Overhyped: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review

I'm not a Harry Potter hater, to be sure. And when I finally got around to seeing Harry Potter on a Thursday evening, roughly a week after it was released, I was not at all prejudiced by either hatred of the boy wizard and his friends, nor slavish devotion to them. But I should say that I'm a bigger fan of the earlier three films than the latter three so far. There are many reasons for this; both the third film and the third book are widely, if not universally, considered the best of the franchise. And the first two films simply had a sense of magic the others have not matched; maybe it's just because we hadn't seen people flying around on brooms before, but it was somehow easier to be sucked into Harry's wondrous world. But it's not the fault of the films themselves, but the fault also lies in the content; starting with the fourth book, author JK Rowling started appeasing her proclivity for killing off people at a steadily increasing rate, and the series matured as its readers did. The wonder wasn't the focus; the war against the dark wizard Voldemort was. So you can simply brand me as a bit of an enamored old-timer.

But that doesn't excuse the faults of the sixth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The book it is based on is absolutely essential to the canon; it is in this book that Harry's mentor Albus Dumbledore kicks the bucket at the slimy Professor Snape's hands, and it is where Harry finally learns how Voldemort has been kept alive, via forbidden artifacts called Horcruxes in which he has placed fragments of his wicked soul. The hunt for these artifacts is what drives the seventh book, and so any film should address not only the events of the book but adequately set up what's to come.

And in this first regard, the film fails utterly. Hindsight will prove how egregious an error this is; perhaps since the seventh book has been split into two films, this won't be an issue, but it does seem odd that so much of the important back story of how Voldemort created the Horcruxes and what these objects are is lost. More worrisome, however, is that Voldemort's life story, explained through fragments of memories and Sherlock Holmes-style investigation over the years by Dumbledore in the book, has been utterly lost and will probably never reappear. Viewers of the film don't learn about how Voldemort was born of a loveless marriage and left an orphan, and how his relatives were a couple bricks short of a load. All we see is a brooding demon-child that is destined for evil. The end result is that Voldemort is stripped of much of his dimensionality, simply set up as the super-villain. It's a pity that this key point is lost, especially since the mature Voldemort never appears.

That said, let's turn from the seeming unrelenting negativity I've been channeling and talk about what's good here. The fact that the script veers drastically from the source is both a blessing and a curse. The screenwriter did an excellent job of compressing time and cutting out minute bits in some key areas, keeping things moving along at a steady pace. But with so much of the driving underlying current of discovering the truth about Voldemort swept away, and what with the Quidditch fretting and snogging and romance, it seems a little flighty. Humored, but flighty. Sure, this gives everyone a chance to get in their jokes and it's fun to see our lead characters being young wizards instead of angsty brooding heroes, but anyone familiar with the source material will realize what's being missed here. I have become convinced that Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, is the only main character who has true acting chops, with his cohorts chugging along with a "good enough" demeanor. The supporting characters don't have much to do at all (more on that later), but they generally manage to shine or at least keep up with the rapid pacing. While I still prefer the softer Dumbledore of the first films, played by the deceased Richard Harris, the sharper Michael Gabon is probably more adapted for the scheming and manipulative Dumbledore of later entries. Newcomer Jim Broadbent does an excellent job as Professor Slughorn, who enjoys the company of the rich and powerful. Bonnie Wright, playing Harry's flame Ginny, actually manages to make up for her lack of Hollywood starlet good looks with an ingratiating sense of earnestness, and kudos to her and Daniel Radcliffe (Potter) for managing to make their attraction seem plausible.

And now, back to the unrelenting negativity. I can understand the problems in adapting such a massive book into a two-hour canvas, and so understand why key scenes at the end of the film (namely, a big battle and the funeral of Albus Dumbledore... spoilers ahoy!) were cut. But I'm not sympathetic in the end, because screenwriter Kloves and director Yates added two battle scenes that were not in the book. Besides adding an interesting opening sequence to showcase some CGI, the scenes don't contribute anything to the plot. The result is that the ending lacks the amount of action expected of a climax, and robs many of the characters of a central role. The whole point was that the good wizards and Harry's friends banded together to successfully defend Hogwarts, even if Dumbledore was lost in the struggle. But here it's made out as if killing Dumbledore was the whole plan. The result is an unsatisfying ending that left a poor taste in my mouth. I understand taking liberties with the plot, but when those liberties result in added fluff and less dramatic tension, action, and character moments, I have to disagree. Ultimately, it's this flaw that drags down the film. While some might appreciate the more down-to-earth elements of the film, if I want to see a bunch of mafia types committing a hit, I can watch the Sopranos. The magic and fantastic elements of previous Harry Potter films never detracted from their watchability, so I don't see how this one is any better without it. Let's hope that the rumors of John Williams returning to score the final two movies is an omen that the magic will come back.