<<FUCKING SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD FROM HERE ON IN>>
I figured we'd take care of that right now since the movie's out. Saw it last night at a midnight screening, almost didn't due to my friends being asshats and not managing to get there until about 11:15, and the theatre we went to, despite showing it on six screens sold out nearly five theaters and the one we got seats in was already so packed we had to split into two pairs just to get seats.
I think this one definitely translated to film better than most of the others so far, but its got a lot of problems with it too. One of the guys who went with us had never seen any of the movies or read any of the books (yeah, under a rock) and had absolutely no fucking clue what was going on, ever. He's a pretty bright guy so I think that makes this only a movie accessible to followers of the complete story so far. Which while I think is a flaw I realize it probably won't impact sales too bad since nearly everyone in this country in fact has seen at least the movies so far.
I also think that there wasn't a goo leadup until the climax. I mean, it was pretty much teenage love drama for about 30 minutes after the last plot point, then all of a sudden it was "Okay Harry let's go ohh giant rock in the ocean OMG DEAD". I mean, the movie really just seemed to make it look like it came out of absolutely left field.
I did enjoy it though, even though I think everyone in the audience that clapped after the movie was over should have their pinkies broken.