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Hormones, Not Horcruxes
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review
11:30 am Jul 17 - by Katharine O'Brian – buzz Writer
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Buzz says:
MPAA Rating: PGCurrent Showtimes: No showtimes available
In many ways, the sixth Harry Potter film feels like two movies. There’s the dark tale of Tom Riddle’s transformation into Lord Voldemort and the sacrifices people make to try to stop him. There’s also the romantic comedy about Hermione’s crush on Ron, Ron’s icky relationship with Lavender Brown and Harry’s growing crush on Ginny. The film does get a little caught up in romance, but mostly, the two parts work well together.
One noticeable difference between Half-Blood Prince and the previous Potter flicks is the humor. Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets were lighter than the rest, but in a more kid-friendly, saccharine way. This movie is actually funny, with Ron (Rupert Grint) and Luna (Evanna Lynch) providing many of the laugh-out-loud moments. Grint hasn’t had much to do in the last couple of movies, so it’s nice to see him show off his terrific sense of comedic timing. His relationship with Lavender Brown upsets Hermione (Emma Watson) enough to allow Watson to prove that she can, in fact, act.
The acting in general is fabulous. Daniel Radcliffe finally seems at ease as Harry. As Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) begins to play a bigger role, Felton’s acting has noticeably improved. The real standouts are, not surprisingly, Alan Rickman and Michael Gambon. Rickman has always played Snape with a quiet menace, but this is his chance to shine. Half-Blood Prince is crucial for his character, and he nails it, making Snape cold, frightening and, as always, mysterious. Gambon’s Dumbledore is both quirky and badass, making him true to the Dumbledore of the books.
The special effects and cinematography are also terrific. The greyed-out, blurred scenes from the pensieve are beautiful. Thanks to fine acting and echoing sound effects, they’re also creepy. Shots of a bridge collapsing at the beginning are cool and give an appropriate sense of the havoc Voldemort and his followers can wreak. This is probably the best-looking of the Potter films.
While Half-Blood Prince is an excellent and entertaining adaptation of the book, more time should be devoted to horcruxes. Watching everybody get all twitterpated is fun, but horcruxes play a huge role in Deathly Hallows. Harry and Dumbledore see two Tom Riddle-related memories in the pensieve. While they can’t show everything from the book, there should be more memories. They should at least discuss horcruxes more.
Given that Warner Bros. is splitting the last book into two movies, they probably figure that they have plenty of time to talk about horcruxes then. The last two movies will be dark enough. For now, people can laugh at teenage hormones, marvel at how much everybody has grown up and cry a little bit when it reaches the end.
Sound Off
Last post: Jul. 28, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Andy Herren (Andy Herren) said on Jul. 28, 2009 at 9:52 pm:
Half-Blood Prince is my favorite book, and the film lives up to the book's impressive narrative.
Nikki (Nikki Blight) said on Jul. 20, 2009 at 9:26 am:
My only real complaint about this movie (aside from the aforementioned lack of discussion about horcruxes) is that, for a movie entitled "The Half Blood Prince", they certainly didn't devote much time toward explaining the title. Harry's borrowed textbook popped up every now and then (usually about the time you'd completely forgotten about him even having it) and Snape proclaimed towards the end that he was the titular Prince, but that's really all we got on the subject. No mention of Snape's reasons for assuming the title or a reminder that Voldemort, too, is a half-blood.