This being opening night of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I could not help but be completely excited since I, as most fans are, am an avid reader of the books. I have my own favourite movies as I do favourite books and I understand that my opinion will be torn apart and picked on or be received with a certain amount of agreement. That is, of course, assuming that you’ve already seen the movie. If you haven’t, then feel free to partake in whatever I express in this review of mine, although, if you are a fan like me, I don’t think my opinions would affect whether or not you will watch it.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is directed by the same director who did Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, David Yates. From this last film, I was very impressed by how Yates managed to cut the down the longest book into the series – not to mention one of my least favourites – into a compact, coherent and extremely thrilling movie. Although some of the details from Order of the Phoenix had to be cut or changed – to the chargrin of many avid readers – I felt that the film stood very well alone and was glad that Yates would be back for the Half-Blood Prince. What I am most surprised about, however, is the fact that the film lacked the coherence of the one that preceeded it and it also showed signs that it was the kind of movie that was trying to cram too much in the two hours and thirty minutes of its audience’s attention span. As a result, the entire film was a bit choppy but you mustn’t think that I only have bad things to say about the film itself.

As a stand-alone entity, the film was a great load of fun when it came to the various romantic relationships that blossom and explode. The Harry/Ginny relationship was, admittedly, and perhaps expectedly, corny in certain respects, but more humourous in general. A general kudos should be given to those who did the special effects, since I must say, they get better and better as the films go on. I would also like to give a few special mentions to certain actors who I felt were brilliant and stood out in this film. The first, being Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Bellatrix Lestrange. Her portrayal of the sadistic yet slavish Death Eater was extremely convincing and to me, brought a new dimension to this character – something that will change how I read her counterpart in the books. The second mention, is rather unexpected since this character and actor has been in the film for a long time without making much of an impression on me. That person is none other than Tom Felton, the actor who portrays Draco Malfoy. Malfoy is definitely not just a bully in this book/film and Felton did a good job portraying his character’s more vulnerable side.

As for some of the new actors/characters, such as Horace Slughorn, played by Jim Broadbent and the very young and student Tom Riddle or Lord Voldemort (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and Frank Dillane, respectively), I felt their performance was a bit marred by choppy storytelling and direction. Some of their portrayals were definitely not what I had pictured, but that is but a matter of opinion.

All in all, the film left me entertained and yet very perplexed. Perplexed at the choppiness of it all despite its predecessor’s flow, the brilliant performances mixed with odd choices in direction, especially in the confrontation scene in the Astronomy Tower (and especially with the moment with Snape and Harry in that scene – a moment I would really like to hear a second opinion, in fact) and how the film has a double-edged sword quality to it when put in relation to the book. The film definitely departs from its sister of paper and ink, but has also cut out bits of information that were so crucial to the next installment of the series. This makes me curious as to how the next film will turn out – and spur me to go to the theatres as soon as it is released – but it may offend book purists if this movie hasn’t already. In the end, my opinion is divided (like Voldemort’s soul but in not so many pieces) and I am torn in half: I neither highly praise or censure the film but admit to enjoying it even if it did not completely fulfill my expectations. I truly hope, however, that the next film will be even better, for it is truly action-packed and exciting as the last installment to the Harry Potter series.

Picture from here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Entertainment, Film, Food & Drink, General, Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.