Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

[Scott Mendelson]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2009
153 minutes
Rated PG

by Scott Mendelson

Without question, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the best
out-and-out sixth chapter of any franchise since Star Trek VI: The
Undiscovered Country. Granted, the competition isn't very stiff
(Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Freddy's Dead: The Final
Nightmare, Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, etc), but it's still
remarkable how well this long-running series has held up. So when I
say that this sixth film is perhaps my least favorite film of the
franchise, it is only tepid criticism at best. When a film this good
can be considered the weakest of six, that says something about the
consistency of quality running through the Harry Potter series.

A token amount of plot - Harry Potter is still recovering from the
shocking death of Sirius Black during a battle royale at the Ministry
of Magic. But while the press and the wizarding world at large wonder
whether he is 'the chosen one', Harry quickly finds himself whisked
away by Dumbledore to help recruit Professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent),
a retired potions professor who may have important memories involving
the young Tom Riddle (ie - Voldermort). Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy has
been recruited by the Dark Lord himself, but the task required is so
heinous that Draco's mother turns to Severus Snape (the priceless Alan
Rickman) for help and guidance. As the two respective chosen ones go
about their opposing tasks, the promise of romance sends hearts at
Hogwarts aflutter and hormones raging.

Knowing that the next two films will be plot and action-driven,
director David Yates slows things down quite a bit, concentrating less
on mysteries and dark plots and more on character interaction. As a
result, the young supporting cast who have been somewhat sidelined
since Prisoner of Azkaban are again given a chance to shine. While the
romantic turmoil provides solid laughs, it is still somewhat
disquieting to see our beloved hard ass Hermoine weeping in a
stairwell over a boy. Yes, she has finally realized that she loves her
past pal Ron, although Ron has been swept away by the pushy and
forthright Lavender Brown. Meanwhile, Harry pines for Ginny Weasley,
Ron's all grown-up baby sister who has secretly crushed on 'the boy
who lived' since he saved her butt in Chamber of Secrets.
Unfortunately, Evanna Lynch has turned the otherwise peripheral Luna
Lovegood into such a charming, daffy, kind, wise, and lovely human
being that it only makes Harry look that much dumber to be chasing the
comparatively less interesting Ginny Weasley instead (at least Bonnie
Wright does what she can to give Ginny a token more personality than
Order of the Phoenix's dreadfully dull Cho Chang).

So while I have plenty of Hogwarts eye candy to keep my attention
during the romantic melodrama, my wife got her fill during the more
perilous subplot. IE - Alan Rickman's Snape gets more screen time than
usual and Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy looks appropriately dapper in his
new outfit of evil (sharp black suit with black shirt and black tie).
The second major story arc concerns the maturation of Draco Malfoy.
This is the first time that Tom Felton has gotten anything to do other
than hiss and be grouchy, but wow does he knock it out of the park.
Felton all but steals the film with very little dialogue, as his would-
be villain painfully discovers that there is a big difference between
merely being evil and actually committing acts of evil. While Harry's
instincts about Draco are correct, his attempts to interfere
continually make a bad situation worse. Draco's encounter with Harry
Potter in a Hogwarts lavatory is a stunner, as Harry actually commits
a rather shocking act of violence against a justifiably pissed-off
Draco (PG-rating be damned, this scene is bloodier than anything in
the last two films).

So the romantic subplot works pretty well, and the 'last temptation of
Draco' stuff is surprisingly potent, so why doesn't the film work
better, or at least as well as the original book? Well, for one thing,
it becomes more obvious than usual in this chapter that the rules of
magic are rather arbitrary in accordance with plot demands. For
example, Dumbledore and Harry can basically teleport at will, but they
need a boat to cross a scary moat. And while Dumbledore can wave his
wand and restore a tattered and broken house anew, no one thinks to
request said magic when a horrifying act of property destruction
occurs at the halfway point. Furthermore, this is the first film since
Prisoner of Azkabin where you really have to have read the book to
truly understand character motivations. The movie barely touches
Voldermort's back story, which was the spine of the sixth novel. And,
furthermore, the fascinating tidbits about the past of the actual Half-
Blood Prince are completely dropped, which renders certain behavior
less ambiguous than it was in the book, costing the story much of its
post-film discussion topics. Book readers will remember heartily
debating the actions and choices of certain characters, but the movie
leaves almost no room for debate.

Finally, I'm fully aware than I'm being somewhat unfair, judging a
film for not measuring up to the book, but the finale is not nearly as
dramatically satisfying. Just as the death of Sirius Black was
surprisingly muted in Order of the Phoenix, so too is the action
climax of Half-Blood Prince. First of all, there really is no action
climax. The 'death eaters attack Hogwarts' moments have been
completely removed (probably to avoid repetition with Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows), leaving no real reason for said villains to show
up in the first place. And the film's handling of a certain plot twist
(one very near and dear to my heart) isn't nearly as dramatic as it
reads on the printed page. And, this may just be my faulty memory, but
I didn't find the circumstances of the said event to be nearly as
telegraphed as it felt onscreen. The incident made my jaw drop in
surprised glee when I read it, but it seemed all but obvious onscreen
for even those who hadn't sampled the books.

The bitter after taste of squandering what should have been a
wonderful cinematic moment hurts what up until then had been a fine
and involving adventure. The cast is impeccable as always, and there
is again the emphasis on character and moral challenges that has made
this franchise a diamond in the rough over the years. By any normal
standard, this is a wonderfully involving and entertaining tent pole
popcorn entertainment. But this is still the weakest Harry Potter film
of the series (based on my second-favorite Harry Potter book no less),
and it leaves me worried for just what narrative and cinematic choices
that David Yates will make for the last two films of the series (book
seven is being split in two). While he never fails to elicit fine
performances and rich character work, he has so far come up short on
the climactic spectacle department. There are several showstopping
moments in the final book, including the death on a major villain
that, as written, should cause thunderous audience applause. I hope he
can pull this stuff off too when he absolutely has to. But the series
has been nothing less than pretty good going on six films now, so now
I just hope Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince remains the worst
of the lot.

Grade: B