Not as intense as it should've been

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2007)

Here's my review. I just got back from the movie.
The characters were AWESOME. I loved Bellatrix, she was so wicked. I loved Luna Lovegood, she was hilarious. And I liked Tonks because she had a lot of spunk and Kingsley Shacklebolt's Jamaican accent is LOL. UMBRIDGE WAS JUST PURE EVIL! The actress who played her got Umbridge right... down to the irritating little coughs, sickly sweet smiles and her sadistic moments.
There was better character development this time round. And I could feel that Harry was more distanced from his friends, more isolated, despite their concern for him. Also some nice moments between Harry and Sirius. A lot of funny moments in the film - like when Hermione tells Grawp "PUT ME DOWN," and then he gives her the bicycle handlebar - and more. The comical parts were well done.
Sad moments: -When Trelawney was fired ... she looked so pathetic that I was quite moved.
-Harry's Occlumency lesson. Snape said something about James Potter being arrogant and full of himself and I was immediately reminded of how Snape had been bullied as a teenager. I felt sorry for Snape actually.
-Harry's letter telling Sirius that he felt lonely in Hogwarts. Poor wittle Harry.
-Sirius's death. I know how some people complained that it was too abrupt but that was how it was like in the book and they got the tone right. The way all the background noise was muted when Harry was screaming Sirius's name was particularly effective. Quite heart-wrenching.
-Luna holding Harry's hand and telling her that she was sorry for Sirius's death. AAAW. (I'm not a shipper by the way). It was a nice touch. I liked how she and Harry had this sort of understanding that he didn't share with Hermione and Ron.
My main gripe was that they TOTALLY cut out the scene where Harry was being angry in Dumbledore's office and smashing things everywhere. If anything, that was the most emotional scene in the book. I didn't even feel sad when Sirius died (because it was so abrupt, both in the movie and book) but I cried when I read that scene because I could feel Harry's built up rage, bitterness and helplessness. That was, really, the moment of catharsis, but in the movie it was all squeezed into a climatic flashback sequence where Harry has an internal battle with Voldemort, who is trying to possess his body. Sorry but that didn't really work for me. It was too rushed, too compressed. I'm not saying that was bad - in fact it was quite good - but it doesn't match up to the emotional intensity of the office scene in the book.
I'm really fine with it when they cut back on the irrelevant stuff from the book, like funny details, or Quidditch matches, or other characters's screen time (because, really, there are far too many characters) but because the fans have to be pleased with this and that, the essence of the story is lost. The film isn't as intense as it should be. Or could be. Come to think of it, I've never really gotten very emotionally involved in a Harry Potter movie before.
I always think that a film adaptation should be a different interpretation of the book. It's an adaptation, it's supposed to be different! And because of time constraints everything HAS to be cut down to it's essence. So the most important things are story, characters and pacing. Focus less on pleasing obsessive book fans! OK but overall this was way better than Goblet of Fire. I only hope the next two movies will be taken into a new direction - a different one from all the films so far.