Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
August 6th 2009 06:48
I am one of the first to admit that I am a massive Harry Potter geek – I have been since I was about 11. One of my most cherished memories is curling up in a big armchair in front of the fireplace, with a hot Milo in one hand and the latest Harry Potter in the other. I finished the fifth, sixth and seventh books all on the days that they were released which works out to be roughly ninety thousand words in one sitting.
For me, the Harry Potter films to date mean heavy-handed summaries and amateur actors simply finding an excuse to play around with computer graphics and fun costumes with no intent to really capture the cherished novels. I entered the cinema with my novelty sized slushy, fully expecting to be disappointed yet again. Imagine my surprise when I was pleasantly entertained by the film before me.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the story of Harry and co.’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The muggle world (that’s us) is starting to feel the effects of Voldemort’s return – there are disappearances happening all around and mysterious natural disasters occurring everywhere. At the end of last year, Harry was responsible for the incarceration of Lucius Malfoy, the father of Harry’s nemesis, Draco. This year, Draco is back with a vengeance. Here follows a story of rivalry, romance, and dry British humour.
If you are unfamiliar with the Harry Potter empire then it is unlikely that you would watch the sixth movie as your introduction. This is one of the reasons that I think this movie worked so well. It didn’t waste any time explaining the basic elements of the story, focussing rather on the key plot elements that were needed to set up the final instalments of the saga. In many ways it was a filler film and the makers new it. So they worked into the film some really fun little self-aware moments. Like when Professor McGonagall asks why all of the exciting things always happen around the three main characters, Ron replies “I’ve been asking myself that for six years.”
One of my pet peeves about the books is how we never know from moment to moment what the other characters are thinking or feeling, but every time Harry gets a paper cut we have the front row view into his psyche. And for films one through five, this was very much the same story. Harry goes along to his classes, occasionally noting something of interest and then bang! Climactic ending and Dumbledore takes us through the whole year again filling in the bits that we didn’t know. But Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is different. Not to give the story away too much – but in this film Voldemort charges Draco with a very grave duty. Hence, the psychological state of Draco is much more important than in previous instalments. Draco needs to repair a magical cabinet during the film – rather than just refer to it like they do in the books, the movie fully realises these scenes, which provides some much needed fleshing out to this pivotal character.
Not all of the added scenes had this effect. When Harry was pulled into the lake in the cave, well that was some straight up special effects showing-off. It wasted time that could have been used to build up the tension needed to carry out the big finale which, in the end, kind of fizzled out.
By the standard of Harry Potter films, this one was quite good. By the standard of films in general it was alright. It definitely couldn’t stand alone as a film, and if you are unfamiliar with Harry Potter you could easily get lost. If you are after a fun movie that’s entertaining – then this will do the trick, but you could probably wait until it was out on DVD.
For me, the Harry Potter films to date mean heavy-handed summaries and amateur actors simply finding an excuse to play around with computer graphics and fun costumes with no intent to really capture the cherished novels. I entered the cinema with my novelty sized slushy, fully expecting to be disappointed yet again. Imagine my surprise when I was pleasantly entertained by the film before me.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the story of Harry and co.’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The muggle world (that’s us) is starting to feel the effects of Voldemort’s return – there are disappearances happening all around and mysterious natural disasters occurring everywhere. At the end of last year, Harry was responsible for the incarceration of Lucius Malfoy, the father of Harry’s nemesis, Draco. This year, Draco is back with a vengeance. Here follows a story of rivalry, romance, and dry British humour.
If you are unfamiliar with the Harry Potter empire then it is unlikely that you would watch the sixth movie as your introduction. This is one of the reasons that I think this movie worked so well. It didn’t waste any time explaining the basic elements of the story, focussing rather on the key plot elements that were needed to set up the final instalments of the saga. In many ways it was a filler film and the makers new it. So they worked into the film some really fun little self-aware moments. Like when Professor McGonagall asks why all of the exciting things always happen around the three main characters, Ron replies “I’ve been asking myself that for six years.”
One of my pet peeves about the books is how we never know from moment to moment what the other characters are thinking or feeling, but every time Harry gets a paper cut we have the front row view into his psyche. And for films one through five, this was very much the same story. Harry goes along to his classes, occasionally noting something of interest and then bang! Climactic ending and Dumbledore takes us through the whole year again filling in the bits that we didn’t know. But Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is different. Not to give the story away too much – but in this film Voldemort charges Draco with a very grave duty. Hence, the psychological state of Draco is much more important than in previous instalments. Draco needs to repair a magical cabinet during the film – rather than just refer to it like they do in the books, the movie fully realises these scenes, which provides some much needed fleshing out to this pivotal character.
Not all of the added scenes had this effect. When Harry was pulled into the lake in the cave, well that was some straight up special effects showing-off. It wasted time that could have been used to build up the tension needed to carry out the big finale which, in the end, kind of fizzled out.
By the standard of Harry Potter films, this one was quite good. By the standard of films in general it was alright. It definitely couldn’t stand alone as a film, and if you are unfamiliar with Harry Potter you could easily get lost. If you are after a fun movie that’s entertaining – then this will do the trick, but you could probably wait until it was out on DVD.
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Comment by Eliza 1
on Atonement (2007)
Review, Review!
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