Harry Potter is a wimp.
We are now six movies into the Harry Potter series and the alleged wizard is a wimp. Every time he gets into trouble, someone bails him out. He fights a big snake, a bird brings him a sword. He's in a contest and someone else provides him with a potion, a trick, a magic cloak, whatever. Move over Blanche DuBois, for someone who is anointed most power wizard to be, he relies on the kindness of strangers way too often.
The latest entry in this seemingly endless movie franchise, HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, is no exception. Harry is using a previously experienced text book full of accurate note for potions. How handy is that? Stuck in a deep dark cave with Dumbledore, Harry is once again rescued by the long grey bearded one. There are several more. When is the dude going to stand up and be a man, let alone the greatest wizard of all time?
Don't get me wrong, the series is a lot of fun. Anticipation is always high for the next entry. The idea of a classic British boarding school movie reframed as a school for witches and wizards is creative, yet familiar. The series are well made with terrific special effects. The supporting cast is always top notch. Some of the films, li
ke Alfonso Cuaron's PRISONER OF AZKABAN, are quite excellent. The films are always engaging, except HALF BLOOD PRINCE, which is muddled, cold and uninvolving. HALF BLOOD PRINCE seemed more like a bridge than a complete movie.
What is irksome is Harry himself. The expectation of a great wizard emerging from the shell of a boy is always present and as of yet, not fulfilled. At one point in HALF BLOOD, Hermione tells Harry she has always admired his courage. That maybe, bit where is the 'the chosen one'. The audience knows he is that and accepts it. It is why we keep going back to the theaters, but when do we see more than faint glimmers of this great wizard? When will the investment in time pay off? When will the promise of Harry Potter be seen?
After watching six Harry Potter films, the bottom line is simple. Harry Potter is not a man. He is not even a self-confident teenager. He is a wimp. Grow-up.
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Garen has been in the dark for years. As a film exhibitor, programmer and reviewer, he has seen thousands of films. Regularly on NE Cable News & NH Public Radio, he produces the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival. Besides film, he has a passion for being a Frugal Yankee.
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Comments: 13
When we were studying mythology in school, that was why I never liked the Greek hero Perseus. When he had to fight the Gorgon the gods gave him a magic shield and they gave him a magic sword and so on. If you have to rely on the gods to keep bailing you out then you're not a real hero and I can't get behind that! Now Theseus was a real hero, not getting all sorts of gifts from the gods. He just needed a ball of string to kill the minotaur.
PSSSST..... it's only a story..... It's not real.
Interesting perspective
Paul, nice comment, and true. Have you ever read Cambell's The Hero's Journey?
Ishbel - are you sure?
Leslie - thanks.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
When Dumbledore finally dies, he is forced into believing that he is the chosen one, for that is the only way he will ever make things right again and avenge the death of his mentor. It's not until then that he finally grows up.
Finding out at 11 that your whole life has been a lie, that the most feared villain known was trying to kill you, that everyone had huge expectations about you, on top of learning the typical school and magic lessons would be overwhelming for most boys.
This is a coming-of-age story and Harry is well on his way to growing a pair of truly righteous cajones (to go along with that impressively rampant broomstick between his legs). Give the kid a chance. Being plagued with self-doubt is emblematic of his heroic journey (AND, more importantly, essential to selling you tickets to future flicks).
Hmm... I don't really feel all that passionately about this but there is just SO much you miss out on by just watching the movies... And in Deathly Hallows I think the movie watching audience will be in for a few suprises just based on what has already been left out ...