A average film, but a poor adaption...

Rating: 4/10 (18 July 2007)

Lets start with what is good, the majority of the acting is very good. There are sterling performances from the new cast members, Luna Lovegood and particularly Delores Umbridge were well portrayed. Dumbledore, Sirius, McGonagle, Lupin, Arthur and Molley Weasley are all very good, along with main trio putting in good performances. I would agree with the amount of praise levied on Daniel Radcliffe whose performance, while good, isn't quite the Oscar winning spectacle some have made it out to be. Bonham Carter's performance as Bellatrix Lestrange was a highlight for me, some of her lines could have sounded appalling, but her delivery was perfect. However besides the acting a lot was left to be desired.
The main problem is that so much of the character of the book is lost in translation, the screenplay and direction are very poor. Many of the subtleties that make the books so entertaining are needlessly skipped over, the film is not particularly long at the moment, in fact far from it. There is no need for the film-makers to have removed so much of the story from the film script. The pacing of the film was inconsistent and the scene changes were often dire.
I would be unsurprised to discover that those who had not read the book before watching the movie would be somewhat confused over a number of the issues raised in this chapter of the story. There were many scenes that were poorly done in this movie, including some of the most important scenes in the film. *Spoiler* When Bellatrix kills Sirius, there was no tension, there was no build up and the whole scene was rushed and changed from the book, resulting in the whole feel of the scene being lost. The battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort was somewhat pathetic, the CGI effects weren't particularly spectacular (besides a couple) and the whole scene was rather tacky, I'm quite sure the director allowed his children to cover that one. Then there was Bellatrix Le Strange's disappearing act in that scene... for someone do devout she spent years of torture in Azkaban, she sure made her escape quickly. The book explanation was far better, and would have translated well into film.
I am thoroughly disappointed by the films so far, they aren't so much bad films as they are mediocre. They just have never done the books justice, they oft seem childish and underdeveloped. Warner Brothers are obviously keen on rushing the projects through with disregard to the quality of the films. It seems we will have to wait for someone who truly loves the books to translate them into movies which do them justice.
A pure shame. - SEM