My good friend Chuck came to visit and we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday. I know a lot of people have taken up complaints with this newest installment because it doesn't match up well with the book. Hey, all you complainers, I have something to say to you: this is a movie. A film. On celluloid. Changes must be made. There's a reason that the first two movies suck: they follow the books word for word, scene for scene. There is such an obscenely large difference between conveying ideas on a page and on film. I was 13 years old when the first Harry Potter movie came out and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. Taking a trip down memory lane seven or eight years later is a pretty painful experience, to say the least.
But no sense looking to the past, let us examine the matter at hand. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was a solid movie. The introduction of Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn was excellent. Well, I always think that Jim Broadbent is excellent. Another great part of this movie: Emma Watson learned how to act sort of-ish. I've always had a serious problem with Watson's acting abilities (her over the top enunciation, her unnatural body movements, her general awkwardness with the character), but she did a whole hell of a lot better in this movie. When Ron is totally oblivious to her affections, she actually convinced me that she was hurting. I didn't feel the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes or make dismissive noises under my breath whenever she opened her mouth. As far as complaints go, I felt like there could have been more explanation behind who the Half-Blood Prince really is or Voldemort flashbacks. Not too much more (the movie was pretty long as it was) but maybe just a teensy bit more.
Okay, it's time for me to nerd out a little bit. I couldn't help but enjoy the overall feeling of the film because it was so reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back. It was clearly a bridge movie, getting us all ready for the shitstorm that's going to go down in the two-part finale. By the end of the film, it's clear that the entirety of the wizarding world lies on the shoulders of three powerful individuals and their choices (sound vaguely familiar?). The closing shot of the movie is in the same spirit of The Empire Strikes Back: looking out toward at a majestic landscape with uncertainty but hope. Given that Empire is my favorite of the Star Wars films, I couldn't help but have a soft spot for this new Harry Potter installment.
All in all, I felt that my five dollars were well spent. The movie was two and a half hours long, but it flew by pretty quickly. I've read all of the Harry Potter books, but I entered this theater with a diminished memory for the plot points (minus of course, the infamous spoiler of the climax), but grew quickly re-accustomed to the action. I'm going to give this movie a solid 4/5.
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