Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

One Sunday afternoon about four years ago I became reasonably bored and took a trip to the Border’s store across the street from my house.  Keep in mind that I wasn’t a big reader at the time; the last book I actually finished was Catch 22 for high school English class almost two years before that.  I looked around – with store coupon in hand – until I found a box-set of books with the same name as some movies I’d seen at a friends house.  Settling into my Laz-y-boy chair that afternoon, I officially tore into Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, reading by daylight until the sun set and I persuaded myself to finish it in bed.  Since that day I’ve enjoyed every J.K. Rowling novel twice, continued my renaissance in reading pretty frequently, I’ve become involved with creative writing at my college, and followed my interest as it’s turned into a love for stories in general.

That bit of background on my familiarity with the novels is meant to start off this film review for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  It’s an obvious fact that I’m head over heels for the series, so with bias aside, this is probably the best of as it stands so far.

We’ve seen for a few years now the need to distill each book to its core, as it’s had to fit within that 2 and 3 hour time frame.  With a page count over 650, that job definitely couldn’t have been easy.  Maintaining so many characters and relationships with affection and humor is the crux (…) of this story.  Luckily, I think screenwriter Steve Kloves has been able to capture Ms. Rowling’s intentions pretty skillfully.  There is a lot of emotional build-up in this film and it’s snowballed more so by the aesthetics and tone.  Unfortunately that is where my biggest gripe begins.  The last fifteen minutes of the script are the least impactful emotionally when they should be the greatest.  And I attribute most that to the shrink wrapped script.  There are pieces left out from the book that didn’t need be.  As two of the most important moments of the entire series, the end product could have been unforgettable.  It gets the original message across as it stands but there was potential to be so much more.  Keeping that in mind, the script still is one of the strongest yet, whether fumbling on the 15 yard line or not.

Outside of Mr. Kloves returning, we also have David Yates back in the director’s chair.  Since heading up Order of The Phoenix it seems that he’s had the time to wrap his head around this magical Potter world and its many parts.  There are a lot of really humorous and moving scenes that wouldn’t work if he didn’t grasp this material, and it probably would have ended up much differently in someone else’s hands.  Did I mention being grateful for Mr. Yates’s sense of humor too?  Sometimes scenes would creep into a lulled pace, enhancing the darker state of things, bouncing back just in time with a funny or light moment.

And those comedic or intense moments work because of the performers.  Not a single actor shares a lousy performance here.  The complete opposite actually; we have some of the best showings from all new and returning cast members.  Two of them stood out especially for me: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter (of course) and Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn.  Mr. Radcliffe is present in full force and really breaks out his talent range, even more so from Order of The Phoenix.  There isn’t more can you ask from someone that continues to better himself and his talent with each opportunity.  I’m pretty stoked for his career after the Deathly Hallows.

We then have Mr. Broadbent.  The man comes out with guns blazing, showing everyone that he is the only Professor Slughorn.  What he brings to the role is absolutely brilliant.  I would equate it almost to the level of what Jackie Earle Haley did for the Rorscach role in Watchmen.  The part was played to the complete satisfaction of my imagination, sans having a mustache and large belly.

With all of those components so in sync, the score was the icing on top of the cake.  Composer Nicholas Cooper brings a real mood-infused sound back for the Half-Blood Prince.  Just like the Order of the Phoenix, the darker tenor of songs fits right in with the material.  Everything from the introduction of the movie to important conversations and action kindled that excited or tense feeling for me.

If you have the chance to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the first time, or a second or third, there is no need to hesitate.  This summer has had some expected and unexpected flops, luckily this is not one of them.  Be wary that it does focus a fair amount on relationships between teenagers if that isn’t your bag.  Compared to the written novels though, it’s noticeably less.  Two thumbs up, fifteen stars, worthy of your ticket purchase; however you want to slice the pizza.  Go to see this film because it is a quality piece.

_Gregg