Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I've read every Harry Potter book. I am a huge fan and think the series is quite possibly the most imaginative, magical and well written series of all time, or at least of my lifetime. I was totally against seeing the films for fear it would take away from my own imagination, plus I didn't think any of them looked that good. 

The latest installment of the films was the first one I actually thought looked like it was worth seeing. After seeing it, I know why I stayed away for so long.

After watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I'm worried that a franchise that was supposedly building up some significant steam could be heading for a disaster. However, I can't say I was surprised because I thought they all looked like shit anyway. The biggest surprise regarding the failure of Half-Blood Prince is that David Yates, the same man behind the camera for Phoenix, directed the film. He left out SO MUCH. I mean, it's almost laughable and not even the same story. Quite frankly if I was a Harry Potter nut job like many fans, I'd completely protest his directing the next two. He's in charge of the upcoming two-part finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If the Deathly Hallows films are anything like this one, Harry's cinematic story will smash into the earth like a Quidditch broom that has lost its soaring power.

Things start interestingly enough, with Harry almost picking up a hot waitress in a diner, and Dumbledore spoiling the party. The old wizard needs Harry's help in recruiting former Hogwarts teacher Horace Slughorn. Dumbledore wants him back in the fold for some reason, and he needs to use Harry as bait. 

Dumbledore chooses to show Harry some rather disturbing memories of a former student named Tom Riddle, a young kid who could talk to snakes and who grew up to be Voldemort. Yates and the young people he gets to play Riddle in these memories (one of them being Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, a relative of Ralph Fiennes) make these scenes easily the best of the film. Actually, I wish a larger percentage of this movie had been flashbacks of the creepy kids. This aspect of the film is engaging.

Sadly, the movie turns out to be, for the most part, a blasé look at Harry and friends starting to notice the opposite sex. A subplot involving Ron Weasley and his emerging hornyness is nothing but silly. Even worse, Hermione is left to do little but pout and whimper, and she rarely raises her mood above somber. This is really nothing at all how these kids were portrayed in the book, and it's a shame. 

The biggest travesty is that Dumbledore says goodbye near the film's end—and Yates bungles it. Given the importance of the character, I was expecting something momentous. Instead, we get a scene that feels rushed and has little emotional impact. What is one of the most important and major events in all seven books is completely fucked up by Yates' ridiculousness. The even bigger travesty is that THERE IS NO FUNERAL!!! Are you fucking kidding me!?!? NO FUNERAL FOR DUMBLEDORE??? What....a joke. The funeral in the book is MAJOR and it was totally left out. 

I get it: The movie is supposed to be dark, disturbing and foreboding. It's supposed to act as a transitional film to the big finale. I'm OK with the dark sinister stuff; hell, I welcome it. But Voldemort is nowhere to be seen (unless you count cloud formations), and the movie's secondary bad guys are not given enough screen time to really register. The whole thing lacks focus. Only a fool of a director/writer wouldn't use Bellatrix Lestranges's awesome character to her full potential. I am seriously outraged at all that was missing from this movie. 

While I'm mostly complaining here, the film is more of a near-miss than a total failure. But given the quality of the books, this qualifies as a major letdown, especially after the delay in the release date. Part one of Hallows hits next year. Let's hope Half Blood-Prince is just a misstep for Yates, and that he steers the franchise to a finish worthy of Harry and friends. And, please, there's no need for such filler and to cut SO MUCH.

Bottom line: The Half Blood prince is only half bloody tolerable.

C+