Movie Review: Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is film I’ve wanted to see since the franchise was announced. The depth that the previous films had always lacked, acting that doesn’t make my want to scoff, and a sense of scope that reminds me of no less that Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. When Harry pops out of the water and sees Dumbledore spinning his maelstrom of fire, I challenge you not to see Gandalf, staff in hand shouting “You shall not pass!” as the Balrog bears down.

I hadn’t liked any of the previous 5, which is alarming since out of 5 movies and 4 directors, you’d think they would have gotten it right at least once. Chris Columbus is great at comedy, but under his direction, the first two films felt so… ordinary. The Wizarding World felt as if it was just Earth with a few holographic paintings, exploding potions, and staircases on a swing-arm. I thought for sure that would change when they got Alfonso Cuarón to direct Azkaban, but the second sequel lacked any real emotion or the dread I expected from the book that gave us the dementors and Sirius Black.

Then came Mike Newell, who’s 4 Weddings and a Funeral was a classic. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the chops to handle a big budget effects film and all the set pieces tended to yank you right out of the story because they felt so utterly unbelievable. I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t even remember what the fifth installment was like, and didn’t even remember that David Yates had been the director until I googled him a moment ago.

Whatever he did in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix must have given him some sharp lessons, because The Half-Blood Price is one hell of a movie. I went in expecting a summer blockbuster, another Transformers, but with pubescent teenagers in sweaters instead of biker girls in shorts and little bits of wood instead of guns. Instead, we get a smoothly paced story that has romance, drama, and comedy, plus a smidge of action, all wrapped up in a nice little confection.

As I said, the acting is much improved. There isn’t anymore of Hermione’s (I know her name is Emma Watson, but you just know they’ll be typecast forever after) “I can’t believe you did that, Harry!” in the fake exasperated voice, Ron’s “I think I’ll piss my shorts now, Harry”, or Harry’s “You killed my mother!”. Or very little at least. I think there’s one “You killed my mother!” in there somewhere.

I can’t decide if Hermione’s turn as the jilted lover is more interesting than Draco’s turn as the guilty assassin. Both of them are upstaged by Jim Broadbent as Professor Horace Slughorn, who begins his screentime with a stint as an armchair. How many actors can say they’ve played a sofa? I imagine only Mr. Broadbent, Mos Def, and Martin Freeman share that distiction. And despite her short screentime, I really enjoy Helena Bonham Carter as a witch. The part becomes her in a very unexpected way (well maybe not so much since we’ve seen her in so many Tim Burton movies lately).

For the most part, it’s a nice QUIET story, with a lot of things for the actors to do and not the stuntmen. There are a lot of nice bits that make you wonder how the hell Yates sold this to the money. How for instance did he get them to keep that nice little gem in the train station diner? Or that gorgeous bit between Lupin and Tonks? Or the unbelievably peaceful ending? It’s an ANTI-event movie.

The real wonder of it is that effects work didn’t try to outshine the story. Unlike previous installments, the effects largely existed to sell the story. For instance, I loved the way apparating looked; as if you were pulled from one point and stretched to another. Then the way the memories from the vial dropped into the pensieve… wow. Or the how they used nice big landscape shots and filled in the rest (at least I think that’s how they did it). The shot of the quidditch pitch, Hagrid, Slughorn, and Harry at the funeral, and the transition shots going around the castle.

Cinematography is something to behold. I said that this movie has a sense of scale and I mean it. You dont feel like there are any studio shots at all, even with the interiors. Yates isn’t afraid of his blacks and it adds great effect and gravity to his shots. The castle looks like a castle should, and everything gives off a surreal quality. I’m reminded of Guillermo Del Toro’s movies, his constantly moving camera, and the beautiful sets. The production department was just brilliant on this flick.

And did I mention the pubescent girls in sweaters?

I will agree with a co-worker who said that the movie would not be understood by the casual viewer. There isn’t much in the way of exposition here. You’re not gonna be given a cliff notes version at the start, and they’re not going to explain what is happening a whole lot of the time. How did Dumbledore know that he had to drink the potion? Who knows. Who cares. It’s a movie that is immersive. It drags you in slow and doesn’t let you leave. I watched it twice, thinking that the second time, it’s 2 and a half hour run would put me to sleep, but it managed to keep me interested and awake.

I’ve been trying to decide what my favorite scene is and it’s hard to choose. There are so many great little parts that just stick with you. There’s the aforementioned Gandalf moment, the shit-your-pants-scary attack on Katie Bell, the Potter/Malfloy fracas, and the nice little scene between Hermione and Harry on the staircase (NO it’s not a sex scene. Stop reading fan fiction, you).

I have never liked J.K. Rowling as a writer. I’ve felt that there are better authors who have written more lasting works out there. But I will credit her with giving us an interesting world to play in and I can’t wait to see the end.