I found the direction of this film uninspired and downright dour. Deep down, I wish Daniel Radcliffe was a better actor, but the screenplay gives him very little to do in the first half where Harry's just aimless and lost; though the second half is a little better with meatier scenes, he's still not very compelling to watch, and he's the frikkin' main character. There are some laughs, mainly at Ron's expense by Hermione, they need their own sitcom, it would seem. I think the screenplay was far too over-the-top with the Dolores Umbridge character, and the tone set in the film just made for an overall unpleasant viewing experience. My audience was listless and restless, and it felt like they gave up on the film mid-way through and were mainly happy to reach the end, but not in a satisfying manner.
Other new characters are given the short-shrift in introductions, so it feels like they filmed the Cliff notes version of the book in many spots, and there is a lack of cohesiveness or propulsion in the pacing of the plot for this film.
I found the final act of the film to be uninvolving and uninteresting. It was a pretty disappointing film for me, some of it had to do with a minimal character build-up which lessened the impact of conclusion. For a movie based on magic, cinematically, it contained very little. I'm not even sure if the film ran longer it would be much better, I think there were just some bad directorial choices that lent itself to being a chore to sit through for most of its running time.
I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C.
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