Ha5--Shattered

After watching Harry Potter 5, I deeply felt what it’s like to have a fragmented plot. The book is very thick, so it’s indeed difficult to adapt it into a movie. However, seeing a movie being dismembered into pieces by the director is still very frustrating. Firstly, if you haven’t read the original book, it’s best not to watch this movie, because the plot is basically copied directly from the book. The connections between scenes are almost non-existent, and if you haven’t read the book before, you’ll feel confused and perplexed.

The movie should be thrilling and suspenseful, but Harry Potter 5 feels disjointed and fragmented, as if there’s a lot to express but nothing is actually conveyed. Each chapter of the novel can be made into a brilliant movie, but the director only extracts a part of the content, filming it according to some superficial and obvious aspects, and letting the audience fill in the deeper meaning based on the novel. The result is that the entire movie becomes a video novel, as if it only exists to complement the book. When reading novels, everyone imagines a scene in their mind, and now this lovely director has completely visualized it. He tells you: “Hey, this is what that scene was like, you see, it’s similar to what you imagined, right?” However, apart from some die-hard Harry Potter fans who might enjoy this feeling, I think most audiences would rather see a complete, in-depth, and thought-provoking adaptation movie.

The movie starts without much delay, directly beginning with Harry fighting the Dementors. Then the events unfold: returning to the magical world, the hearing, the start of school, a few shots of the train, meeting the Thestrals, Umbridge, classes, punishments, and the formation of Dumbledore’s Army. It’s all done in one breath, especially in the beginning, where the scene changes are so fast that I could hardly keep up with the director’s pace. Why the rush? The director deleted all the tedious dialogue and only kept what he thought were the most classic lines. However, the reason why these lines are classic is that they have a story to support them. Without any explanation, the classic lines fall flat and feel forced. I won’t go into details about the rest of the plot. The warm Christmas in the original book, the poignant emotions between Harry and Sirius, the insights Snape’s memories bring to Harry - where did all these go? I believe that all the audiences who watched Harry Potter 5 for the first time, without having read the book before, must have felt indifferent to Sirius’s death. The director has reduced him to a mere supporting character, as if his only purpose is to provide Harry with some information. Sigh. I won’t say more; it’s really a bad movie.

One of the few impressive parts is the depiction of the Weasley twins skipping Hogwarts. I don’t know how the director suddenly came to his senses and decided to focus on this scene. It indeed left a deep impression on me and is one of the few parts that can convey the essence of the original book.

The final battle is chaotic and feels like a random shootout. Harry makes a guest appearance, symbolically fights Voldemort, says some thought-provoking words, and that’s it.

After watching the movie, I feel that Harry has grown up so much, but as soon as he turns around, everything I just saw is forgotten. Just a casual comment: I personally love Harry Potter 5, so I had high expectations for this movie. My comments may be biased by my personal feelings, so please forgive me, fellow Harry Potter fans .