Review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) by Russell G — 20 Jul 2013

"These are mad times we're living. Mad.".

The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most successful franchise of all-time, and going into the sixth film, it's easy to see why.

It's Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe) sixth year at Hogwarts, and Hogwarts is not safe anymore. Voldemort starts to attack both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, and everything feels unstable. Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) is asked to do a job for Voldemort, and Snape (Alan Rickman) makes an Unbreakable Vow to his servants. Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) brings back old friend Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) as Potions teacher, but he also needs him cause Slughorn is a link to Voldemort's secrets. Love also finds the school this year, as Harry falls for Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), while Ron (Rupert Grint) falls for Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave), making Hermione (Emma Watson) jealous. Everything goes crazy and Hogwarts will never be the same again.

Returning to the tables include Maggie Smith as McGonagall, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid, Mark Williams and Julie Walters as the Weasley parents, David Thewlis as Lupin, Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood, and Timothy Spall as Wormtail.

New faces in the franchise, besides Jim Broadbent, includes Helen McCrory as Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mom, Hero Fiennes Tiffin as an 11-year old Voldemort, and Frank Dillane as a teenage Voldemort.

The thing about the Harry Potter franchise is that it's one of the few franchises out there that maintains a fresh score even when there's a lot of films to make. We're at film #6, and the franchise still remains strong, even if this is one of the weaker films.

David Yates returns to do the directing skills, and continues to impress in the darker approach. The cinematography is some of the series' best, and shows Hogwarts at it's darkest yet. Even more impressive is the climatic sequence in a cave, which looks like it's in black-and-white. That sequence alone is the best in the film.

The visuals are another impressive (or as Harry puts it), a contributing factor, to the franchise. Here, we have the return of Quidditch, an opening sequence involving the collapse of a Muggle bridge, the cave sequence which involves zombie-looking creatures, and the destruction of the Weasley home. The visual crew should continue to be proud of impressing us with phenomenal CG effects.

The cast continues to shine. Daniel Radcliffe is at his emotional side, but also manages to find love throughout, Rupert Grint is at his funniest, and Emma Watson is still the same, smart, sensitive woman we fell in love with since the first film. Bonnie Wright finally gets to show of her acting abilities as Ginny. Helena Bonham Carter wows as the menacing Bellatrix. Alan Rickman delights and frightens as Snape. Tom Felton shows his dark side as Malfoy. While Ralph Fiennes takes a film off, Voldemort's presence is still there, thanks to the two child actors playing the role in flashback scenes. Jim Broadbent shines as Slughorn, and provides most of the comic relief. And Michael Gambon? It's his best performance and finally manages to outshine the late Richard Harris. It's hard to imagine Harris playing Dumbledore in this one.

Earlier, I said that this is one of the weaker Potter films, and now, I'll explain why. One of things I was highly anticipating when I was watching this was a climatic battle scene involving the school vs. the Death Eaters attacking. What disappointed me is that there was no battle, but the Death Eaters still attacked. The Death Eaters are causing destruction to the beloved school, and where's everyone else? Sleeping. Yes. Sleeping. Where's the school security when you need them?

Also, I wasn't too impressed with Nicholas Hooper's score. While he delivered in Order of the Phoenix, here, his score focused more on repeated themes already used in Order. While there are new themes, the majority are dull and I was wishing for John Williams to come back during the middle of the film. Out of all the scores of the entire franchise, Hooper's score here is the weakest.

While the climax is a bit disappointing and the score is a little boring, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince still shines as a continuing factor, and ends with the buildup to the epic two-part finale.

"These girls. They're gonna kill me.".