(Don’t read if you want to avoid spoilers)

It is so hard to write this, because I am big fan of the books and the exceptionally adapted movie series (till now). But this movie is so flat, it’s like a glass of coke left on the table for days. The suspense and emotional build up of the book has been completely exsanguinated from the story. And did they forget that the movie is called ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince‘? Where was the Half-Blood Prince storyline? At the end when Snape reveals that he is the owner of the book that was consuming Harry, it is a completely ho-hum moment.

The biggest problem was the changes made to the story. So far, the movies have stayed pretty true to the books, with minor license taken here and there to reasonably adapt for the screen. This time however, whole facts are changed. I’m not a purist who believes that movies must stick to the details of the book. But some of the changes seem gratuitous, and some are completely detrimental to the story. The end of the story has been completely butchered. In the book, Harry is powerless to prevent or react to the killing of Dumbledore because he was frozen stiff by a spell. You feel his agony. In the movie, he is simply hiding on the lower floor because Dumbledore asked him to, and does nothing. Nothing, except to wait around and then belatedly run after Snape. It makes him look like a coward, and is completely out of character (the same reckless character established earlier in the movie when he runs into the fields after Bellatrix). And the climactic fight is completely removed, leaving a very weak confrontation between Harry and Snape. So Draco went through all that subterfuge to create a way for the death eaters to get past the auror defenses and get into Hogwarts, just for them to come in and cheer him on in his attempt to kill Dumbledore? And then they just walk out?

Disappointing doesn’t even cut it!