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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Director: David Yates

Time Out rating

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139 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 2009-07-09 12:26:57

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

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User reviews of this film

JJ said...

Posted on Aug 06 2009 12:47 David Yates has officially ruined this movie. I watched the film with many friends and they all thought it was dreadful. How can a big hollywood director release something this bad. I don't seem to get why David Yates could'nt have just done the film like the book. The book was amazing and due to the task that was handed to David Yates, i would have thought he would have pulled out all the stops to make this film incredible. Instead he made it shit.
David it's really simple, just do the film like the book, surely it's not that difficult seen as it's already written for you. I bet he probably hasn't even read the book. Because if he had, he would realise that all he's set the seventh one up for is failure. In what universe would he think or the people writing the screenplay feel that they could do a better job than the author. It just shows idiotic arrogance and also indicates how low Yate's IQ score must be.
Looking back on the film, i can make the fair statement that not one scene had been done better than it had in the book. The acting from the cast appeared almost wooden and arkward like it was a GCSE performance in front of the rest of your class.
Aside from the amount of content that has been left out, meaning that a miracle must happen to recover in the seventh installement, my opinion is that the best scene in that whole film was when the death eaters attacked the burrow, and that wasn't even in the book. What sort of statement is that.
If Yates wants to be a writter then he's in the wrong proffession, but before he writes, he's got to learn how to read. And he should probably learn before the seventh film is released and READ THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Katie said...

Posted on Aug 05 2009 20:04 Great and sad but a bit long.

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k...... said...

Posted on Aug 05 2009 12:02 i did'nt enjoy this film it dragged on and it got boring :( i was looking forward to watching it A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT !!!!

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C'mon. said...

Posted on Aug 04 2009 15:19 Get a grip. This is a film, not a book. You can't put every scene from the novel into the movie and sometimes you have to summarise, omit and take a bit of artistic licence in order to make it a tighter, rounder film. I think this was a pretty good adaptation of a generally dull book. Well done David Yates and Steve Kloves.

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ali said...

Posted on Aug 03 2009 16:17 What on earth!! Has the director read the book? I was bewildered and left feeling rather let down. Please follow the storyline next time.

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zishan said...

Posted on Aug 02 2009 15:19 HANG david yates

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DAB23 said...

Posted on Aug 01 2009 18:02 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the best film yet! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because they missed some important things out which did disappoint me a little bit, and I'm just not sure how they're going to do the next two films. I thought Ron was very funny and there was a bit more humor than the first 5 films which I liked.They could've done a little bit more for a 2 hours and 30 minutes film, but overall a good film for me.

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sharn said...

Posted on Aug 01 2009 17:48 this harry potter movie really was a disappointment im 12 years old and i never liked it. they made up some crappy scenes (no offence) and they took out all the ones in the book that were so sick. i really officially don't like that directer.

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Liza said...

Posted on Aug 01 2009 12:45 David yates is officially a movie failure. Why did he put scenes that aren't in the book and there was really good scenes in there, and how come he didn't put them in the movie? I'll have to say that this Harry Potter movie was a disapointment to me and my children. We all love the Harry Potter films as we have seen them all but The Half Blood Prince was a disaster to be honest!!

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Charlotte said...

Posted on Jul 29 2009 19:10 I thought it was very well made, and they stuck to the storyline incredibly well. All these people saying it was boring and that they missed loads of bits out from the book should think about how long the film would be if they did every single detail. It would be about 5 hours long! I thought it was fantastic and i really love harry potter! FANTASTIC FILM!!!!!!!!

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lmao said...

Posted on Jul 28 2009 22:22 it was the crappest harry potter running in cinema

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Gopher said...

Posted on Jul 28 2009 18:37 Most boring Harry Potter of all up until the last 10 minutes. I have never been so bored and disappointed by a movie before. The other 5 movies rocked, this one sucked majorly.

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Lynn said...

Posted on Jul 28 2009 16:25 What happened to Harry's scar. I have spoken to freinds about this and no one else seems to have noticed. Was it just me, or was Harry's scar missing. Film was disappointing too.

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Lou said...

Posted on Jul 28 2009 16:11 I bet J K Rowling is fuming! This film was not done correctly at all! Thank God I have her books to read and my imagination! So many pieces and scenarious missing that I can see why many who have not read the books got a bit lost....too disjointed and not enough explanation and of course dud bits added that did not add the credibility of the story or achieve anything really. Only disappointment and confusion cpnveyed to the audience. I even heard several people audibly sigh in the place "eh?" when obviously I was thinking the same thing...this part did not happen? Bit shocking really . I truly hope JK Rowling puts her foot down and tries to kick ass with the next film. The producers and Directors have not won here. Do the film like the book! Please!

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Callum said...

Posted on Jul 28 2009 13:53 Really enjoyed it. The cinematography was amazing, and the characters much more rounded before. Loved the whole mood and feel - understated but full of suspense and tension. The only negative was that the actual "Half-blood Prince" thing was never explained properly, so when he reveals himself, it is a bit nonsensical. Overall though, the best Potter film so far. Jim Broadbent was amazing!

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