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The sixth installment of the Harry Potter series begins right where The Order of the Phoenix left off. The wizarding world is rocked by the news that "He Who Must Not Be Named" has truly returned, and the audience finally knows that Harry is "the Chosen One"--the only wizard who can defeat Lord Voldemort in the end. Dark forces loom around every corner, and now regularly attempt to penetrate the protected walls of Hogwarts School. This is no longer the fun and fascinating world of magic from the first few booksâ€"it's dark, dangerous, and scary. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) suspects Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) to be a new Death Eater recruit on a special mission for the Dark Lord. In the meantime, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) seems to have finally removed the shroud of secrecy from Harry about the dark path that lies ahead, and instead provides private lessons to get him prepared. It's in these intriguing scenes that the dark past of Tom Riddle (a.k.a. Voldemort) is finally revealed. The actors cast as the different young versions of Riddle (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and Frank Dillane) do an eerily fantastic job of portraying the villain as a child. While the previous movies' many new characters could be slightly overwhelming, only one new key character is introduced this time: Professor Horace Slughorn (with a spot-on performance by Jim Broadbent). Within his mind he holds a key secret in the battle to defeat the Dark Lord, and Harry is tasked by Dumbledore to uncover a memory about Voldemort's darkest weapon--the Horcrux. Despite the long list of distractions, Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) still try to focus on being teenagers, and audiences will enjoy the budding awkward romances. All of the actors have developed nicely, giving their most convincing performances to date. More dramatic and significant things go down in this movie than any of its predecessors, and the stakes are higher than ever. The creators have been tasked with a practically impossible challenge, as fans of the beloved J.K. Rowling book series desperately want the movies to capture the magic of the books as closely as possible. Alas, the point at which one accepts that these two mediums are very different is the point at which one can truly enjoy these brilliant adaptations. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is no exception: it may be the best film yet. For those who have not read the book, nail-biting entertainment is guaranteed. For those who have, the movie does it justice. The key dramatic scenes, including the cave and the shocking twist in the final chapter, are executed very well. It does a perfect job of setting up the two-part grand finale that is to follow. --Jordan Thompson
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Last updated: October 18, 2009, 12:01 am
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Full-Screen Edition) Cusomter reviews:
Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 115
(Eliza Bennet, 2009-10-18) Spoilers...If you have not read the books, there are minor spoilers to what should be in Deathly Hallows. I have watched all the movies and read the books. While I understand that sometimes things have to be changed in order to transmit things to the screen, changing events that happened in the book is entirely different than adding scenes in instead of scenes that have more bearing on the next movies in the series. For example, instead of the scene with the waitress in the beginning or the scene with the Deatheaters at the Burrow, they could have explained more about the Horcruxes, shown more of the memories such as those of Morfin Riddle with the ring and Slytherin's necklace and the old lady with Hufflepuff's cup. I can only hope that some of this gets rectified as part of the 2-part Deathly Hallows. Otherwise, most of what happens in the Deathly Hallows will not make sense, especially to those who have not read the books. The Half-blood Prince is a book that sets up the entire plotline for the Deathly Hallows, yet it did not explain anything about the Horcruxes and what they might be, etc. The book explains some of Riddle's motivation in his choices, so Harry would know what to hunt in the Deathly Hallows. Everyone seems very keen to blame Director David Yates for the problems with this movie, but really the problem lies in the script written by Steve Kloves. I think the actors did a good job portraying that which the script called for, but Kloves completely messed with the book. There is hardly a scene which stays true to the book. People who are avid fans of the books, the advice to cope with this movie is to try to look at the two mediums as separate entities. The movie was decent if you can only get past the atrocious changes made from Rowling's brilliant book.
(Val, 2009-10-16) As with everything Harry Potter related, I was uber excited to see this film. I was terribly dissapointed with the 5th movie, since it strayed so much from the book. I had high hopes for Half-Blood Prince but I was also a bit nervous. After watching it, I must say as a whole, I was still a bit dissapointed. I know, I really do, that you can't fit everything from a book into a movie. However, what I don't understand is if you have a plot pretty much handed to you on a silver platter, why must you toy with it and destroy it and change it and for what purpose? Yes, 70% of the film was all about romance and heartbreak. Fine, it was very well done and I can deal with that. But when it starts to interfere with the plot, well, then I have issues with that. This was deemed a 'darker' Potter film and yet, besides the end, I saw nothing of it. The romance aspect really brought things out of balance. And making the film PG did not help matters. Changing characters' personalities did not help matters. And changing the ending certainly didn't score points. Maybe I am being picky but for once I would like to see a Harry Potter film true to the book in tone and plot, like the 3rd film. There is no need to include every minute detail, but please don't CHANGE what is already there. Why mess with perfection? The book was dramatic and it's ending surprising, dark and depressing. The movie's ending was just rushed and seemed to come completely out of nowhere. People that have not read the book would even be confused. Seriously, for those that have not read the book, did you even get the whole 'Half-Blood Prince' thing? Yes, you know who the Prince is, but do you know WHAT it is? There was just no explanation. It was just too rushed. The director and screenplay writer needed to spend less time on romantic scenes, and more on important plot points. As for the cast, well, it certainly has improved. The 3 principals do a fine job with their roles and they clearly have matured in their acting abilities. I was very impressed. Michael Gambon as Dumbledore does a good job (though in my mind he will never really be Dumbledore), and of course, my favorite actor, Mr Alan Rickman finally has more to do, and yet, though played to utter perfection, still feels underutilized. Sad, really, all things considered... The special effects are top-notch and flawless and they clearly get better with each film (unlike other things...) I am giving this film 4 stars regardless of my gripes, because although they changed ALOT, the movie was still enjoyable and well, it IS Harry Potter.
