It has been a long wait for fans of Harry Potter. Two years since the conclusion of the book series and the release of the last film, anticipation has been building.
Though expectations may be high, those who love the books in the Harry Potter series know the films, while enjoyable, have their problems. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is no exception.
Visually, the film is stunning -- a definite improvement over previous installments in the series. Many of the spells and enchantments have received visual upgrades, taking advantage of advancements in computer animation.
The film begins with a dramatic scene involving London's Millenium Bridge, showing the real world implications of the ongoing magical conflict. The atmosphere, both literally and figuratively, is also much darker, as washed out colors and dark tones reflect the increased stakes of Harry's mission and the danger that he and his friends now face. The once brightly-lit corridors of Hogwarts now seem bare and sinister.
Though much of the story follows the efforts of Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to discover the secrets behind Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) power, a majority of the diverse supporting cast of students and professors make an appearance. Jim Broadbent joins the cast as Professor Horace Slughorn, one of Voldemort's former teachers, but Jessie Cave's performance as the obsessive Lavender Brown may be the best of the new cast members.
A seemingly intentional instance of meta-humor, Brown's passion for Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) reminds one of the obsession some teenagers have for the film's young actors, themselves.
Brown plays a major role in the film's largest subplot -- one involving a dangerous mix of love potions and hormones. While one can see the reasons for playing up this element in an attempt to draw a broader demographic, it seems out of place with the darker tone of the rest of the film. The drama of high school romance seems foolish when several characters face life and death situations.
The other major subplot, the relationship between Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) and Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), mirrors that of Potter and Dumbledore, and seems more like it belongs.
Stuck as the stereotypical high school villain for much of the series, this is the first time we see the character Draco Malfoy as a multidimensional individual. Reflecting Harry's own responsibilites as "The Chosen One," Malfoy has been given a task that should fall on the shoulders of one far older, and the effect it has on him is made obvious.
For much of the film, he is seen wandering the castle on his own, starkly contrasted against the cheery goings-on of his fellow students.
Alan Rickman also delivers another amazing performance as Snape, indicating, but not completely revealing, his inner conflicts with evelivered word.
As in the novel, there is little context for the scenes involving these characters, but they reveal that perhaps the world does not revolve around Harry Potter.
Dropped characters and storylines from previous films will leave fans disappointed, and more importantly, elements previously left out have forced writers to perform narrative acrobatics to work them into the story. References are made to events that have never appeared on screen, and J.K. Rowling's signature use of red herrings is ignored as many subtle details are dealt with in an obvious and heavy-handed manner.
In the end, viewers will leave the theater wanting more. Those familiar with the source material will feel unfulfilled, and those who only know the story from the films might be left confused.
Director David Yates has done the best job so far bringing the world of Harry Potter to the screen, but for a world so dependent on imagination, it still feels somehow empty. If anything, watching this film will remind the audience how truly brilliant, and perhaps unfilmable, the source material is.
Grade: B
