It’s getting serious. Super serious.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Analysis/Review

Preface:

Re-watched it in blu-ray on a 4k TV.

Harry Potter fan.

Ah. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I remember getting the book when it came out and being so excited to reading it. Pre-ordered it and all that jazz. Don’t remember what I thought of the book then, or how I felt when Dumbledore died, but I know how I feel about it now. Same with the movie.

Likes:

• The cinematography is gorgeous. Ugh. I love the color gradient. It works. It works. It’s perfect tonally. The washed out colors fits the mood superbly.
• Can I say the cinematography again?
• The Quidditch scenes are actually good in this one! They look the best and they are the most ‘real.’ They actually seem like a real part of the lives of the kids. It is relevant plot/character wise. Amazing.
• The humor throughout, even amidst the dark. Aragog’s funeral scene is hilarious. The teen romance aspect was funny in its own way. It didn’t take itself seriously, which it really needed to do.
• Slughorn’s casting was extremely on point. The actor slid into the character. He had the vaguely snob-ish attitude, comic timing, and underlying courage.
• Tom Felton as Draco. He was the star of it. Sure, it is Harry’s movie, but a good chunk of the movie is him dealing with Draco. Draco shined. The sectumsepera scene was both tragic and pretty.
• Tom Riddle. The actor nailed the psychopathic creepiness to be expected of a teenage Voldemort. More subtle than the actor in Chamber of Secrets, but they both have their merits and played the character at two very different moments in the young Voldemort’s life.
• Dumbledore vs. Inferi. That scene was so cool and the music was on point. Loved it. The cave scene had a great aesthetic to it and the color palette really exemplified it.

Dislikes:

• A bit slow. I mean, it is basically exposition loaded. It floats along without much drive until the end when the Death Eaters attack and Dumbledore dies.
• They tried to spice it up with the action of the Burrow being burnt down, but it felt out of place and slightly stupid. It happens and nothing really comes of it.
• Where is Harry mourning Sirius? We got a little bit of it in the beginning with the conversation with Slughorn, but that was it! I needed more.
• Ginny. Ugh. I confess, I never liked (AKA hated) her in the book, but in the movie I learned to hate her. Luna and Harry had more chemistry. Draco and Harry had more chemistry. The Half-Blood Prince’s book and Harry had more chemistry.
• The pacing of the entire film was so strange in the whole context of the series. Okay so Voldemort is back. Everyone knows it now. There is a war, and we are having teen romance? I don’t know. This was my problem with the book, too. I was like why. Shouldn’t you be, eh, preparing to fight in war? I don’t know.
• The black tiles in Tom Riddle’s orphanage look too much like the tiles in the Ministry of Magic. It always sticks out to me. I can’t get over it.

Conclusion:

This movie is awkward, but the book is sort of too. The movie salvages the content by altering the tone and having amazing visuals. It takes the awkwardness in stride and does its best with the material. It may not be my favorite movie (visually though…), but compared to the book it does better, I think.