(Braden Pickering, 2009-10-15) For a movie about wizards, Half-Blood Prince sure goes light on the magic. The major plot points and story revelations that made the book so captivating ( i.e. the importance of Horcruxes, the battle leading up to Dumbledore's death, and the mystery of the Half-Blood Prince himself) are reduced to random "blink and you'll miss it" moments, if included at all, while the remainder of the 2 ½ hours is padded with unfunny romance blunders aimed at the pre-teen Hannah Montana crowd. Visually stunning as always, yes, but emotionally empty with no climax whatsoever. The director obviously had no vision of where he wanted to take the series and got absolutely nothing accomplished story-wise. I'm not criticizing based solely based on comparisons to the other brilliantly crafted Harry Potter films, or even to the book on which it is (loosely) based, although that is part of it, but it really is an all-around good example of bad film-making in and of itself.
(Robert Moore, 2009-10-15) Warning! Major spoilers in review! If you haven't read the books or see the movie, don't read! The first two Harry Potter movies managed to sum up the contents of the books upon which they were based, but because the books themselves weren't terribly good (the series as a whole is a masterpiece, but not based on the first two books), the movies were terribly good. There was none of the darkness, danger, and depth of the later novels. The final three novels in the series turn the Harry Potter series from a merely good series, to what is quite probably the finest long series of books ever written for children (though adults will find them quite as good). Unfortunately for the films, the books are simply too complex and deep to satisfactorily compress in a film. At least that is true for THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX and THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. We'll see with THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. Stretching the finale over two novels may make it more successful, but it won't help this film. I unfortunately made the mistake of seeing this only a few days after rereading THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. Had I not, perhaps I wouldn't have been so acutely aware of the tremendous compression taking place in this film. Huge hunks of the book are eliminated, other hunks are compressed powerfully into rewritten, reimagined sequences. There are literally hundreds of small alterations, most of them simply to save a few seconds of narrative to get the film to fit the 150 run time. A few such moments can be forgiven, but the film comes across more as an endless succession of compressions. Plus there were some odd additions, such as the odd attack at the Weasley's house at Christmas by the Deatheaters. I didn't mind much seeing the actual attacks by the Deatheaters at the very beginning. I think that actually gave a nice edge to things. But by the end of the film I felt like the entire story in the book had been distorted and deformed by the need to force as much of the book's story as possible into a format completely insufficient to contain it. I didn't actively dislike the movie; I was frustrated by it. It felt too rushed to provide anything even remotely comparable to the book. Only the very end of the film had something of the same experience as the book, though even there significant changes were made. For instance, in the book not even Dumbledore can disapparate from Hogwarts, but instead goes into Hogsmead with Harry to do so. And in Dumbledore's great death scene, Harry merely hides, not even under his invisibility cloak. And Snape discovers Harry in the tower before he kills Dumbledore, which sort of signals that Snape's role with regard to Harry is more complex than we might have supposed. And there is no great battle inside Hogwarts. This is important because it changes entirely the tone of things. One of the great things in the battle was the way the other members of Dumbledore's Army come out to fight, with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny engaging in their own acts of bravery. I could go on and on and on. Now, I understand as well as anyone that movies are not exact replicas of books. But I think that film versions shouldn't gratuitously change the book without cessation unless it produces something good in its own right. The film ended up with some good things, but not as many as it should have. I liked a lot of individual scenes. I enjoyed seeing the always enjoyable Jim Broadbent in his role as Slughorn, even though it was as inappropriate for the role as anyone in film (isn't it sad that Leo McKern is no longer living? could anyone have been more perfect for that role than him?). I loved Alan Rickman, who is possibly the only thing in the movies better than the books, his Snape embodying far more depth than the endlessly one-sided Snape of the books (excepting the final novel). And it is always great seeing Michael Gambon in anything (THE SINGING DETECTIVE still remains one of the greatest television productions I've ever seen, and while Dennis Potter's amazing script is what made it so great, Gambon is what brought it to life). I enjoyed the special effects, which were effective without calling too much attention to themselves. And I've enjoyed watching the group of actors grow and mature in their roles. Some of them have changed enormously over the years. Tom Felton (Malfoy) has gotten quite tall, while Bonnie Wright (Ginny) has grown as tall as Daniel Radcliffe. And Matthew Lewis, who started the series as one of the shorter cast members, is now one of the taller ones. I really like how the main three actors have gotten better as the films in the series have progressed. I frankly thought Daniel Radcliffe was not very good in the first film, but I think he has become an exceptionally proficient actor. I think all three will have good post-Harry careers of they want to. I think fans of the movie may or may not enjoy this. I always enjoy entering the world of Harry Potter (I'm at this very moment about a third of the way through rereading THE DEATHLY HALLOWS and so had some enjoyment of this film. But I also found it an enormously irritating experience. It may be that those who have not read the books might like this more than those that have. but at this point, has anyone not read the books?
(Marie, 2009-10-14) The Half Blood Prince gives insight and background to the characters and you learn more about Harry,Dumbledore,Snape,Lord Voldemort,Harry's Parents. Dumbledore and Harry are on a quest also to learn more about how to stop Lord Voldemort. If you are into lots of action and nonstop magic this is not for you... it is more about the characters......some people are critical of the movie because of this..but I am more into the characters,at first when I read the Half Blood Prince it wasn't as magical but when I read it again I found it to be more interesting...that is why I think everyone should see the movie twice. Also bear in mind when you read or go to see the 1st part of the Deathly Hallows movies it will also be more character development and quests and most of the action will be in the 2nd part of the Hallows Movies. My advice when you see Potter movies go because you love the characters and don't be critical..Just enjoy...