Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the big screen incarnation of the sixth of the J K Rowling powerhouse series opened to loud, though perhaps not as pervasive as expected, fanfare last summer. It is a significant addition to the Harry Potter franchise that continues the tradition of dense and satisfying storytelling, quality acting, and solid if unimaginative directing. Those who love the books and the films series thus far will not be disappointed with the latest film.

Harry Potter and his friends, as well as director David Yates, are back at the well again to bring the penultimate Harry Potter story to the screen. Of course since the last book will be made into two films the film series still has two more cash cows to milk. Publicity going into the film was odd since the actors are all hard at work on the last two films and seemed confused as to what actually occurred during Half Blood Prince. Not surprising since these kids have been making the films nearly half their lives now as Harry and his friends are all in or near their twenties the whole process has become something of a blur. Plus, what would you do if someone asked you what you were doing at work two years ago?

Now I was not a huge fan of David Yates’ directing style for Order of the Phoenix which is one of my lesser favorites in the film series coming on the heels of the well directed third and fourth installments from Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell respectively. His directing style has improved for HBP though there is certainly still room for growth. Parts of the film seem oddly washed out instead of the vibrant magical world we are used to seeing. The DVD transfer, even in Blu-ray is so dark as to make certain scenes nearly indiscernable. Supposedly there was some cinematographic trickery that Yates introduced which the studio demanded he revert so I can only imagine that the film would have been even more monochromatic had other powers not stepped in. Where he excels this time is that the film is funny in a way that comes across in the books but is missing in most of the other Potter films. This is a good thing considering the dire straits that the wizarding world is in now that Lord Voldemort and his followers are back to their old terrorizing ways.

More than anything HBP is a setup for the final chapter in the Harry Potter saga. Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman get more screen time and more range as Professors Dumbledore and Snape. Jim Broadbent joins the cast as the old potions professor Horace Slughorn and he does well as a character more interested in his own comforts than the greater good. Bonnie Wright comes into her own as Ron Weasley’s younger sister Ginny Weasley though here again the book was much more satisfying than the film.

Half Blood Prince is an odd point in the Harry Potter saga as it is mainly a bridge from the world of the first five books to the final book which breaks all of the structural conventions of the early series. There is significantly less action in HBP and much of the story revolves around a series of flashbacks, or stored memories surrounding the wizard who becomes Voldemort. Dumbledore rises to greater prominence not as the headmaster of the school but as a very personal mentor to Harry Potter. Yates and crew do a great job of moving along what could have been the most plodding of the stories with a deft hand at cutting slowness, ratcheting up the humor, and making the most of the gloom and anticipation in which the wizarding world resides on the eve of Lord Voldemort’s return.

The largest problem is that the books are just so good it is always a disappointment when the film does not match the book. Obviously there are always many things that have to be left out to make such a voluminous series into two to two and a half hour movies. Here though scenes that add nothing to the story are added while significant story points are omitted. Since the Weasley’s home was destroyed and the characters of Fleur Delacour and Ron’s eldest brother were left out one can assume there is no wedding at the start of the next film which is fine as it was extraneous. I’m still curious as to the end of HBP where Death Eaters face no opposition in their romp through Hogwarts. Perhaps the battle and chase at the end of the book were too much like the final fight in book 7? Maybe the film had enough of a climax without a fight like at the end of book 5? It is hard to say what exactly the director was going for but it left the finale of HBP feeling far less satisfactory than that of the book. Perhaps with two more films on the horizon this was planned. Hopefully the next film begins with a certain funeral because it was missing at the end of HBP and it leaves both the characters and the audience without a way to say goodbye to a major character and open up the final chapter of the Harry Potter story.

But for all of my nitpicking it is really because the world created by J K Rowling is so rich and full and no film can truly live up to the books. Half Blood Prince is a very good film and a wonderful implementation of the story, but it isn’t the book. So I suggest that you watch the movie as an aperitif to diving into the book and reading in detail about the exploits of the boy wizard and his friends.

Related posts:

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban