Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

The latest Harry Potter movie has swept into theatres like a force of nature, and there’s little doubt that it’ll crush several box office records along the way. But while a film like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen racks up piles of shamefully undeserved cash, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince manages to earn its loot by providing a story which is both epic in scope and downright beautiful to behold. While it certainly has its flaws, The Half-Blood Prince should still emerge as one of the most entertaining summer films of 2009.

The sixth movie adaptation of the J.K. Rowling novels picks up after events in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The Ministry of Magic has been forced to admit that the evil wizard Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has indeed returned, and many believe Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) to be the only one capable of stopping him, even going so far as to dub him “The Chosen One.”

Harry and his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) head back for another year at Hogwarts, but they’re unaware of the various schemes and dangers surrounding them. Voldemort’s Death Eaters–including Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter)–have begun wreaking havoc on wizards and normal citizens alike, and Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) enters into an unholy pact to protect and aid Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) as he attempts to carry out a mission for The Dark Lord. Meanwhile, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) recruits an old friend, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), a wizard who holds crucial information concerning a former student named Tom Riddle.

In-between brushes with death and danger, Harry and company must also deal with the most dreaded of all adolescent perils: Romance. Ron falls head over heels for classmate Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave), much to the chagrin of Hermione, who’s busy fending off the advances of studly Quidditch player Cormac McLaggen (Freddie Stroma). And while Harry receives a great deal of attention from the opposite sex due to his celebrity status, he only has eyes for Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), an attraction made all the more difficult by her involvement with another student.

First off, let me begin by heaping an embarrassing amount of praise at the feet of French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a visual feast from start to finish, and members of the cast (especially Dumbledore) often seemed bathed in a beautiful, radiant glow usually reserved for the cinematic depictions of angels. Muted or sepia tones are used to great effect, giving both Hogwarts and the greater London area a perpetually overcast and otherworldly feel. But Delbonnel isn’t afraid of vibrant colors, either, as witnessed by the eye-popping Quidditch match and the vibrant joke shop run by Fred and George Weasley. You’d be hard-pressed to find a film more appealing to the eyes.

Director David Yates also deserves a portion of the credit, and I’m glad to know that he’ll be back to helm both chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yates makes the world of Harry Potter seem enormous in scale, whether characters are looking out from the top of Hogwarts’s massive towers or standing on a lone rock in the middle of a violently churning ocean. He’s also content to let the tension build, a virtue aided by the film’s 153-minute length. It also helps to have a $250 million budget to play around with.

But while Yates is perfectly happy to remain patient throughout the film, I can’t say I always shared his sentiment. Long stretches devoted to the romantic lives of the lead characters could’ve been trimmed down, and several other scenes overstayed their welcome. The Half-Blood Prince is only the third-longest film in the series, but two hours would’ve been more than sufficient to tell the tale. As it was, I found myself squirming in my seat with increasing frequency during the film’s second half.

The acting is predictably strong thanks to the usual all-UK cast, and older audience members will no doubt continue to marvel at how much Harry and his pals have grown up. Rupert Grint’s muscular build is a far cry from the skinny youth who started the series, and Emma Watson has grown into a lovely young woman who’s now drawing attention from the Maxim crowd. You’ll also be happy to know that Daniel Radcliffe still manages to pull off Harry’s boyishly cute grin, although the troubled character has less and less to smile about as the series nears its conclusion. Fans of Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman won’t be disappointed, either.

And what can I say about Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange? With teeth that would make a dentist faint, and a perpetual look of madness plastered to her still-beautiful face, Bellatrix is wonderfully theatric as Voldemort’s most deranged henchman. She only appears in a few scenes, but a little goes a long way with this character.

Franchise veterans such as Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith and David Thewlis also put in appearances, although their screen time is limited. Of the newcomers, Jim Broadbent stands out as Horace Slughorn, an affable old wizard who carries a great mark of shame on his conscience. Dave Legeno was visually impressive as the villainous Fenrir Greyback, even though he doesn’t have a line or even get mentioned by name. For some reason, his snarling demeanor and bare-chested machismo reminded me of pro wrestler HHH, which is somewhat appropriate considering that Legeno has served real-life stints as a cage fighter and wrestler.

Much is made of the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, although it only seems to exist to provide Harry with another mystery. When the truth is revealed in the film’s waning minutes, the revelation comes and goes without much fanfare. It seems to have no real impact on the overall story, but this isn’t the first example of such a thing in the works of J.K. Rowling. Often, things are inserted just to keep the kiddies (and some adults) turning the pages.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is an epic adventure which takes viewers to dark underground chambers, menacing back-alleys, and ancient strongholds filled with danger. Both kids and adults should find something to like amidst all the intrigue and romance, and the film’s climactic scene will leave many moviegoers either dabbing at their eyes or sitting in stunned silence. While it’s too long and unnecessarily confusing in places, it still remains a solid entry into the Harry Potter mythology.