In light of the release of the new HarryPotter movie, & considering that most of the civilised world has watched it by now, I felt that there was something for me to say…

Ehm ehm ehm.

Drumroll please…

What.

The.

FUCK?

Based on the book by J.K. Rowling… Did I read that correctly? Perhaps it was an optical illusion. Perhaps what it really said was Based loosely upon a book which J.K Rowling considered writing once but decided against it and wrote the Half Blood Price instead.

Now I’m a Potter fan just like all the other obsessive kids (and notkids) who waved chopsticks around like wands and cursed other drivers under their breath - some incidents less magically inclined than others. I used to read all the books up to and including the latest film right before it came out at the cinemas. After the third, I decided to save myself the irritation of dissecting a perfectly good film and stopped rereading them. I know… Potter fraud, but it worked out marvellously and I appreciated the films for their own unique plot twists and story add-ons. I lived in a world of ignorance and was the happier for it.

Then the Half Blood Prince happened to me.

Seriously. I admire the scriptwriters for their efforts, but what happened to Harry Potter? What happened to the darkness and the suffering? The pain and the uncertainty? Dumbledore died. He DIED. Brutally. They cursed his ass and it fell about a million stories. I barely batted an eyelash.

Of course, I had to take into account that I’m a slightly cold-blooded creature with regards to the Potter films. I turned to my partner, Warren, and saw that he too was staring at the screen in puzzlement. My mother, further down along the line, leaned forward and raised an eyebrow at me. I sank in my chair. It was going to get better at any moment. I was naively certain of this. It ended abruptly (rather like Dumbledores life) and we left the cinema.

Of course, there were a few memorable moments. Ron on love-heroine was a definite favourite, as was Luna’s fantastic fashion sense throughout the year of the Half Blood Prince. There was also that exciting scene where Draco leaned over the basin and offered himself to Harry. I thought the brush-off was a bit harsh…

Speaking of Draco - did anyone else notice that he kept whipping off the cover of the vanishing cabinet in exactly the same way? (Was that the same shot over and over?) No wonder old Malfoy was having a nervous break-down, the poor bugger must have struggled for hours with that sheet…

Of course, I’m sitting here ranting about a movie that some people loved. Like my father, for instance. He had a stroke several years ago and loves romantic comedies. =)

Okay, Half Blood Prince wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever had to endure, but we’re approaching the end of a legacy, here, folks. Harry Potter fans are a manic bunch and none of us wants to see the end of the greatest story ever written. The films gave us a brief reprieve from facing a world where there won’t be another HP book, but that’s over now. I don’t think there’s anything the film makers can do to appease us.

So. Truly hypocritical, I will be purchasing a copy of the Half Blood Prince, along with the other six, the moment all seven films are available. I don’t like to admit it, I would prefer to maintain my purist opinions and force them on everyone else, but the story would never be the same without the Half Blood Prince, even if I saw more people standing around sucking face than I saw spells.

Except for the birds. They were cool. Go Hermione!

 BlackSheep out.

=)