“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Movie Review
Harry Potter has gotten older, but that doesn’t mean he’s gotten wiser or more entertaining. This latest installment in the young wizard franchise, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, actually takes a step backward from the exciting pacing and narrative that we’ve come to expect from these films.
Director David Yates, coming off the wildly successful previous film, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, delivers a movie that tries very hard to bridge the gap between the first five outings while also setting up the 2-part grand finale scheduled for next year. While this film does succeed in a few of these goals, it fails in many others.As a dedicated fan of both this movie franchise and the books they are based on, I must admit that watching Harry go to school, interact with the same people and do homework again has become a bit blasé. With the material that the filmmakers had to work with and the rare foreknowledge of how this tale will end (given that the final book has been out for a few years now), I really think they dropped the ball here. They do stray a few times from the original source material, but the results are a mixed bag. Key scenes that were written in the book to explain Voldemort’s origins and set up the finale were curiously omitted while original scenes that really did nothing to further the plot along were added in. In fact, a couple of the new things that this movie added in are contradictory to what will have to happen in the next movie!
All of the previous actors return for their roles. I was honestly a bit surprised at how much Emma Watson has blossomed into her role as Hermione Granger given how much I disliked her in the earlier films. Daniel Radcliffe continues to please as the title character and actually makes more of the role than even the books gave him to work with. Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman have been playing their respective roles of Professors Dumbledore and Snape so long now that it is a genuine treat to see them on screen and makes you wish that each had been given more to do here. The only real performance I had trouble with was Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy. He’s spent so much time in the background that his characterization as the snotty, possibly evil rival to Radcliffe’s Potter comes off as a bit hokey and “hammily” acted.
I admit to maybe being a bit too judgmental here, but when a studio cranks out this many chapters in a popular serialized story you’re bound to have people complain and critique it this way. Even though this was far from my favorite “Harry Potter” film, it’s still better than 90% of the current movies being turned out by Hollywood. I don’t envy the task that David Yates and his crew have before them with splitting the next book into 2 parts. The final installment in the series is due next year and I certainly hope it’s more exciting than this one was.
Jason’s Rating: 3 out of 5
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