Chris Walker

I can't remember the last time we got up and left the cinema part way through a film! The biggest problem with this was that it was all just so dark! If I'd been watching it at home on TV, I would've been wondering what had gone wrong with it and fiddling around with the brightness to try and see more of the detail! What's the point is those well known animated Harry Potter Wall posters that deliver up the occasional plot point if you're peering into the murk, trying and failing to read them? The director clearly went for an arty look that stops one stop short of black and white, but the reality was that it just created the illusion of a film done on such a low budget that they couldn't afford for the set to go more than 6' beyond the actors, so deliberately plunged the background into obscurity! I couldn't tell you how good or bad the plot was as the cinematography was so distracting, but the other standout negative was the casting of Jude Law as a young Dumbledore. His acting would've been fine if he was just supposed to be some other character, but unfortunately he is just completely implausible as a younger Michael Gambon or any of the other actors to have played the older Dumbledore, which results in complete cognitive dissonance!