Harry Potter and the Half-Arsed attempt? (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (DVD))

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (DVD)
Date:	22/07/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Enjoyable performances,exciting action were it exists.

Disadvantages: Some unforgiveable plot changes, simply dull for long periods.

Harry is convinced by Professor Dumbledore to join Potions class and ingratiate himself with new teacher Horace Slughorn in an attempt to uncover a dark secret. He finds this very easy when he discovers a heavily annotated textbook that gives him all the answers apart from one. Who is the Half-Blood Prince?

"Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince" suffers as all penultimate films in a series seem too, by having too much narrative. The previous installment in this huge franchise was disjointed but wonderfully entertaining. This one however, is often quite dull.

This is a film that is more necessary than essential viewing. Everything is certainly done well with some epic special effects, a great musical score and some cracking acting. However, you cannot escape the fact that very little is going on at times here. Perhaps, this is not the films fault. After all it does follow the book very closely. The blame should maybe be left at author J.K Rowling's door for writing what is essentially a book that provides filler and yet more backstory in a frantic attempt to start to wrap up the series. This does mean though that this outing suffers as a viewing experience.

Not that I am condemning "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". It is by no means a terrible movie. It starts off in an exciting fashion and new concepts are introduced in an exciting way. The film continues the increasing trend of being very dark at times and this makes this quite engrossing for me as an adult. Dumbledore and Harry's adventures in particular are certainly dark with some jumpy moments that would not go amiss in the very best horror movie. The action, were it occurs is also very exciting although after reading the book there are some bizarre additions and omissions here. Random chases through grassland replace epic wizarding battles that would have been of far more interest although these scenes are more tense than anything I encountered in the book.

Despite remaining relatively faithful to the book, there are some bizarre and perhaps unforgiveable changes. The way Harry acts in terms of what has been called (to avoid spoilers), "The Unhappy Event" is simply not consistent with his character and the omission of the likes of a Weasley wedding make it difficult to see how they will get round this in the final films were this event is pivotal. Too little is made of who the "Half-Blood Prince" actually is too. Despite being the name of the ruddy film it is hardly mentioned and is instead given the Scooby-Doo ending treatment. Lazy filmmaking in my view.

Despite my cryptic complaints the acting is undoubtedly top-notch from all concerned. Once again the young cast excel with Rupert Grint as bumbling Ron Weasley perhaps being the best thing here providing some brilliant comic moments to give respite from, what is definitely a morbid outing. Tom Felton is also outstanding in a stripped down role as the tormented Draco Malfoy. His battle with his dark side is compelling and tense and adds a lot to a film that threatens to drift way into nothingness at times.

Adult performances are somewhat on the back boiler here but the addition of Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn is something of a masterstroke. He plays the outwardly arrogant teacher with a guilty secret superbly and is possibly the best thing in this film. As a counter-balance however, I have to admit to being dissapointed with Michael Gambon's portrayal of Dumbledore. For a man with such a difficult task, he plays his part too with too much nonchalance and for me lacks any gravitas. I can't help but think the late Richard Harris would have brought more to the role.

Despite some undoubtedly fine acting and good set pieces, my issue with this film remains that little happens for most of the film. For such an important installment I felt positively bored for long sections. For me, this is probably the worst film in the series. Good acting cannot make up for the fact that there is too much dialogue and not enough to hold my attention.

Summary: You will have to see it, you might not enjoy it though!