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Directed By
David Yates
Written By:
Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cast:
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Julie Walters, Bonnie Wright, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Maggie Smith, Dave Legeno, Helen McCrory, Robbie Coltrane, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Timothy Spall, Natalia Tena, James Phelps, Fiona Shaw, Matthew Lewis, Oliver Phelps, Alfie Enoch, Mark Williams, David Bradley, Amelda Brown, William Melling, Ralph Ineson, Teresa Mahoney, Jessie Cave, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Evanna Lynch, Robert Knox, Freddie Stroma, Frank Dillane, River George, Katie Leung, Michael Berendt, Scarlett Byrne, Georgina Leonidas, Tony Coburn, Anna Shaffer, Devon Murray, Louis Cordice, Jamie Waylett, Josh Herdman, Suzanne Toase, Charlie Bennison, Isabella Laughland, Dean Garnham, Nina Voelker, Rod Hunt, Tom Moorcroft, Afshan Azad, Shefali Chowdhury, Johnpaul Castrianni
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
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Movie Review by Ben
October 11th, 2009
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You really have to admire the trajectory that the Harry Potter movies have taken. We're now at the seventh film, and most other film franchises at this point (assuming they have gotten that far) would be gasping their last breath and just be getting worse than before. But with the Harry Potter movies, they just keep getting better and better. The evolution of the stories has taken us from the magical beginnings of Chris Columbus' "Sorcerer's Stone" to the painful pangs of adolescence in David Yates' "Order of the Phoenix." They have grown along with its characters, and it seems like this franchise has yet to reach its peak. There is only one more movie to go (split into two parts of course), and I think that director Yates will be bringing this series to what should be a very strong conclusion.
David Yates now becomes the first director since Chris Columbus to helm more than one Harry Potter movie, and "The Half-Blood Prince" is definitely on a par with "Order of the Phoenix" in regards to its attention to character development as well as action and special effects. While the movie still deals with the book's dark themes, it is actually a lighter adventure than the previous entry as we watch Harry, Ron, and Hermione deal with the pangs of young love in often hilarious ways. We also get to meet another infamous character from the world of J.K. Rowling, Horace Slughorn, who is given a wonderful performance by Jim Broadbent. In addition, we see Draco Malfoy in a different light than we have seen before, and that was not what I had expected even after reading the book.
With "The Half-Blood Prince," we get a look at Lord Voldemort back when he was first known as Tom Riddle. Not content with just showing off he-who-must-not-be-named as simply a villain, we also get to see his back story as well. I thought this was a great choice as it gives this feared character more dimension, hence sucking us even deeper into the story. Hero Fiennes-Tiffin plays the young Tom Riddle when we first meet him, and ironically, he is the nephew of Ralph Fiennes who played Lord Voldemort in the last two HP films. Hero gives us an isolated young man, abandoned by the parents who were supposed to love him, who is clearly disturbed and who wants an increased power to deal with those who have been mean to him. We later see him as a teenager played by Frank Dillane as he asks Professor Slughorn what horcruxes are, which soon becomes a major plot element in this and future installments. To see the birth of evil is disturbing, and it adds a strong human element to a much feared character while not taking away from it.
When Harry is not observing Voldemort's youth with Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), he is going through a parade of endless crushes, including his own. With Cho Chang out of the picture, having inadvertently betrayed him in "Order Of The Phoenix," Harry now has his sights set on Ron Weasley's sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright). Ginny, from the start of this one, looks more than willing to return Harry's feelings eventually, but she starts off with a different young man in her life. Meanwhile, Ron himself has gained the attention of Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave) thanks to his sudden popularity through playing Quidditch, and turning out to be really good. Hermione, however, is the unlucky one as her longing for Ron goes unrequited for an extended period of time. Even if you know how it all ends, especially with the last Harry Potter book long since been published, it still provides us with strong memories of the happiness and sadness as we remember feelings from our own lives.
But what I have really come to love about the later HP movies is how they portray these main characters. While all the other Hogwarts students see them as "special," they appear to us as characters that are no different from you or me. They are real people with real problems, not just these amazing people who always come to the rescue. Benefiting these characters even more are the performances from the leads; Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. They could have been just known as the luckiest kids on earth to be cast in this franchise, having made an obscene amount of money from them, but each one has become a really good actor in their own right.
This is especially the case with Daniel Radcliffe who continues to find new levels of depth for this iconic character through each time he plays him. Never does he aim his actions to be simply heroic, but to get past the constant angst feels at being the boy with the lightning scar on his face. Since "The Sorcerer's Stone", Daniel has gone on to do "Equis" on Broadway as well as other films, showing that he is capable of having a very healthy acting career outside of this super popular franchise. Who could have known that he would develop so much as an actor after seeing him so childlike and innocent in "The Sorcerer's Stone" let alone "The Chamber of Secrets."
But as great as Daniel is, he almost has "The Half Blood Prince" stolen from him by Rupert Grint. Rupert has gone from being second banana to Mr. Potter to almost outdoing him completely in all things love and Quidditch. Throughout this film, Rupert is such a hoot to watch as we see him get lucky with the ladies, and ends up being good at a sport that we'd assumed he would suck at. The moment where he is under the spell of a love potion given by one of Harry's secret admirers is one of the film's big comic highlights. With his performance here, Rupert does his best work yet in the franchise.
Emma Watson continues to do solid work as the infinitely bright Hermione Granger. At the same time, it threatens to be one of the more thankless parts in the series because in the end, Hermione only gets so much to do while Harry and Ron have most of the fun. Still, Emma has some great moments where she says nothing, and her face perfectly spells out what she is feeling. After all this time, it is hard to think of another actress who could have embodied this role as well as Emma.
But one of the big surprises of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is the character of Draco Malfoy, played once again by Tom Felton. Here he gets to show us a different side of this spoiled brat we haven't seen before. Always the stuck up snob of Slytheren, poking fun at Harry whenever given the opportunity, we see young Malfoy taking on the role of a Death Eater now that his father has been sent to Azkaban Prison. We see him go from being smugly confident to absolutely terrified as he is forced into a position that he doesn't believe he can live up to. Felton does excellent work here as Draco gets caught between what he wants to do and what he has to do. It's not the same old Draco Malfoy that we have seen previously.
"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is by no means a perfect movie, and the pace does slacken a bit towards the end. I got a little restless towards the latter half, and it seemed like the filmmakers wanted to include a lot of elements they thought HP fans could not live without. But in the end, this is as good if not better than "Order Of The Phoenix," and it proves that this franchise is really one of the most impressive in recent years. Each movie has had its own look and feel, and it keeps the series from becoming overdone and stale like many others are this summer, and they have really taken the time to work on the characters.
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