Review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) by Mrmoviebuff — 07 Nov 2016

The somewhat penultimate installment of the "Harry Potter" stories by J.K. Rowling leads us closer to the end than we ever anticipated, with 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', we see our main heroes nearing adulthood and adapting to bigger changes. Plus, we get an insight to how the Dark Lord can be defeated.

Our main hero, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) returns with Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) in order to find a former Hogwarts professor named Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) and bring him back to Hogwarts despite his reluctance. It seems that Horace knows about what the young Voldermort, known as "Tom Riddle" was asking for when he was teaching him back in his student days. Dumbledore needs Harry to try and get answers out of Horace, but that seems to be a difficult task on its own.

Harry returns to Hogwarts with Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ginny (Bonnie Wright), and he notices that Draco (Tom Felton) is acting a little suspicious, he suspects that he might possess something mysterious linking to the Dark Lord. Meanwhile, at class, Harry discovers an old text-book that has writing all over it, written by "The Half-Blood Prince", and it seems that this book has all the answers and that Harry can possess great power thanks to this mysterious prince.

Harry attempts everything he can to try and get some answers out of Horace, but still couldn't be able to get anything. Hermione seems to be getting emotionally devastated in regards to Ron falling in love with another Hogwarts student, it seems even more clear that Hermione is infatuated with Ron, but is unable to express her emotion, especially since Ron is unwilling to listen as he already has a girlfriend.

Harry also suspects that Draco and Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) are planning something which relates to them serving the Dark Lord. He believes that they are out to kill. Harry is also still upset at the death of his godfather, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), which was done in the hands of the menacing Bellatrix Lastrange (Helena Bonham-Carter), and he is still filled with violent revenge, especially knowing about some dark wizard powers that was written by the "Half-Blood Prince".

'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' is a much darker movie than the previous installments, the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel is suitably de-saturated to fit the darker tone, especially the more slow-paced storytelling. There are some surprisingly quirky moments, involving Harry's character that add some much needed levity to the darker side of the franchise.

This is a more character driven movie, and I did like it better than "The Order of the Phoenix" (2007), I liked the darker and duller tone, I liked the fact that the characters are more fleshed out than ever, and I liked the funnier and quirky moments. This is a very sharp movie, and brings us closer to the end that makes you more excited, it's definitely one for movie-goers who like their characters fleshed out and the action, more compact.