‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’, the sixth installment of this series, is the thinking-person’s Harry Potter film. This time round the film is more about characterization, and the story relies more on dialogue to unfold; if you are one of those people who prefer explosions and special effects over substance in a film then chances are you won’t rate this as highly as the past films in the series, but truthfully this is one of the best as Director, David Yates follows on from the brilliance he showed with ‘Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix’ and delivers a truly remarkable film.
As Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) prepare for another year at Hogwarts they learn that it is no longer just the Wizard World that is now under threat by Voldemort and his Death Eaters… when London is attacked they know this is truly dark times. Proffessor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) takes Harry to help convince a talented wizard, Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) to return to Hogwarts as a teacher. But Dumbledore has a hidden plan… he wants Harry to find out Slughorn’s secret in a bid to discover how Tom Riddle (Frank Dillane) set out becoming Voldemort. Meanwhile Harry, Hermoine and Ron realise they are no longer children when cupids arrow strikes all of them. Can Harry control his heart long enough to help Dumbledore defeat his enemies which include Bellatrix (Helena Bonham Carter) and Draco Malfroy (Tom Felton).
Director, David Yates has captured the mood of this film brilliantly well. His use of shadows and low-light sums up the dark times in which the characters now live, and the mood of the film really does become another character and add an extra dimension to the film in general. While some have criticized his long shorts used in some of the Hogwarts Hallway scenes, that choice is one of the reasons why we should realise that Yates is truly a legendary director. This shot choice was made to show the loneliness being experienced by Draco as well as Harry (yes his friends are there, but they don’t truly know what he is experiencing), and it works remarkably well. Yates also needs to be congratulated on the fact that he is able to mix the dark tones of this film with some romance and comedy thrown in from time-to-time… not always something that some films can pull off.
Also obvious is the fact that the acting in ‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ is far superior to what we have seen in the previous films. Michael Gambon is given more screen time and he laps it up, while newcomer Jim Broadbent is a treat to watch in any scene he does. Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe have also matured as actors and now truly show how talented they are… a special mention must be made of Grint’s comedic abilities which come out to shine as well. While Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman steal the show with marvelous portrayals of their twisted characters one of the finest performances here has to be Tom Felton in the role of Draco Malfroy. Felton has really stepped up and delivered a performance he should be truly proud of; Draco’s pain and inner turmoil is constantly etched on his face, and his will be a performance that I remember for a long time to come.
David Yates should be extremely pleased with the finished result of ‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’. While it doesn’t have as many action sequences as some of the previous Harry Potter films Yates has managed to amaze his audience with some spectacular shots that truly capture the dark mood of this film. Add this to some amazing acting performances and you are very close to having the perfect film.
Year: 2009
Director: David Yates
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Frank Dillane, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton, Jim Broadbent, Alan Rickman
Classification: M
Runtime: 153 mins
Rating:
