Army Dudes and Wizards
I hit the theater this afternoon for a couple movies with friends. I’m pretty bad about coming up with decent titles for my posts, sorry. Maybe someone else can do better with the combo of Harry Potter and G.I. Joe.
G. I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (2009)
Rating: 
I didn’t expect much out of this movie other than some decent action. It turned out to be an insane amount of action. This movie never, ever stopped with fight scenes, explosions, chases, etc. My neck actually hurt by the time it was over due to being riveted to the screen, not wanting to miss a single moment. This is very similar to the Transformers movies to me… G. I. Joe was another toy I grew up with. My brother was big on these toys, while I was bigger on Transformers. I’m guessing he will remember the characters much more than I did, but it was still quite familiar. There were some seriously weird conversations in a few places, as well as severe lack of emotional responses to at least a couple key events, which held the movie to 3 stars. If you want a movie to just sit there and watch some crazy, non-stop action, this is for you.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Rating:
Having just walked out of G. I. Joe, this movie actually felt a bit relaxing. It was full of wizardry, Quidditch matches, and everything else you’ve been used to in the Harry Potter series, but the action is not all that more intense than the previous movie. They are still doing about as good a job bringing the books to the screen as can be expected with only 2.5 hours devoted to such long stories. I can certainly see why they decided to break apart the final (7th) book into two movies next year. I would have to say this was almost as good as #5 (Order of the Phoenix), but not quite. You really don’t see as much of the Order or the Death Eaters as you might expect. It’s virtually limited to either Harry & Dumbledore’s investigations, or Harry, Ron and Hermione’s blossoming love lives (ick ;). There are quite a few notes in reviews saying they thought the movie felt somewhat empty as just a bridge from movie #5 to the final showdown. I guess it felt like that, but what do you expect? It is supposed to be building up the story for the final climax. Get over it.
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