Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates; 2009): UK/USA

Reviewed by William Conlin. Viewed at The UA Showcase 8 in Las Vegas, NV.

After nearly a decade the Harry Potter franchise has been reinvented by four directors, each lending a distinct feel to J.K. Rowling’s world of witchcraft and wizardry. Each one has greatly impressed me but after seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I am now confident in saying David Yates is the best director for the job.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince begins on a decidedly dark note and remains that way for most of the film. Now that the magical world is aware of Lord Voldemort’s return, his forces of evil decide to strike the “muggle” world, destroying The Millennium Bridge in London and killing many bystanders. After spending a summer out of the limelight Harry Potter is reunited with his friends and returns to Hogwarts where Headmaster Albus Dumbledore tells him that he must befriend a potions teacher in order to find out how they can defeat Lord Voldemort. Throughout his struggle to gain information, Harry must also balance his class work, friendships and try to spark a relationship with his best friend’s sister. But as Harry Potter’s sixth year at Hogwarts progresses it becomes clear that he will have to make sacrifices and loose individuals close to him if he truly wants to defeat the evil that is taking over his world.

I never read the last two books of the Harry Potter series so I may like this film more that the others purely because I have no printed comparison in my mind. I thoroughly enjoyed Yates direction and felt the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel lends a very eerie feel to the film. It was interesting looking back at the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and seeing how much the style has changed since Chris Columbus began the series.

I attended this screening with two friends who are huge fans of the series and have read the sixth book multiple times. I spoke with them after the film and got the immediate impression that fans of this book will also be fans of this movie. They cried at the end and felt that all the right changes were made to adapt the book to the screen. It should be noted that Steve Kloves has adapted all six novels and is slated to adapt the final novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will be split into two films due to it’s length.

In my opinion, this is the finest of the Harry Potter films so far and although a person who hasn’t seen the other five films will be totally lost, if you know the series you will surely enjoy this fine addition. With another year left before part one of Deathly Hallows is released I am looking at this film, sadly, as the beginning of the end of the Harry Potter series.


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