Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review
Voldemort vs Vampires vs Vixens
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It'll be interesting to see which supernatural heartthrobs ultimately take the box office prize this year with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince out in theaters now, The Twilight Saga: New Moon not far behind, and then the new crypt on the block — the R-rated teen movie Jennifer's Body starring Megan Fox as a sexy zombie.
When it comes to Horror.com's readership, I'm guessing you'll prefer the latter, then New Moon. I saw Half-Blood Prince the other day at a press screening, and having caught all of the films now I found it without a doubt the weakest. (However, I hasten to add that the Potter fans I spoke with directly after the film told me they thought it was an apt adaptation of the novel and therefore a fitting film.)
Half-Blood Prince starts off promisingly enough, showing student of spells Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) being summarily taken by the hand and ordered to fulfill his destiny to once again try and vanquish the evil wizard Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
The hand is of course taken by Harry's kindly mentor Professor Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), and the movie begins in a most engaging, entertaining manner. The whole cast of kooky characters is there waiting to be reunited with Harry, including his dearest friends and faithful sidekicks, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson). I enjoyed a few chuckles, and thought the dialogue was especially sly in places.
There's a bit of teenage angst going on and new romances blossoming (with help of a few magic potions, leading to silly but cute comedy situations) as the plot steadily grows ever-gloomier, finally abandoning the light tones altogether. These moments are a bit of a tough call for me. On the one hand, I believe it's probably for the best that the filmmakers decided to stick with the same cast from inception to end… but the actors are far too mature-looking to sell being so adolescent in their behaviors and reactions.
Another problem is the disjointedness of the movie. There are a lot of jarring tonal shifts, plus too many of the those dreaded Quidditch matches… there is nothing we haven't seen before in every other Potter movie, and they go on endlessly, bloating an already oversaturated, exposition-y story line (sitting there for 2-1/2 hours is really pushing it, when you know you're only going to be left in the air for the next, and final, two Harry Potter films due out next year).
That said, there are some fantastic performances, beautiful moments of suspense and pathos, gorgeous sets and costumes, and so on. While certainly darker and drearier (in line with the last two films), fans of the franchise will hopefully find Half-Blood Prince to their liking. And, as always, the supporting cast sparkles (especially Helena Bonham Carter and Jim Broadbent).
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson