Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Last night I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

I was rather shocked to see that there were young kids – I’d guess about 7 to 10 or 11 years old – in the audience, for two reasons: first, it was the 10:00pm show – meaning we didn’t get out of the theatre until after midnight – and I am astounded that parents would take their kids to a show that late, even in the summer; and second, I personally do not consider this instalment of the series to be a children’s movie. In my opinion, all the books from the Goblet of Fire on – and the movies beginning with the Prisoner of Azkaban – are increasingly dark, sombre, scary, and violent, and not suited to children under about age 12.

But anyhow… about the movie. I found it excellently done; in fact I’d say it’s the best of the lot to date. (And I watched the first five movies at home before going to see this one, so it’s a fresh comparison!)

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other students are increasingly mature (although that might not be quite the right word to use for the awkward teenage sexual awakenings – nothing more than a bit of kissing, or “snogging” as they put it, but all quite embarrassingly realistic). Meanwhile, while the other students are engaging in all this teenage behaviour, Draco is holding himself apart, brooding over the task Voldemort has given him.

I found Dumbledore to be at his best – we see more of the humour that comes out so well in the books, yet at the same time get a better sense of the wizard’s muted power. The only thing I found not quite bang-on was his “Severus… please” at that fateful point on the tower – not enough pleading in his tone, combined with not enough debility following on after the journey to the lake to retrieve the horcrux.

For his part, Snape was excellent. I remember reading the book, feeling certain all the way through that somehow he had been fooling Bellatrix and Narcissa, only to be devastated at the end to find out – to all appearances – that he had been working for the Dark Lord after all. (And then, of course, being very happy at his vindication in the final book – not so much for his sake, but because it confirmed Dumbledore’s opinion of him, and at the same time revealed just what a master double-agent he had been.) In this movie we see a few sequences of his private interactions with Dumbledore which lend themselves to the development of his character in all its complexity.

Harry, while still a young wizard, appears increasingly confident in his abilities (perhaps the Half-Blood Prince’s potions book was helpful in that regard!) although we do see him struggling somewhat with getting Slughorn to reveal his true memory of Tom Riddle’s questioning about horcruxes. Hermione is, as always, brilliant and helpful, while Ron is his usual bumbling, somewhat asinine but very funny and loyal self. (I am so happy they included the “you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon” comment in the movie. When I read the book, it had me in stitches for a good five minutes, I’m sure!)

One thing that the movies, including this one, do superbly is bring to life the boarding school atmosphere. While it’s present in the books, it’s muted (at least I find it so), but the little extra visual and atmospheric details the movies bring to the world of Hogwarts make it feel so real: the adolescent behaviour of the students, the bonding with fellow students, the classroom note-passing behind the teacher’s back… all that makes it come to life.

All in all, I highly recommend this movie, particularly for Harry Potter fans. If you haven’t read the books or seen the previous movies, you’ll be missing half (or more!) of the story. But surely there can’t be very many of those people around, can there?