Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince happens to be my favorite book of the series and I just had to catch this movie on the first day. And was I disappointed or what! I still can’t believe how the scriptwriters managed to screw up the plot when they had one of the best-selling books ever as the basis for the screenplay! Really, there’s only so much that great cinematography and good acting can do for a movie. What’s really important is the story and when you screw that up there’s nothing much you can do.
I knew before I went to watch it, that the movie deviated quite a bit from the book, but I was still not prepared for what they had actually done. In all the Harry Potter movies some parts from the book are cut and granted that the film makers have the creative liberty to alter certain things. But that is not why this movie is bad. Its because they somehow managed to take a really engrossing tale and make it BORING and POINTLESS!
Coming to the actual story in the movie, you know something is wrong when in the first scene itself as Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is sitting thinking about the dark terror being spread by Lord Voldemort’s supporters and he sees a pretty waitress and decides to ask her out! In an attempt to make the characters seem real and human (ok, as human as wizards can get), the film makers just lost it completely.
It seemed like everything that was important to take the main story forward, like Harry’s increasing involvement with the Half Blood Prince’s book and his insight into Voldemort’s early life, were all just secondary happenstance to the several budding romances between the teenage protagonists. The Ron-Lavender love story is funny for a while but it takes just much too unwanted space in the movie. And even Prof. Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) seemed to be more interested in discussing Harry’s love interests rather than Lord Voldemort with Harry. They miss out so many crucial points that you can’t figure out what’s happening if you haven’t read the book. Around me I could constantly hear those who had read the book whispering to their companions what was happening.
The pace does improve somewhat in the second half, and the scene in the dark cave when Harry & Dumbledore retrieve one of the “Horcruxes” is especially riveting and the highpoint of the movie. And just when I started thinking “finally something is happening”, the movie just ended in the next 5 minutes with what is arguably the most anti-climatic finishes ever!! I still can’t believe how big a letdown the ending was!
Performance-wise all the actors are competent, with Daniel Radcliffe putting in his best performance so far. And Helena Carter appears in a great cameo as Bellatrix Lestrange (btw she has done a similar scary & weird role before in Sweeney Todd). The Harry Potter movies usually have brilliant special effects and picturization and this installment is also not lacking in that aspect. But like I said before they are not enough to redeem the movie.
If you aren’t a Harry potter fan, stay as far away as possible from this movie because you’ll just come out confused and bored. If you are in the mood for some teenage high school romance, you are better off watching High School Musical or reading Archies Double Digest. And if you have read the books and are a Harry Potter fan like me, I guess you will want to watch it irrespective of what the reviews say, so go ahead, but you have been warned - There’s no magic in this movie, dark or otherwise.
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