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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Director: David Yates

Time Out rating

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142 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Click here to read our exclusive interview with Daniel Radcliffe

Harry shaves! Harry snogs! But stay your wand, there are other forces of darkness besides late adolescence which are afflicting the poor orphaned wizard of Hogwarts and his hormone-raging contemporaries. For one, Voldemort’s allies, the aerial, ink-trailing Death Eaters, are ravaging London. Ping! Pling! There go the stanchions of the Millennium Bridge! And Harry has hardly been re-admitted to school, following the departure of Mrs Umbridge, last term’s knit-robed Robespierre, when Dumbledore teleports him to Tudor-relic Budleigh Babberton to meet and recruit one-time Potions Master Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent, disguised as a sofa).

False-memory syndrome is at the heart of this next stage of the fight against evil forces: Dumbledore’s phials of stored reminiscences have been polluted, and it is sly Slughorn’s recall of his past tutoring of a Horcrux-fascinated student which may hold a necessary and life-saving corrective.

Longer than the last, the sixth episode of the adventures of the increasingly burdened magic warrior of Privet Drive is a more human affair than its predecessors. It’s as full of the romantic dalliances of the maturing students as it is of warring set-pieces, creature shocks and detours down dark Dickensian alleys. We can already sense the two-part seventh and final saga on the horizon, and the whole less-frenzied affair is tonally and emotionally suggestive of a post-battle re-grouping before a final cinematic assault.

To this end, scriptwriter Steve Kloves, back after a one-film sabbatical, has ably summed up the JK Rowling doorstopper by omitting a major battle and axeing at least one character. Also, the fine, less showy work by new DoP Bruno Delbonnel and Nicholas Hopper’s non-strident second Potter score are in tune with director Yates’s laudable refusal to underline too forcefully moments of triumph and disaster. Togther, they allow space for as much human detail, intimacy, humour and, indeed, pathos as a family magical/fantasy action adventure will allow.

Thus – thrillseekers beware – the film’s memorable scenes are, interestingly, not necessarily the most momentous: the sad, assembled Weasleys regarding their crooked Norfolk tower; a lionine, wind-tossed Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) framed in the Hogwarts tower with all the grandeur of Powell and Pressburger’s ‘Black Narcissus’; poor Emma Watson’s Hermione crying in solitary heartbreak; blonde bombshell Draco Malfoy pitied in a picture of isolated evil. Rupert Grint’s Ron is still the leavening star – striking funny, victorious poses in the series’s last game of Quidditch – but Daniel Radcliffe’s less self-conscious and more self-deprecating Harry runs him a close second.

Click here to read our exclusive interview with Daniel Radcliffe

Author: Wally Hammond

Time Out London Issue 2030, 16-23 July, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Gillian said...

Posted on Dec 04 2010 10:59 I Agree this is the worst film so far - is too extreme & is too far removed from the original stories which were meant to be magical and fantastic- needed more lighter moments in it - and Harry and Hermione nakedly entangled was a step too far - very very disappointing

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paul said...

Posted on Nov 21 2010 16:15 The worst film yet! and to slit it into two parts is just to get more cash out off people, did they raed the book? so many great bits missed. Too tame and far to long to sit and watch actors sitting about.

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harry potter..yum said...

Posted on Dec 22 2009 20:58 oooft..what a fitty ;)
needs a shave though!!
havent seen the film but am planning to. :D

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layla said...

Posted on Nov 20 2009 17:48 boring, alright but borning kinda x

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Sabrina said...

Posted on Sep 24 2009 19:46 I loved the movie, was very boum same, only that it should have a bit more detail ... I love Harry Potter ♥

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Sam said...

Posted on Sep 21 2009 19:00 i thought that the harry potter movie was a let down!!!!! i have the book nad it is nothing compared to book!!! The film in my opinion needed more graphic events to occur, the book provided fairy tale thoughts of a non-fictonal world, it maid the thought of it seem real, the film however completely ruins it! I have also read the 7th book, the deathly hallows, that book can not be ruined, it is full of imagination, fingers crossed!!!

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bobby said...

Posted on Sep 06 2009 20:27 the film was really good and i think u should watch it

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adam said...

Posted on Aug 29 2009 01:47 This particular Harry Potter film was excruciatingly painful for me to watch as always the book was 100x better but it clearly did not reach expectations.
People have said that the film was too long but in my opinion it was far too short as there were loads of important details missed in the film.
I am sincerely hoping that the deathly hallows is a LOT better.

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kay said...

Posted on Aug 25 2009 12:09 Dis Wz Da Shittest One Ive seen nd i saw all of dem what happend to harry havin his moment of defeatin someone in the dark forces da ended woz reli bad it ooked as iff dat shud have been the middle nd more was meant to happen Very disappointed !!!!!

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charlie said...

Posted on Aug 23 2009 11:16 this movie was rubbish!

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charlie said...

Posted on Aug 23 2009 11:16 this movie was rubbish!

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india and georgia said...

Posted on Aug 23 2009 11:11 this harry potter movie was better than all of them.it was more funny and romantic than the rest.also it was not as dark as all the others.we both thought it was 21/20

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moonshine said...

Posted on Aug 19 2009 18:03 film was ok. not sure that if you haven't read the book that you would understand. i have yet to be as impressed with a harry potter film as i have the books, but i think the 5th film was the best.
the sub-plots, such as the love potions and the mince pie chemistry, were good, especially anything with rupert grint acting as the loveable idiot and tom felton as the slick evil kid, but the overall plotline was a with under wheling. as usual, radcliff's performance was overshadowed by the better actors, but it still kept my attention.
not looking forward to the next film because i'm not sure it will translate well into a film as the book itself was a little tedious with quite a few plot-holes.

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The truth said...

Posted on Aug 17 2009 12:54 Harry Potter is a big load of rubbish!

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Cappybear said...

Posted on Aug 16 2009 12:19 I've read the book but, to be honest, couldn't remember much about it. I found the movie quite entertaining, but a tad long, and there seemed to be lots of stars popping up for a minute or two, then disappearing for the rest of the film. My wife thought it all a bit boring.

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