The Harry Potter movie series for me is like a roller coaster full of ups and downs rather than those exciting continuous loops. The first movie was a real treat to watch while the second one just bored me to death. Then came the masterpiece of Alfonso Cuaron in Prisoner of Azkaban and I was hooked again. Goblet of Fire got me bit interested due to the resurrection of  “who-must-not-be-named” but wasn’t as great as Azkaban. Then came Order of the Phoenix and that one really got my head scratching for most of the movie.

Year 2009, we get the latest adaptation of the Harry Potter series, the Half-Blood Prince.

The film starts right where it left off which was after the battle between Voldermort and Dumbledore. Harry Potter is now more popular than ever and girls are starting to notice him. Most of the film focuses more on showing the coming of age for the kids at Hogwarts rather than the impending doom of Voldermort trying to be well, evil. I won’t go into more details since I don’t want to spoil anything for you.

What brought this film to great heights were the acting performances. Eversince, I’ve been seeing this series as a bunch of kids and adults in costumes playing their roles just to look like the characters and nothing else. The performances in Half-Blood Prince were top-notch and truly shows that Daniel Radcliffe and the rest have been maturing their craft. One of the most notable performances was that of Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy. You can feel the dread he is going through and that feeling of denial and guilt to accomplish his mission chosen for him by Lord Voldemort.

Speaking of the Dark Lord himself, his appearance in this film is in the form of his former self, Tom Riddle. We finally get more backstory on the life of Voldemort before becoming the Dark Lord. Some may have been complaining that the presence of Voldemort isn’t really felt throughout the movie but in my opinion it was a good move rather than spoiling us with all the scary images of Voldemort. Voldemort as a mysterious presence actually does feel better much like being that mysterious boogeyman inside your closet. Sometimes his presence on screen is either just too much or just insanely overdone and overacted. Seeing less of him in Half-Blood prince actually made me like the series again.

The best parts of the movie actually rely on the relationships between the students in Hogwarts. If you think the whole “prom” event in Goblet of Fire was too “teeny”, Half-Blood Prince elevates all that to a whole new level. But instead of it being totally unrelateable to us adults, the film succeeds in helping us reminisce of teenage romance or should I dare say “raging hormones”. The humor level in this chapter of the series is also better a really less forced than previous chapters of the franchise. The moments of comedy were actually funny cause they felt more incidental than being scripted or predictable.

What I liked about this series is that Dumbledore is finally getting more screentime than before. He may have shown his great power in Order of the Phoenix but this chapter focuses more on his character rather than just being the headmaster at Hogwarts. You could see more of his connection with Harry Potter more than ever and this connection is one of the main focuses of the film. This connections is so strong that the climax is one of the best moments of fantasy Hollywood history.

Visually, the film is stunning. The film’s use of darker and bluish hues really sets the theme of darkness throughout the film. Those sequences that involve those moments of puberty were well shot and exquisitely satisfying. Cinematography is beautiful just like Azkaban and the visual effects as with any Harry Potter film is spectacular. In fact, this has got the be the best Harry Potter film in terms of visual effects.

If I had any complaint with the film, it would be that there were moments I had to wonder what was going on or more specifically “why” it’s going on. People like me who haven’t read the books would feel more frustrated with this since it would put a big question mark over our heads.

Overall, the film is great. I wasn’t bored and really had a better grasp at the story than the previous Harry Potter films. David Yates imrpoves from Order of the Phoenix and I now trust him on what he has to deliver in the next final chapters of this tremendously long saga. This has got to be the only film in the series that made me excited to know what happens next in the series. Not just because of the amazingly well-done cliffhanger ending, but because the film was actually really good. I was looking for a reason to still not read the books, and that reason has finally come along in the form of The Half Blood Prince.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince deserves a 4 out of 5 starts.

[rating:4]

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