Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

This latest Harry Potter film was my reward this afternoon for finishing up the assembly of my materials and syllabus for Contracts for the fall term 2009 and getting it to the NYLS Copy Center!

I just read the first few books in the Harry Potter series, but have seen all the movies so far.  This one struck me as almost unremittingly grim.  Most of the time, sets are dark and gloomy and threatening, music is ominous, and everybody is wearing frowns and puzzled looks.  The lead actors have grown into those awkward teen years when they are not quite at ease in their bodies, and some of the dialogue comes across as a bit too studied.  The pacing falters at times.  Michael Gambon is fantastic as Dumbledor, and the other adults do fine work here.  The kids will work their way through it, I'm sure, to be more at ease in the final two films in the series.  (Press reports state that the last novel was so long and packed with events that it is being stretched out into two films....  These producers know how to milk a franchise.)

I would say this movie is not for people who haven't either seen the prior movies or read the books.  That is, this is a slice of action in the middle of a plot, which starts without rehearsing the back story and just stops at a convenient breaking point.  Seen on its own, it would not make a whole lot of sense to anybody not familiar with the characters and their prior development - it would probably just be one big puzzle.  For those who have been keeping up with the story, it advances the plot efficiently and has some notably thrilling scenes - the quidditch match, the classroom scenes with the new professor of potions (broadly played by Jim Broadbent, a new addition to the ensemble), and the underground lake scene.  The technological manipulation to produce the quidditch match is breathtaking.

I'm glad I saw it.  I suspect millions of people will do the same.

Comments

[Steve]

"do the same" or "feel the same"?

[Art Leonard]

Both! Lots of people will go to see it, and I think many will have the same reaction I do....