Synopsis:
Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn't counted on Romilda Vane's chocolates! And then there's Hermione, simmering with jealousy but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.
Review:
The Harry Potter films are quite interesting. Unlike most series or trilogies, the sequels tend to get better every time. Now, don't get me wrong. I know that you can't judge the Potter movies the same way you would any normal Hollywood sequel like X-Men 2, Transformers 2, or The Fast & The Furious 2. Obviously, the Harry Potter films are based on individual books that were written with much care and passion and not fashioned AFTER a first film made millions of dollars which "merited" a sequel being made. It's just amazing, though, how they continue to get better and better even into the sixth film.
The one movie in the series that I think interrupted the chain of better installments was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. When I first saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I was very disappointed. I felt that the movie had basically had the charm and action for the most part sucked out of it. Now granted, there was the cool scene at the beginning with the Dementors and the big climactic battle at the end, but it seemed like the middle lacked a bit. I felt like director David Yates didn't seem to completely grasp the source material. Or maybe it was the fact that regular Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves for whatever reason was replaced by another scribe - Michael Goldenberg. Frankly, when I heard Yates was back for Half-Blood Prince, I cringed. Then came the rumors that he was going to try to remove a lot of the magic from the movie for whatever reason and I was just like, "It's Harry Potter. How do you take the magic out of Harry Potter?"
Well, needless to say, my fears were put at bay after the lights went down and the film rolled. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince once again follows the tradition of being the best film in the series yet. With the return of screenwriter Steve Kloves, it feels as if the ship has been returned to its rightful captain. This film literally has everything. It's charming, frightening, funny, sad, and exhilarating all at the same time. It's really hard to tell sometimes where the credit must go, but they got everything right in this film.
It really does capture in an exaggerated and fantastical way the growing pains and trials and tribulations of being a teenager. When you see Ron feeling nervous before the Quidditch match, you truly know and can identify with him. When Harry and Hermione are pining over their unrequited love, most people can completely identify with that feeling from some point in their life. Some people can even relate to Draco Malfoy's feelings of angst, thinking that they have to do what is expected of them or be marked a failure by their family. This movie completely hits the nail on the head.
A big contributing factor to the movies always getting better and better really has to go to the characters and the way they're portrayed by the actors. It just seems like as they get older, they obviously get more interesting and complex. Of course this makes sense. Life doesn't get less busy and interesting as you get older. Getting older and moving into adulthood opens up all kinds of doors for incidents and experiences to occur. That really is what this series and the books capture so well.
In closing, I don't think any fan of the Harry Potter series is going to be disappointed with this adaptation. There have been a couple parts that were fabricated for the film that aren't in the book, but it was done with the intention of furthering the story and visually hitting home some of the events in the book that the characters were hearing about secondhand or reading in newspapers. Of course that might bother purists, but don't let that keep you from seeing the best Harry Potter film since Goblet of Fire. (Review by Eric Shirey)
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review
