Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Movie Review

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

Movie Review

The sixth installment in an eventual Potter octology of movies landed recently, amid the usual ball of publicity, public appearances and fans dressed as wizards. And, until I can make this critic thing pay, I'm stuck going to screenings with genpop; not an overly enjoyable prospect for one of the pre-adolescent events of the summer.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince takes up shortly before the new school year at Hogwarts. Following on from the events of Order of the Phoenix and the beginning of this movie, security has been ratcheted up a notch or two as the pupils return for their penultimate year's study. New teachers, an injured, out of sorts Dumbledore and the ever treacherous Draco Malfoy and Snape all swirl around the newly isolated school, making it as unsafe as the outside world.

The young cast are finally catching up with their elders in terms of acting ability. Daniel Radcliffe is very much the cookie cutter hero. He seems to have yielded his darker disaffected side, something interesting to watch in movies gone by, to the young Voldemort (played by Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and Frank Dillane), but he's definitely gaining some serious acting chops beneath his faux-childlike exterior. Emma Watson gives a predictable performance as Hermione, one which she has grown into with each passing installment, and her best yet. It is Rupert Grint, though, who truly stands above his contemporaries. His portrayal of Ron Weasley has morphed during the downtime between each film, reflecting the fast changing face of teenage years.

The depth of mature acting talent on show is at first unfathomable, but is presumably what keeps the more mature fans, and parents, coming back. Michael Gambon is brilliantly quirky as Dumbledore. His scenes help a long movie pass quickly. Jim Broadbent delightfully gurns his way through his role as potions teacher Horace Slughorn. Alan Rickman is... well, Alan Rickman. His Snape, besides being iconicly devious, is more than a little camp. Rickman lets the role down slightly though by telegraphing the character's ultimate intentions, somewhat alleviating the suspense hovering over one aspect of the Deathly Hallows plot.

It is undoubtedly David Yates (taking his second jaunt in the director's chair) and Steve Kloves (back as screenwriter, having being absent from Order of the Phoenix) who have the toughest jobs on this project. An actor deciding on a different interpretation of a character can be pardoned if it doesn't meet with fan expectations, but a misstep from either screenwriter or director can turn an expensive and financially rewarding franchise into the next Chronicles of Narnia.

Their contribution to this movie is unestimable. As the series went on, the Rowling books became more and more bloated – and enjoyable – and thus the exercise of filming and writing each subsequent offering increases exponentially. Plus, movies like Watchmen prove that slavishly following source material does a movie property no favours. The Kloves script is simultaneously simple and intricate. The scenes stack neatly on one another to form tight, interesting sequences. Pacing never lags and Frears gets the most from every member of the acting crew.

Half Blood Prince spends quite a while looking at the bubbling hormones of the Hogwarts pupils; understandable, given that the lovelives of various characters, both major and minor, were a major element in the books. The recreation is a true, if somewhat idealised (but then, that’s what films do, isn't it?) version of teen romance, and although the Ron and Hermione potential coupling is starting to feel like a one note joke played a few too many times, the Harry/Ginny romance is genuinely touching and overall this strand of plot works and works well.

It’s refreshing to find a summer blockbuster which doesn't rely on all the usual cliches. For this, and the stellar script, fantastic acting, appropriate special effects, catchy John Williams score, and multitude of other well thought out and implemented elements, I can't help but recommend this film.

There is an amusing footnote to my cinematic experience. As I started to gather my belongings, end credits rolling, the bank of young people in the row in front of mine began to exit. Throughout the entirety of the two hour-plus running time, they had been a pain in the arse, chatting loudly among themselves, using mobile phones – one had even begun proclaiming to his nearby friends that the film was crap, from about the half hour mark. But, as I exited, one of the Morlocks uttered a line of which Groucho Marx would have been proud. And so it was that I went home that evening, contemplating whether I should wait for the double DVD of Deathly Hallows with the words “That film didn't make any sense” ringing in my ears.

8.5/10