Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

• Year: 2009
• Released: 15 Jul 2009
• Country: United Kingdom, United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 39 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417741/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Harry_Potter_and_the_Half_Blood_Prince
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 2160p
• Language: English, Latin
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Family
• Runtime: 153 min
• Writer: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
• Director: David Yates
• Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
• Keywords: magic, witch, school, based on young adult novel, werewolf,

	7.6/10
	78/100
	84% – Critics
	78% – Audience

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Storyline

In Harry Potter’s (Daniel Radcliffe’s) sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, he finds a book marked mysteriously, “This book is the property of the Half Blood Prince”, which helps him excel at Potions class and teaches him a few dark and dangerous ones along the way. Meanwhile, Harry is taking private lessons with Dumbledore (Sir Michael Gambon) in order to find out about Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes’) past so they can find out what might be his only weakness.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Reviews

Love and other wars

If you don’t know the book (like me), but watched the trailer before you watched the movie, you could be excused for feeling a bit cheated. The trailer actually promises something that doesn’t really happen (real world). But try to free your mind of that. I was a bit confused, but it didn’t really throw me off the movie.

Of course, it goes without saying that you should watch the other Harry Potter movies before you watch this. While there is pretty light humor to be found here (and some love stories), it all gets spiced up, by some really dark undertones and some things that happen. I wouldn’t say that Harry Potter is getting into an adult phase, but he definitely gets wiser with every movie. Which can’t be said, for all his friends. But then again, some are there for comedic relieve, which is pretty obvious. And not a bad thing at all. The effects are great (not that you should have expected less) and the story moves along “fast” (the running time doesn’t seem to be a problem or a drag). Of course some might say that he is still too childish (or the whole feeling is childish), but that would be beside the point. The movie does not hide what it’s intentions are …

Darker and Better

Darker than ever, Lord Voldemort has been revealed in the ‘Order of the Phoenix’. The forces of darkness are gathering strength. Fear has spread throughout the wizard world. Harry Potter is now investigating Voldemort’s plans through his old teacher Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).

Director David Yates returns and will for the remainder of the series. It has a more serious tone. The teenage love drama is heating up especially for Hermione and Ron. It comes to a head in this one in a satisfying melodrama.

The reveal of Voldemort’s plan is a bit confusing. More effort is needed to explain what a Horcrux is. A scene with Voldemort creating one of the Hocrux would solve the problem. For the big death climax, the action is rather lacking. It needs more drama. I’m reminded of ‘Empire Strikes Back’. In that movie, the big scene gets the most iconic treatment. Something like that is needed here. But it still works while following the book. That’s probably more important.

So far, the best of the Harry Potter films!

I think people are forgetting that the book is a very complicated one to transcribe to screen, but the film, bearing in mind that it changed the overall structure of the book, missed some very dramatic scenes out, and characters like Rufus Scrimgeur and Rosmerta were left out entirely is definitely the best of the Harry Potter films. The climax was good, but compared to the book’s climax, which was much more intense, I felt it could have had more action, and perhaps more explanation. Visually, it is a marvel to look at, especially with the Cave Scene with the dark brooding cinematography and the splendid special effects. But somehow Steve Kloves managed to not only make some genuine scares, namely when the arm of one of those grey creatures comes out the water and grabs Harry, (this made me jump violently) but there were some really funny bits. Like when a student is sick in front of Snape, Snape says “you have just earned yourself a month’s worth of detentions”, and Ron and Lavender’s romance. My favourite has to be Harry and Ron’s hilarious conversation about girls’ skin, and when Dumbledore is seen holding a Woman’s Own magazine! Not to mention, Luna’s dress in one scene, what was she wearing? I am just wondering though, whether I was the only one who wept buckets at the end, sorry, seeing Harry crying over Dumbledore’s body and everyone staring on helplessly, just started me off on an emotional drainage. Back to the film, the music was beautiful and very haunting as well as noticeably darker in tone to the scores by John Williams and Patrick Doyle, and there was some splendid looking scenery. The acting was excellent, Daniel Radcliffe is likable as Harry, Rupert Grint hilarious as Ron and Emma Watson giving her best performance as the character. Robbie Coltrane was good, but it is a shame he didn’t get that much screen time. I never cared much for Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, Richard Harris was more my idea of the character, but Gambon like Watson gives his best performance (as the character that is). Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith were solid as rocks in their roles as Snape and McGonagall, and Tom Felton was remarkably good as Malfoy. Helena Bonham Carter was brilliant as Bellatrix, nobody could play her better. But for me, the scene stealer was Jim Broadbent as Slughorn, maybe not what Rowling intended in terms of figure, but the the performance is wonderfully electric. The direction was competent, overall, the film is no masterpiece, but it is the best of the series, so I thoroughly recommend it. 9/10 Bethany Cox