We got what we needed to see in terms of budding romance, Harry’s obsession over Malfoy, and the latter’s breakdown. Snape’s first scene was critical, and I think they nailed it. Obviously, we saw the big ending. A few of the memory scenes were omitted, but in general the point was conveyed.

I think the biggest losses came from not seeing Rufus Scrimgoeur or Voldemort at all, and not enough explanation or exploration of the “Half Blood Prince” mystery. Also, I don’t think it set up the last movies enough: Harry should know a lot more details about the Plot Coupons he will be hunting. Word from the directors is that including the battle scene would have taken away from the last movie, in which there IS a huge shootout. I have mixed feelings on this, but I’ll go with it for now.

In general, I thought it was a solid film. I actually like that they put more of an effort into staying close to the book, as opposed to movie 5 which cut out so much material to make way for “new” scenes (like replacing the Creeveys with that stupid “Nigel” character). To someone like CNA, I ask: which is it? You complain about the source material being action-less, but then decry the added action scene in the middle and wish that the movie more closely followed the book. This confuses me.

As a big HP fan, I really enjoyed this movie.

Sure, I was pissed that they dropped the huge battle that’s supposed to take place at the astronomy tower, but I did enjoy seeing all the ridiculous romantic tension between Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny play out on screen. It’s not a perfect adaptation of the book, but it holds its own as a standalone movie (especially given the other crap I could have seen).

I am with David, the action scenes were entirely lacking in context; they existed where they have never existed in the books, and what ones do exist in the book are missing from the film. Since when does the Burrow burn down after Bellarix and Fenrir attack Harry at Christmas time? Why did that need to be added to put more action in? There was a perfectly fine action scene at the end of the book between Death Eaters, Order members and students, which just VANISHED from the film all together.

I have never been a huge fan of the sixth book, my main complaint about it has always been that there was just too much romance and not enough of anything else; the movie takes it to a whole new level.

It’s not a bad film, truth be told, but it wouldn’t have hurt it to have stayed true to the book a bit more. I feel like I felt after seeing Prisoner of Azkaban; if you haven’t read the book, you will likely be lost.

On the one hand though, Luna still shine radiantly!

That’s disappointing to hear, especially since I felt the movies were being more and more aimed toward adults.

The Daily News gave it 4 stars, but they did the same for Terminator: Salvation, so I didn’t put too much stock into that.