Snape Bitten

It is no secret that the Half-Blood Prince is the most important book in the series. It is the chapter where the events that will set the tone for the future of the world of Hogwarts hang in the balance. It is where the one of the most iconic book characters of all time meets certain doom. It is where director, David Yates must rise to the occasion and put a movie on screen that carries the sexual angst and raw emotion that exists in the book. The Half-Blood Prince is where David Yates must prevent himself from making a film word for word remake of the novel. He must create his own film while keeping the source close to his heart. Yates has succeeded in making the best looking Harry Potter to date and yet, there is something missing. Chunks of the story where not told and things added for “Hollywood effect.” This is not a detriment to his Harry Potter, but it takes some getting use to as we watch for the two and half hour running time.

The Half-Blood Prince is about a lingering fear that the world as we know it, will fall into darkness. It is about an unfinished war that was started by adults and must be finished by their children. The tasks are insurmountable at times and our protagonist, Harry, is not the tortured soul he once was. He is now accepted that it is he that must save the people he loves. It is he who must convince everyone that James and Lilly Potter did not die in vain. This is Harry’s story. He has grown and so have his friends and even they know that they must finish what has been started so long ago. There is wonderful, even effortless interaction between Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), and Ron Weasley(Rupert Grint). Yates seems to make this part of the Half-Blood Prince work to his advantage. The characters like the fans of the series have grown into late teens who suffer from raging hormones and identity crisis’. This is where this movie works best, when its characters have time to go into exposition about the events surrounding an oncoming doom.

This Harry Potter is stylistically better than the previous five and Hogwarts looks aged. The magic and wonder of just going to the school is gone. The school has become a symbol for wizards and witches to defend against the mounting armies of Voldemort. It cannot be said enough, this movie carries the feeling of foreboding throughout. It is becoming a dark and lonely place as the lines are divided between good and evil.

Yates has improved greatly as a director. This is now his third Harry Potter film and he is set to do the final film (two parts). Like Rowling, he has improved as the series has moved forward. However, he has taken some liberties with the stories and true fans of the novels may not be delighted by his deletion of key parts, but it is important to remember that film is its own medium. The seventh (and eighth) film should prove to be a monumental swan song for Yates as well as his cast. When the credits role in 2010 the Phoenix will cry yet again as our beloved Harry Potter says goodbye.