Bloody good show

I'm reluctant to write my review for the new installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. For one, now that we're at the sixth film in the franchise, I can't see my review having much influence on anyone. Fans are going to (or likely already have) see it and those who aren't fans aren't going to want to begin this far along in the story. I also worry that this review may seem redundant from my review of the previous film that I blogged about two years ago as many of the praises/criticisms of that film remain here. Still, out of a sense of duty, I feel I must go on.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first. Most of them are related to the way the film is faithful to the book. As someone who has read the book before seeing the film, I find it to be a blessing and curse. It's a lot easier to follow the story if you have read the book, but it can also be gutwrenching when you see something either cut or altered from the novel. For me, I get more upset with scenes that are different from the book than I am about moments that get left out. The most egregious changes to the book occur at the beginning and end of the film.

Without spoiling too much, let me try to explain these changes and why I did not care for them. At the beginning of the film there's a scene involving Harry at a diner. His interactions in this scene appear to be totally out of character and I have no idea what purpose the scene serves. The other major change comes near the end of the during the key scene. In the book, Harry is helpless from this major event happening, but the same isn't true in the film. Once again, this seems out of character for Harry because if he had the power to do something, he would have.

As I mentioned above, there are also a lot of things left out in the movie from the book. I grudgingly accept that this is a necessary evil of the films. The books are so long that it would be impossible to include everything into a manageable film. Then again, at two and half hours the film flies by (much faster than say Transformers 2), so I don't think fans would complain if they added on another half hour or so. Most of what was omitted isn't essential for the story, just cool scenes that fans would have appreciated seeing visually. However, there are a few key moments left out that may make creating the final film(s) more difficult. I'll be interested to see how they work their way around that when part 1 of book 7 comes out next year.

If you can ignore the changes/omissions from the book, what you're left with is another excellent entry in this film franchise. Watching each new film feels like a high school reunion. It is wonderful to see this rich, talented cast reprise their roles with each film. I think we sometimes take for granted how lucky we are that this great group of British actors have been available and willing to come back for each film, even if they don't always have a large role to play. Everyone knows their characters so well and brings a tremendous amount of both energy and class to their performance. They all should be applauded for allowing these characters to be fully realized.

One performer in particular I want to single out is Michael Gambon, who plays Dumblebore. Gambon is the one actor who was not there from the start. His alternative take on Dumbledore from Richard Harris has been scrutinized by many fans. While his gruff take may not have necessarily fit at times, he delivers an excellent performance in this film. Playing a larger role than in the previous films, Gambon does a good job of displaying the leader/mentor/scholar/friend/wizard and everything else that makes up this character. I hope everyone else will appreciate his performance here as much as I did.

I should also compliment the two major additions to the cast. Jim Broadbent, who plays the new Potions professor, Horace Slughorn. Being the newcomer is never easy, particularly in this cast, but he blends right in and does a fantastic job. He plays Slughorn exactly how I pictured him to be from the book. This was another inspired casting move. Broadbent is very good at playing the fame-hungry, yet cowardly Slughorn. The girl who played Lavender Brown was also very funny and enjoyable. She captured the head-over-heels infatuation that she has for Ron Weasley perfectly.

Lastly I want to talk about director David Yates' work. He is returning for a second time here and definitely showed improvement over his previous effort. While many will take him to task for the changes his films have in comparision to the books, I'm not so sure how much falls on his shoulders. It seems the screenwriter should take more of the blame in this case. What Yates did do is provide the film with a gorgeous look in many of its scenes. He has a number of tracking shots that are very impressive. With just a pan of the camera he's able to capture the move of several characters at once. Those shots go a long way to encapsulating a lot that is going on without taking up a lot of time. Since so much dialogue had to be cut, I give him a lot of credit for trying to say as much as he could with his visuals. The film looks great and once again gives us the sense that we're right there in Hogwarts.

Right now, the differences from the book are the things I think about the most with the book. However, that was true with most of the previous films and I learned to forget about them and appreciate the movies on their own. I truly believe the same will hold true for this one as well. Once you can look past those changes, it becomes clear that this is another great movie. In a year when very little has lived up to its hype, it's nice to have one film that meets expectations. Grade: A-