CINEMA: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Part 2

Having read all the books and seen all the films this latest installment had a hell of a lot to live up to, but amazingly it nearly delivers on all counts.

This time around Harry and co. are back at Hogwarts and with the Dark Lord Voldemort out and about causing all kinds of mischief and mayhem it’s safer in the school than anywhere in the real (muggle) world. But with growing up comes raging teenage hormones and these character are no different. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) fancies Ginny (Bonnie Wright), Ron’s (Rupert Grint) younger sister and she fancies him. Hermione (Emma Watson) realises she fancies Ron, while Ron has the unwanted affections of one Lavender Brown who is determined to get her ginger prince.

Romance aside, Dumdledore (Michael Gambon) needs Harry’s help once again to persuade Professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) to return to teach at the school, as one of his memories may hold the key to finally defeating Voldemort for good.

Voldemort also has his plans and favourites and chooses Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) to carry out an evil task within the school walls that will change everyone’s lives forever should he succeed. Will the kids kiss? Will Draco win? And what is in store for Dumbledore?

Phew! The sixth film in the series finally feels like a real Harry Potter film again after the political shenanigans of the last one. There is lots of humour from a wonderfully witty script and performances from the three leads who finally show they can really act, bless them.

While the book lacked action sequences and confrontations, screenwriter Steve Kloves and director David Yates have taken incidents only referred to in the text and blown them up so we can see them on the big screen. Take the opening sequence which sees Voldemort’s Death Eaters spiral out of control through London and trash the Millennium Bridge then attack Diagon Alley in a full frontal assault that is exciting, expertly realised and shows how Voldemort truly is the threat everyone says he is.

But the film really comes alive thanks to the brilliant performances from the whole cast. Luna Lovegood played by Evana Lynch gets a bigger role and steals every scene she is in and hopefully will play a bigger role next time around. Felton as Malfoy finally takes centre stage and puts in work that equals Radcliffe’s. Grint is a comedy genius in the making and deals with unwanted girl action well, allowing us to fully believe in his story arc, while Watson has matured well as Hermione and has a big emotional scene that will have you dabbing your eyes for sure. Gambon as Dumbledore is excellent in his role and Broadbent is a hilarious addition to the film series.

(Kind of) SPOILER

As for the finale where a major character dies, it has been changed and tweaked from the book version but makes much more sense in this format and the scene itself and the aftermath are epic and not dissimilar to the death of Gandalf in LOTR. The direction is tight and well paced by Yates and the cinematography and set design stunning.

But overall this is a middle section film and merely the warm-up for the mother of all battles to come. And although it flies through its long running length, you are left at the end wanting a conclusion to this epic teenage saga sooner rather than two years away!

Mark Cappuccio