Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Director: David Yates

Cast: Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon

Writer: Steve Kloves (Screenplay), J.K. Rowling (Novel)

For a lot of people the latest installment of the beloved Harry Potter franchise may throw them for a loop.  Director David Yates, who helmed the previous film, has returned for the sixth:  The Half Blood Prince.  Daniel Radcliffe reprises his role as the title character; while Rupert Grint and Emma Watson return as his sidekicks, Ron and Hermione.  What separates The Half Blood Prince from its’ predecessors is its’ level of darkness.  As the gang grows up so do the movies; I just wish they didn’t intermittently  digress back to their old ways.    

Another outstanding British character actor, Jim Broadbent, joins Hogwarts as potions professor Horace Slughorn.  As always the overarching story revolves around Potter’s longstanding fight against the evil-incarnate Lord Voldemort.  The self-contained plot of the Half Blood Prince involves Harry’s mission to “get to know” Professor Slughorn and extract a particular memory he refuses to give up.  This along with a flurry of love triangles takes up most of the two and a half hour running time.  Which, for those who have read the book, are important plot points but are certainly not the majority of what could be considered the best of the Potter books.  

While it is arguably the best of the books it is certainly the most literary.  The later doesn’t always translate well to the screen and the Half Blood Prince is no exception.  For those who haven’t read the books, and even for those like myself who have, this film marks a turning point in the series.  The Potter franchise is beginning to drag.  The film feels like it’s haphazardly filling a gap in the story that suddenly appeared and it doesn’t really fit.  Of the movies it is the one that would have the most difficulty standing alone.  J.K. Rowling created such a unique and fully realized world that each book was a joy to read for the pure sense of community you as a reader felt; you truly imagined yourself as a citizen of Hogwarts.  However in this film in particular, the novelty has worn off, you are not learning anything new about the world; just going through the paces of an over-plotted screenplay.  Take away the wands and robes, replace “potions” with “cooking”, and Quidditch with football and this movie could be set in any high school across the country.

The film takes a turn, successfully so, veering into more serious territory.  These scenes are done well, some artful, some creepy, but overall executed in a mature fashion.  However much of the film is devoted to the hormonal impulses of Harry and his friends.  In most of these scenes the film falls flat.  The humor is childish and all too frequent.  The same joke involving Lavender Brown, Ron’s infatuated lover, is implemented so much that I was no longer laughing at the joke but at the films lack of tact.  Sprinkled within the faux edgy love triangles is an absolutely exceptional scene; Hermione is crying in the stairwell because of something Ron has done.  Everything in the scene works from the multiple layers of conflict to the surprisingly smart and subtle dialogue.  It is as if another screenwriter came in and wrote just that scene and then left.  It’s a shame because it is one of my favorite movie moments this year.  The tonal problems with the movie are its’ most overt problem and probably its’ most distracting.  The shift from juvenile humor to “mature” drama is too jarring.  There is nothing tying these shifts together.

As a Potter fan, what I’ve always felt gave the books a personable quality was Hermione; the geeky, loyal, morally aligned, bookworm.  She’s a character young girls (and guys) can look up to, empathize with, and relate to.  However her utilization in the film follows a different path.  She is portrayed as a tool for Harry and a love interest for Ron.  She’s a cover girl for the Potter series.  In all honesty, and it isn’t her fault by any means, Emma Watson is too beautiful to play Hermione.  Under the hushed veil of Potter franchise “sex symbol” Hermione has lost all spontaneity and her character’s essence destroyed by a faulty script.   

Britain has bestowed upon its’ loved series some of the very best character actors.  Alan Rickman lends his dry sneer to the increasingly intriguing Severus Snape and Michael Gambon authoritatively continues his turn as headmaster Albus Dumbledore.  Along with solid performances from Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Jessie Cave (Lavender Brown), and Emma Watson, Harry Potter (save Harry Potter) isn’t lacking in the acting category.  

And does anyone besides me hate Harry?  Not only does Radcliffe succeed in seeping all personality and passion from him but he denigrates Harry to a luck box who never does much of anything; not necessarily his fault.  He always has help or gets some magical item of significant power that no one else does.  He whines like a little baby, he’s not witty or especially interesting, he bores me to tears.  But he IS the chosen one.  

There are too many plot points that are visited once and never returned to.  Characters appear in one scene and are gone the next.  Helena Bonham Carter is back as Bellatrix Lestrange followed closely by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback.  There purpose is never fully explained and in the end their appearance in the movie was only a wink to the book.  And while much of the book was devoted to Harry’s infatuation with the mysterious Half Blood Prince the film fails to mention this outside of one or two similar scenes.  So when you finally find out who this “prince” is, it doesn’t really mean anything, it’s importance never explained.  

This was a tricky review to write because while the movie was alright according to myself, a Potter fan, I can only imagine how brutal it must be for the uninitiated.  I can’t imagine that the film makes them care.  The films lack a certain pop, an edge, that will hook these viewers.  For all intents and purposes they are having the books (heavily abridged) read to them and they don’t even know it.  It must feel like an exposition laden ride you’ve already ridden, that’s slowly losing speed and crawling to an obligatory finish everyone expects.  Come to think of it I may be on the same ride.  

2.5 out of 4

Tyler