Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Movie Review

THIS REVIEW IS FREE FROM MAJOR SPOILERS.
However, the comments could contain spoilers!

This movie and review is definitely NOT for those who have not followed the Harry Potter films. You need to know at least who the characters are and what happened in the previous movies to understand what’s going on here.

Let me sum up my thoughts on this movie in a few words first.
The best Harry Potter film to date!

And I’m not exaggerating when I said that. It’s been years since I read the book so I saw this movie with a fresh perspective. I’ve read many other books since then so I even forgot that there was supposed to be a fight at the end. Maybe the battle of Hogwarts in the final book was just more memorable that’s why I had forgotten. I’m not gonna give a summary anymore of the movie since I assume you’re just here to find out what I think of it. In any case, here’s the IMDB page of the film.

The Cast

The trio has matured more in their roles here and apart from a few missteps by Radcliffe, I would say they are perfect. I’m most glad about the other actors though and how they reprised their roles. This is the first time I’ve really liked Gambon as Dumbledore. The other actors who played students Luna, Lavender, Cormac and Tom Riddle really shined in their own scenes. I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to develop Draco’s character because of his limited screen time in the past films but they nailed it here. And of course, all the others are just as perfect in this movie especially Bellatrix, McGonagall, Slughorn and Snape. The (almost) perfect casting here is one thing that makes these movies really worth watching.

The Cinematography, the Screenplay, the Score, etc.

Half-Blood Prince has the best cinematography of all HP films, in my opinion. The dark tones were perfect. It was like seeing Cuaron’s Azkaban again. My favorite has to be that scene where Harry and the others are surrounding the person who died. I wouldn’t say though that it has the best score of all but it’s definitely a huge improvement from the last film. It was more unintrusive and actually helped each scene. Having said that, I think Williams would be better for Deathly Hallows since he’s good in those epic action movies. The production and special effects are of high caliber, as always. I liked the Umbridge toy in the twin’s shop and Dumbledore’s flame sequence. 

This is also maybe the first HP film that really focused on the character development. Not all the lines were perfect. Some were even cringe-worthy like the one where Ginny’s feeding Harry with cookies. Ugh! There are a lot of lovey-dovey moments. The toothpaste thing, the Three Broomsticks scene and the hospital scene of Ron and Hermione were the highlights of this film’s romance. Actually, every scene with the Ron/Hermione romantic subplot was perfectly executed.

However, the supposedly romantic moments of Harry and Ginny were awkward at best. The shoelace scene was probably the worst. Ginny nearly ruined the movie for me with her subpar acting. But I put my blame more on the lines she was given and the way the past films handled Ginny’s character. In the books, Ginny is a completely different kind of girl and has this aura of confidence which Harry liked about her. Too bad they weren’t able to make Ginny that interesting in these films. One of the FEW things I liked about the 5th movie is when she casted that powerful spell in the Prophecy room. I wish there was more of that in this movie. That’s why I’m worried about the epilogue in the last one. Even Harry and Luna have more chemistry in these movies! 

Funny scenes are aplenty here which is probably to offset the sad scenes at the end. Hermione’s infatuated lover Cormac McLaggen was great. I laughed out loud during the ice cream scene. Seriously, that was just disturbingly funny. Lavender Brown’s over-the-top acting as Won-Won’s girlfriend was brilliant. I don’t remember her being like that in the books but this worked out really well on-screen.

The Quidditch scene here is probably the best one in all of the films. And the Astronomy Tower scene was epic and perfectly shot! I liked the changes they made. Having Harry under the invisibility cloak like in the book would have looked stupid. And no, I don’t think Harry would have interfered anyway since he promised HIM and he was like paralyzed when he saw THE KILLER do the deed.

I didn’t remember that the Burrow scene was not in the books until much later. It looked unnecessary at first glance but it makes sense if you think that it’s just adding a hint of more danger to come in their lives. You might say that they should have taken a scene that’s in the book instead of making one up but really, could you be that critical? The Burrow scene was okay to me.

Overall, I am contented with the scenes they have chosen to include. These were the ones that were useful for an adaptation. With more scenes added, the movie risks having a less coherent structure. The scenes could all look random and rushed with many things happening again. That’s what made me dislike the fifth movie. The difference is appalling if you think about it. The impact of the death here was great compared to the lackluster portrayal of Sirius’ death in the last film. The clearing of the Dark Mark was moving and it symbolizes that the whole school will now be united in fighting the bad guys in the last movie.

Why Not Keep The Battle at the End?

The fans who were disappointed that the ending battle was missing just didn’t see the point of the ending the moviemakers had chosen. It was meant to let us down and really feel the loss of a great wizard and the momentary defeat of the good side. I especially liked Bella’s scene where he destroys the you-know-what and the candles are all blown out. It was pretty symbolic of the dark times ahead.

Adding another small battle would be repetitive since there was already enough action scattered throughout the film. They were reserving that kind of action for Deathly Hallows. They HAD to end this film in a sad note. You probably just wanted to see them get all angry again because they killed HIM. That sounds kinda familiar. Oh wait, yes we already saw that kind of fight in the last movie. You can only do so much to make wand combat interesting to Muggles. The excitement and thrill wears off once you’ve seen too much of it. And the people who made this movie knew that.

Half-Blood Prince definitely got me even more excited to see the 2-part finale with the Deathly Hallows next year!

My rating: 9.0 out of 10

It loses a point because of Ginny. Prisoner of Azkaban now drops to second place in my ranking of the films. I’ve seen it 2 times now and I’d really like to see it again, if only I had the money…

Few things I noticed in the theaters…

On my first screening, there were gasps in my theater and some even yelled NO!!! when HE died. I’m sure most of us already knew anyway so that was cool. After that, there was a deafening silence when the scene faded to black as well as on that Great Hall shot after HIS death. I assume that was out of respect and people just didn’t want to ruin the mood of that scene. First screenings are great like that because almost all the people watching are fans. 

On my second viewing, I didn’t watch the Inferi scene too much because I was observing the audience. I laughed silently when everyone jumped in their seats when Harry got pulled.

No applause at my first screening but curiously on my second viewing, a few clapped their hands but immediately stopped when they noticed no one else was joining. That was a bit funny. I would probably join the applause on the final film though.

Young teenage girls watching the film together are one of the most vile things you could ever meet inside a theater (second only to parents who tolerate their child with tantrums). They’d be giggling, moaning and yapping every time there’s an “eye candy” guy on screen. Then if it’s a scene where a character is explaining something important they wouldn’t be paying attention at all. Instead, they’d be busy thumbing on their phones texting, while their cellphone’s backlight is blinding you to death. Beware of said female Muggles! 

Image Credits: MovieWeb.com and Moviematics.com