Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Considering the fact that I love watching movies (and love talking about them), just as well I'll start writing movie reviews from now on. Be mindful though, in my reviews I often opine like some kind of well-known, well respected movie critic wannabe, but what the hell, I'll write them anyway.

The first movie I'll review is the sixth and latest installment of the Harry Potter series: Half-Blood Prince (HBP). Mind you, there'll be spoilers for those who haven't watched, and this review is written from a Potter fan perspective. (Note: I've been reading Potter since I was 11)

In a nutshell, HBP is the best Potter movie yet. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the movie is such a joy to watch. HBP has many things that the rest of Potter movies didn't have. Oh wait, I take that back. It has many things that the previous Potter movies also had, only better.

For example, I am particularly impressed with the casts' overall acting performance. It's like they have taken a huge leap forward. Perhaps it's also due to the fact that the trio finally got to play a mature age. Radcliffe and Grint seem much more relaxed and comfortable with their roles this time around, while Watson has already done a wonderful job playing Hermione and she doesn't disappoint in HBP. They did a fantastic job in adding that extra bit of humour in various scenes, in which it's especially true for Grint in the love potion scenes. Also, now I feel the chemistry between Harry, Ron, and Hermione that they are really best friends, a chemistry that I just didn't feel in the previous movies.

HPB is without doubt the darkest Potter movie yet, which makes it the most suitable Potter movie for adults. The cave scene is really thrilling and gripping, and to a certain extent, has lived up to my expectations. Michael Gambon did an amazing job in bringing out the emotional aspects of the scene. It truly was heartbreaking to see Dumbledore the way he's been. And overall, Gambon didn't disappoint too much. I still miss the late Richard Harris' version of Dumbledore, but Gambon managed to play a softer Dumbledore this time around. He carried out Dumbledore's last conversation nicely.

Credit must also be given to the rest of the cast. Jim Broadbent portrayed Horace Slughorn absolutely perfectly; Alan Rickman was born to play Severus Snape, as is the case with Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall; Tom Felton's Malfoy? Success; and I completely agree with The Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu description of Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix Lestrange as "a female version of Heath Ledger's Joker". So when you think about it, HPB is a parade of world class theatrical performance; no doubt about that.

Now, the disappointments.

The biggest failure of HBP, in my view, is its anticlimactic nature. It was a long movie, 2 hours and 33 minutes, and the audience had to wait until the last 30 minutes or so to get that gripping experience. And what I hate about the movie the most is that just as we reach the level of tenseness that leads to the climax, poof, it ends. The cave scene is really good and it's the perfect build-up for Dumbledore's death scene. The tenseness continued to build up with the Death Eaters' entrance to Hogwarts and Malfoy's success in cornering Dumbledore. "Avada Kedabra" shouted Snape and Dumbledore's dead. Snape ran with the Death Eaters, Harry chased him, managed to fancy a quick duel, and poof, that's it.

You see, my instant reaction was, much has been made about Malfoy's preparation of getting the Death Eaters in through the cabinet. And at the end of the scene, when he finally succeeded, all the Death Eaters did were accompanying Malfoy/Snape killing Dumbledore, cast the Death Eaters sign into the sky, and ran for their lives. All of which took less than approximately 15 minutes. It's like, what? I've waited for 2 hours just for this? I felt betrayed.

I guess that brings us to the inevitable disappointments of adapted screenplay movies: the deviations from the book. Dumbledore's funeral was perhaps one of the most emotional moments throughout my reading in the entire Potter series and they didn't put it in. Dumbledore has been such a presence in the series so at least he deserves some credit by putting the funeral scene in. Instead, the producers spent too much time in developing the Ron-Lavender relationship and other trivial stuff, which also contribute to the underdeveloped story of Ron-Hermione.

So, in conclusion, HBP truly is the best Potter movie yet. It's the most emotional and it's a good enough build up for the last two movies. But that's not enough. They really need to tap into top gear to make Deathly Hallows a memorable final chapter of the legendary Harry Potter series. And they better get it right.