Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince = Disappointing

Guess what Warner Brothers? Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince is no The Dark Knight...but you knew that and you knew that it would make good money in 2009, as good as it would have made in 2008, in spite of the fact that HBP is only half the film TDK was. I would have rather been disappointed last November then now, 8 months later. What a drag! My first words when the movie ended was "what a downer". I know that's what the book was like, but jeez, you couldn't have ended on some positive note? So many other things were changed, you couldn't have given us some reason to get excited for the final pair of films?
I felt this movie was the opposite of TDK. That movie was quickly edited and story heavy in the first half which was semi-difficult to follow. However, the last 60-90 minutes of TDK was perfect, a 10 in my opinion. HBP started out okay- I really liked the look to the film, it didn't feel like every other Potter film. But- after the burrow scene, the film just seemed to be one disappointment after another. The burrow scene was a let down- why was it there? We've been told it was to show that the Death Eaters were reeking havoc on both muggles and wizards, but Harry and Ginny never got to confront or duel with Fennir and Bellatrix, so what was the point? To scare Harry...for some reason?
Then the kiss in the room of requirement was a let down too. Harry got more out of Cho when they made out in Order of the Phoenix, and Ginny was totally hot and heavy with Dean earlier in HBP, but we only get a quick peck for our super-couple? WTH!
After those let downs, now we move onto the cave scene, that has to be awesome, right? Wrong! The cave was beautifully photographed and staged, but he Inferi were not scary enough and the scene seemed to end rather quickly...and boring like.
Okay now things are going to ramp up for the final scenes, or, not. What a huge mistake to cut out the first battle of Hogwarts. This film needed it, badly. I know that the David's (Heyman and Yates) said that they didn't want to repeat, and have two battle of Hogwarts since there is one in Deathly Hallows, but the books did, so why not the films? Another problem with the ending was the Snape business. I was out when he hushed Harry on top of the astronomy tower. Why did they have to change that scene so much? Why couldn't Harry have put on the cloak as he did in the book? Why did Snape see him and hush him? What was the point? I will admit that the Dumbledore parts in this scene were good: his delivery of "Severus, please" was just right; Malfoy disarming Dumbledore, which is totally necessary for the next two films, was perfect; and Dumbledore falling off the astronomy tower was a stunner (great slow motion shots).
Not as much love for the final Snape scene, it is cringe worthy. What a let down! I really respect Alan Rickman, but this was painful for me to watch.
Improves upon second viewing? I sure hope so...but I won't know until the DVD release, I refuse to spend more movie theater dollars on this one. If I wasn't so anal about having a complete DVD collection of the films, I would totally skip buying this one. Please David Yates, don't screw up Deathly Hallows!