Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Release date: July 15, 2009
Director: David Yates
Novel by: J.K. Rowling
Screenplay by: Steve Kloves
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch , Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Julie Walters, Helen McCrory, Natalia Tena

Delaying the film’s release paid off very well for the WB as far as box office gross goes. As for me, I would have loved to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premiered during its original release date back in November 2008 and not on July 2009 because time is money, after all.

Half-Blood Prince chronicles the sixth year in Harry Potter’s (Radcliffe) life at Hogwarts. Both wizard and muggle worlds are being affected by the “official” return of Voldermort (a non-present Ralph Fiennes) and his Death Eaters. With the vancancy of the potions teaching position — Snape (Rickman) has the coveted Darks Arts position — Dumbledore (Gambon) persuades old colleague Slughorn (Broadbent) to come back. In one of his classes, Harry finds a book said to be the property of the Half-Blood Prince, which contains tips to excel in brewing potions, plus a few dark enchantments that will “aid” him with the suspicion that Draco Malfoy (Felton) is up to something.

The side of me that goes into the “I always enjoy watching the HP films, regardless of reading the books or not” mode thinks this film is visually beautiful, sort of entertaining, with good moments and quality special effects. It gets some of the main points from HBP, even if it’s with some flaws here and there… but it’s enjoyable as a whole.

However, the side of me that loves the books would think David Yates managed to pull off a helluva chopfest for a book adaptation with fewer pages than the previous one, and that’s something you never thought could happen after chopping Order of the Phoenix, but he outdid himself. You might as well shout “What?” more times than Stone Cold Steve Austin with the changes and additions done in this. You might even shout “f*ck” as much as Tony Montana with certain scenes, characters, dialogue and scripting. And yeah, the book is much better, even if it’s not one of my favorite in the series.

Should I be looking forward to the Deathly Hallows films after watching this? I’ll do a coin toss a week before it premieres if I’m still alive by the time it’s released.

Rating: ★★¾☆☆ 

Rodrigo

YAM Magazine contributor, has a B. Sc. degree in Science/Pharmacy and is a very lazy person.

2 Responses

  1. Amy says:

    David Yates makes me so freaking mad over OotP… and HBP – but he kinda made up for it with HP7… despite it being a crazy idea to make it two parts. Saw it twice already, huh – crazy uh? – still can't figure out what they could nip in Part 1 to fit in Part 2… but then again, we haven't see Part 2 to analyze whether anything on that is worth it xD

    HBP was lucky that I hate Hp5 the most.

    We should really think of reviewing the other 5 films… wanna split? xD

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