Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his sixth year at Hogwarts and his world is now fully aware of Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Finnes) return and decide to stop living in false peace. As Harry begins his sixth year Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) decides to give Harry special history lessons on Voldemorts past and the rehiring of an old friend of Dumbledore who has something important that Dumbledore needs. Meanwhile Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has been chosen by Voldemort to perform a task that will impact his destiny and the destiny of his world.Of all the Harry Potter films this is basically the most mature far more than the others. Half Blood Price was my favorite Harry Potter book because it ties up almost all the loose ends that were left in the last five books especially Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire and it also sets up for the conclusion in Deathly Hallows but im not going to say how it sets up because i value my life. While i liked the movie overall their were a few aspects i didn't like mostly concerning with time ratio and pacing. As with the past five movies this one seems to cut more than whats necessary for example half the memories in the book are cut out to fit the movie and from what ive seen some of it was cut out because its either unimaginable on screen or unsuitable for a PG audience. Thats one of the big issues with an adapted screenplay is that it cant be taken word for word for a lot of reasons such as it taking up too much time from the audience or the case might be that their are some parts within the book that are too difficult to show on screen like the spirit of Lenny's aunt in Of Mice and Men (1992) or the ghost chariot in a Christmas Carol (1951) but the thing is these were just hallucinations from characters, the reason for the over amount of cutting is simple; Its a PG movie and the book is six hundred pages long so if its word for word than parents will get board and their kids will get restless so everyone will leave. My other major concern is the love triangle of Gryffindor house and the fact that its taking up far to much of this film, we know these kids are growing up and developing in many ways but their are far more important things going on with young people today than love and that sometimes one must pursue their own destiny than stay with a shared destiny.
Those are the only things i didn't like about the film everything else on the other hand was very good especially the acting and character developments from the characters. The look of this movie is really something terrific, having evolved from the past movies including the interior and exterior of this world along with the best special effects and shots of all the movies. All three of the main actors (Daniel Radcliffe Rupert Grint & Emma Watson) for this movie have really evolved since 2001 and in this movie their showing a lot more mature characteristics around each other such as passion, anger and love. The supporting cast on the other hand has changed the most in this movie. Many of the characters in the movie have shown a small to major change in their personality, their outlook on life and their relationship with both the pro and antagonist. The biggest change seems to come from Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) who we all remember as being played as being a slimy cowardly bully who thought he was king of the world thanks to his bloodline, wealth and status in society, but now all of that seems to be tarnished thanks to Harry and the Order of the Phoenix. And because these were the things he valued most in his life without it he feels his life is ruined so he will do anything to regain it and later on begins to show real emotion and change and ever regret in the second half of the movie. Michael Gambon who took over the role of Dumbledore from the late Richard Harris has such great presence and energy in this movie from beginning to end and I really like how he has evolved his relationship with Harry from a student/teacher to more of a grandson/grandfather relationship with them dealing with issues concerning who they are and taking a very comfortable approach to serious situations. The newest addition to the cast Jim Broadbant who plays Horace Slughorn is good example of a good apple in a basket of bad ones. For example in the past five movies it seems everyone in Slytherin house is someone you cant trust or is pure evil, its almost like they were born bad. But Broadbants jolly and proud performance along with his brilliant chemistry with Danial Radcliffe and Michael Gambon proves that you cant judge a book by its cover proving that if there are a lot of bad apples in a basket your bound to find at least one or two good ones and vis-versa. I also enjoyed the brief performance by Hero Finnes as a young Tom Riddle, who being a kid who is new to acting can pull off all the emotions a kid has including curiosity, fear and innocence without the pressures of being an actor letting him slip on what makes a person a person, even though we all know what will happen to his character in the future. The tone of this movie is really something incredible especially for a fantasy film. Its a lot darker than the last one and a lot more steep and tense and I think the reason is that there is much more of the muggle world (or our world) in this film and because the movie is set in a fictional world were used to seeing the typical tones and emotions we've seen in films like Lord of the Rings or Narnia but because this world of witches and wizards shares the same time and space with the muggle world certain characteristics can cross over or blend in with others thus setting a realistic tone in a world of fantasy and a magical sense (or evil sense as some would call it) in the real world. So if you have kids don't take any little ones because I think that this film is targeting pre teens to adults audiences which proves that Harry Potter isn't just for kids especially since J.K Rowling gets more serious with each of her books. So i say this film is definitely worth your while the cast is great, the effects are great, the pacing could do a bit better. But the real credit does go to J.K Rowling who I think is a blessing on this era since she was able to turn an entire generation of kids (including myself) onto reading, kudos Rowling and I look forward to the Deathly Hallows.
My Rating: 3.5/4 Shamrocks
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