Note: I always try to refrain from spoiling too much of any movie, which was particularly difficult when writing about this film. So some things will be left a little vague in this review, but I’m sure any Harry Potter fan would already know what I’m talking about.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate chapter in the Harry Potter saga (although the final act will be divided into two films), and to many, the best entry in the series. But just how does The Half-Blood Prince fair as a film?

Quite frankly, I think this film is a step backwards from Order of the Phoenix in every regard. It just seems to lack substance in every which way (or maybe I should say every witch way…. bad pun). The characters all seem more flat then they ever did before, even moreso then they did in (the disappointing) Goblet of Fire.

There is a reason for this, as this film strays far from it’s source material and doesn’t seem to care about the whole “Half-Blood Prince” story and instead focuses on Harry Potter’s social life for the majority of the film. Quite frankly I feel the movie was made this way to compete with the upcoming sequel to Twilight, which is primarily a love story, so they decided to make Harry Potter something of a teen romance film, which completely destroys the magic and wonder of it all.

A more appropriate title for the film adaptation of this Harry Potter entry would be Harry Potter: Oh yeah, Half-Blood Prince! As the “main story” of the film seems like it may be going somewhere early on but then suddenly disappears in favor of some kind of teen drama. The “real” plot doesn’t kick back in until late in the movie, too late to redeem it from the majority of the film.

This is especially terrible given that Half-Blood Prince should give a stronger emotional response then any other Harry Potter. The climax of the film in particular felt empty when it should have felt powerful. So much of this film was made so anticlimactic due to the lack of caring for the main plot and all the attention focused on sub-par sub-stories that aren’t interesting to begin with.

In fact, very early in the film we witness a revelation involving a character we have known through every film in the series, but this “revelation” feels so abrupt and forced it completely defeats its purpose. We have known this character throughout the entire series and for this part of the story to be revealed this way is anticlimactic and disappointing on so many levels. It immediately makes you care less about the film.

But the majority of Half-Blood Prince is lost in some kind of 3rd rate teen romance/comedy. It is painful to watch something that should be an ‘epic series’ along the lines of Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings stoop so low. The movie feels completely dumbed down from it’s predecessors in every regard.

It’s so painfully obvious that the film is trying to appeal to the Twilight crowd this time around, but it just doesn’t work. Not even once did I care about any of the character relationships in Half-Blood Prince. And by the way, isn’t there a darklord trying to kill Harry and overthrow all the good wizards or something? Last time I remembered there was an important plot detail involving that.

Though the brief mentions of said darklord (Voldemort) do add something to the movie, however. Most of the time we see Voldemort in the film come in the form of flashbacks (or memories, I should say) and we see the darklord in his youth, and get a little bit of an insight at just how twisted and creepy he is. Often times, when a movie goes for a “pure evil” villain, they come off as trying too hard, but I think they’ve done a great job portraying Voldemort as an irredeemable foe.

But why should we care about any of that when we could have teen drama!  At least in Twilight the whole romance thing is the foundation of the story, but any “romantic” plot in Half-Blood Prince just seems like an unnecessary, aggravating detour from the things that should matter in the story.

As I said, the “real” plot returns late into the movie, but at least the film picks up a little bit once it does, as some interesting concepts are introduced. But unfortunately, it doesn’t deliver on substance. There are plot twists and dramatic moments that should have inspired emotion in its audience, but it all feels flat. As though the filmmakers cared only for all the teen stuff and only added this in as a necessity for fans of the books.

It seems like the magic and wonder of Harry Potter’s world are almost nonexistent at this point. Sure, the earlier movies were at an advantage in this factor since they had the obligation (or should I say privilege) of introducing us to this world of wizards and magic, and it was easier for them to captivate us in their world because of it. But still, this sense of wonderment should never feel completely void, even by the sixth time around. But Half-Blood Prince doesn’t seem to care about enriching us in it’s world. The magic and wizardry play second fiddle to all the teen stuff.

The music also seems empty and forgettable. The music just doesn’t sound like Harry Potter to me. It just doesn’t fit with this film (of course, this film doesn’t fit with what it should be). There is one instance in which I enjoyed the music however. I won’t go into detail, but it involves Harry Potter and Dumbledore teleporting near a cliff by the sea. I liked the music there, but for the most part it just didn’t feel like Harry Potter. Why is John Williams not composing for this series anymore again?

All in all I feel that Half-Blood Prince is more or less the “filler” film of the Harry Potter franchise, which is a shame, since it usually seems to be the most praised of the books. They should have stuck to the source material, instead of insulting its audience by turning it into some cheesy, teen soap opera. It almost feels as though the film just wants to get itself out of the way in order to save anything good for the next two films (both of which are based on the final book of the series), but no chapter of any series should purposefully be made into a filler act (and not very good filler at that), but that is exactly what has happened to The Half-Blood Prince.

Hopefully, the franchise can get back on its feet with the final two films. Because if it goes on this way, it would be a sad, sad ending to a once great movie franchise. But I will hold on to my hopes that the next Harry Potter films will actually be Harry Potter films, devoid of all this teen drama.

I am the Half-Blood Prince!!

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 10, rated)

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