity that i almost had difficulty understanding what was happening. If they had removed more frills and only left the bare necessities in and explained them more, while it would have deviated more from the books, it would have been a better film in its own right. The film touched on a number of themes; government and media, the line between good and evil, generations, race relations etc. I would have liked to see one of these picked and explored a great deal more.
Aside from this, the acting ,while passable, was unextraordinary, Luna Lovegood being one of the sole highlights as well as an effectively infuriating Dolores Umbridge.
The one redeeming feature of this film was the cinematography which has come to be expected.
For me, the films can never surpass the books so they would stop trying and instead attempt to make a film that may stand on its own as a piece of work that explores the director's interpretation of the book. Fan of the books or not, this film is, in my opinion the worst so far which says something in its own right.