"He's covered in blood again. Why is it he's always covered in blood?"
Written: Jul 25 '09 (Updated Aug 02 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: the actors, especially Tom Felton, the cinematography and effects
Cons: neglected characters, exists mainly to set up part 7
The Bottom Line: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is good on its own merits, but it works mainly as a fine set-up for the two-part movie adaptation of The Deathly Hallows.
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| brendan2's Full Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
As the Harry Potter movies go on, it seems one really has to have read the book or seen the previous big-screen installments to fully comprehend what's going on. That is definitely the case with this summer's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; those who start with this one without seeing the other films will be completely lost. The movie picks up where Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix left off, no explanation or backstory needed; that's all been done five times before.
I considered the book version of Half-Blood Prince to be a bridge between books five and seven, and that holds true here, as well. The series' "Big Bad," Voldemort, is barely even seen, save for some flashback scenes, most of those taking place when he was not yet an all-powerful dark wizard, but the brilliant, yet odd boy called Tom Riddle. But even if Voldemort is not seen, that doesn't mean he's taking it easy. His Death Eaters, led by the maniacal Bellatrix, are still wreaking havoc on both the wizarding and the Muggle (non-magical) worlds. Be prepared to see quite a bit of action here: fires, explosions, and one late scene in a watery cave containing a moment that made even me, viewer of countless horror movies, jump out of my seat.
Speaking of action, the characters are getting older, and their hormones are raging. Just when it seems Hermione and Ron may finally give in to their undeniable chemistry, Ron hooks up with Lavender, a clingy ditz who calls him her "little Won-Won." Meanwhile, Ron's little sister Ginny has really grown up, and Harry's starting to see her in a whole new light. He's not the only one, though, as Ginny's snogging some other guy at school. It's all very teen angst-y.
After five movies, the actors have grown into their roles. Daniel Radcliffe is, as always, fine as Harry; he even gets a few good one-liners. Emma Watson's Hermione gets some nice emotional moments; she's finally more than just a bookworm. It's nice to see Rupert Grint's Ron do more than just run around with his eyes bugging out (though he admittedly does that well). Grint seems to have a gift for physical comedy, and he's still capable of handling Ron's more serious moments. Tom Felton was a real surprise. Harry's nemesis Draco Malfoy hasn't had much to do besides be a mean rich kid, but in this movie, he's quite the tortured soul, and Felton pulls it off brilliantly. Most of the other characters, though, stay in the background; I particularly missed the adorable Neville, and even old favorites like Hagrid and McGonagall are given what amounts to cameo appearances.
On the plus side, the special effects look great as usual, and we finally get to see a Quidditch match again (the game had been absent from the last two movies). The pace rarely slows, and screenwriter Steve Kloves isn't afraid to include some events that weren't in the book, while still remaining faithful to the source material. Director David Yates' muted, subdued coloring of certain scenes deserves special mention as well.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is good on its own merits, but to me it works mainly as a fine set-up for the two-part movie adaptation of The Deathly Hallows. Even with a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, at film's end, I was left wanting more, a feeling quite similar to the one I experience when devouring the novels as they were released.
Recommended:
Yes
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brendan2
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